Decluttering kid stuff before the holidays
Something that came up in the Clutter-Free Home Process course community this holiday season was talking about decluttering your kid stuff before the holidays. I know that this is a really important topic for folks, because you know during the holidays there's going to be an influx of kids' items. I love the idea of preparing for the holidays by decluttering kids' rooms (and play areas), so I wanted to share some of the tips that we covered in the course community, so you can implement them at home too.
Decluttering before the holidays is great for a couple of reasons:
In addition to teaching your kiddos about giving back to the community, decluttering in itself is an important life lesson. The earlier you’re able to teach your kids and have them flexing their decluttering muscle, the easier it will become over time. The goal is that as adults, hopefully they won’t have the same learning curve that many of us experienced when it comes to decluttering.
A hard lesson for us all is that we only have so much space. Through our lives, things are going to keep coming into our homes, but we can't keep everything. If we try to, that's how our homes get cluttered, which can lead to stress. So it’s important to teach the next generation that we don't have unlimited space, and when the “homes” for our items are full, we need to make some tough choices.
Let’s dive into the good stuff
As you get ready to declutter your kids' rooms, I want you to treat it like any other decluttering session.
Have three containers ready for trash recycling and donation
Make sure to eat before your decluttering session (hangry doesn't lead to good decision-making)
Keep water on hand - it’s important to stay hydrated!
Go into your session ready to make decisions and reduce distractions (i.e. turn off the tv)
Let’s talk about getting your kiddos involved. Whether or not you get their input on every part of the decluttering process is going to depend on their age, and your kiddo (you know them better than I do!). If you do decide to get the kids in on it, remember that little kids may need shorter sessions. Or maybe you go through clothing together, it’s less emotional, and a lot of the process is sorting by size. You can have them help you sort the too-small clothing, to pass along to someone who needs it.
You know best what age and in what spaces to loop them in. Again - make the best decision for yourself, and know that it doesn’t need to be all-or-nothing.
I hear from people all the time: “... but my kids don't want to declutter”, and I get it. It’s not the most fun thing in the world, so - fair enough! But just like many other important life lessons that you're going to be teaching your kids, we know that the earlier you're able to get kids on board, the easier it's going to be as they get older. So even if you’re starting your decluttering with shorter spurts of time, and less emotional spaces, this will make it easier for them as they get older to make decisions, to let go, and to see the value in passing along items that you are no longer using to those less fortunate.
Remember to put your patience hat on. Your child or teen will not be as fast at decision-making as you, because they don't have as much experience doing it. We’ll need to be extra patient with them.
Let’s talk about toys.
I know that many folks are fans of doing a toy rotation. If you feel overwhelmed by the number of toys out at any one time, and have the space to store extras, that could be a good option for you. It reduces the number of items your kids have access to at any one time and keeps things fresh.
That being said - a toy rotation depends on you doing the actual rotation. For many people, they don’t have the space (nor the desire) to take it on. So no matter what your situation is, I’m going to run through a few items that I commonly declutter in kids’ rooms (and playrooms) to give you ideas on where to start:
Start a sentimental bin
This is a tip I give my clients and students of any age. We all have those items that we’re not ready to give up, even if we don’t necessarily want to display them, or have them out at all times. As you’re decluttering, a sentimental bin can be the answer to “I don’t know where this should go”. And some of those items you might not keep forever, but it can make the decluttering process easier, knowing that you don’t need to let go of every little thing that you’re not using right now. Remember the four questions to ask yourself during the process: do you use, want, need or love this item. Sometimes, love is enough to keep it.
The one tip I want to give around this for kids is to remember that it's also never too early to start talking about limitations around sentimental items. Depending on the kid (unless they’ve experienced trauma in which case, you’ll want to take that into consideration and that's a whole different conversation), you’ll want to start having those conversations early, so they know that they can’t label everything as sentimental. Without the limitations of “how much you’re allowed to keep” it can open a can of worms that you may regret as they are of the age where they’re moving out, but still have some items stored at home. Set the expectation early that there’s a limit to how much “storage” that’s allotted for their sentimental items. The answer that’s right for you will depend on your storage spaces at home, how many children you have, and more. So think about the right answer for you, and stick with it.
I hope these tips help you as you’re prepping for the holiday season, and beyond. If you have questions about anything we covered, feel free to email Team Tidy Revival at hello@tidyrevival.com. If you would like to get a bunch of my best tips about decluttering, click on the image below to learn more!
