Tips for a Tidy Home With Tots and Teens
It can be a never-ending battle to keep your house clean with children. Even though people tell you that it doesn’t matter if it’s tidy as long as they’re happy, you may find yourself wishing that your home was a little more organised.
Whether you have toddlers or teenagers, you may be surprised to learn that there are many things you can do to enjoy a spotless home, at least some of the time. Take note of these top tips below.
Have a Clutter Clear-Out
A family home can accumulate a lot of clutter, and it’s often hard to notice it when it happens over time. You can clear out that clutter and make your home appear much tidier and less cramped by dedicating time to a thorough clean-out.
Consider skip bin hire in Wollongong, which delivers daily to Wollongong for convenience, and you can begin the process of getting rid of all those possessions that are no longer suitable for sale, donation or keeping. Old, broken toys and furniture, destroyed clothing, burnt-out appliances, and more can all be thrown into a skip bin that gets picked up and taken away with ease.
Hiring a skip bin means you don’t need to deal with the stress of making multiple trips to a waste depot. Explore your home room by room and throw items into the skip bin as you go. Before long, your home can be tidy, sparse, and much easier to navigate.
Assign Chores
Even if you have young children, chores are something that most members of the family can get involved in. Children as young as two can be assigned tasks such as putting away their toys.
As the saying goes, more hands make light work, so don’t feel like you have to handle all the housework on your own. Create a chart with everyone’s names and assign jobs for the week. If you have multiple children, you may like to alternate the chores.
Emptying the dishwasher, putting clothing in the laundry room, emptying the rubbish bin, and vacuuming are easy jobs to assign that help keep your home functional and tidy.
Invest in Storage
One of the most frustrating things about being a parent is dealing with toys scattered around the house. It can sometimes seem like you can’t walk two steps without standing on a piece of Lego or stubbing your toe on a toy car.
Sometimes, a lack of storage for toys can contribute to a messy toy problem. If everything had its place, you might be better positioned to remind your children about Lego going in a container and toy cars going in a toy chest.
There are many different inexpensive toy storage solutions on the market, many of which are designed for homes with limited space. You can purchase furniture that doubles and storage or invest in shelves, toy chests, stackable containers, and even containers on wheels that roll under beds.
The more storage solutions you have, the easier you may find it to keep your home in order. All that’s left to do is remind your children to put things in their rightful place.
Out With the Old
Kids grow so fast that they’re adults and out on their own before you know it. Toys they adored just months ago are now discarded in a corner, and new ones have taken their place.
With their interests constantly changing, it’s easy to find yourself in a home piled high with toys that no longer suit their age group. To prevent this from happening, make a point of having a clean-out of toys at least once a year.
An ideal time is right before Christmas when you know their stocks will be replenished. You can then donate what they don’t want, use, or need to those who would be pleased to have something new to play with.
Dedicate a Room to Play
While there’s nothing wrong with having the children’s train set in front of the TV while they watch and play, it can be frustrating to find toys all over the living room, in the kitchen, and essentially in every shared space.
If you have a layout that allows for it, consider dedicating a room for playtime that’s set up with storage and plenty of space for toys. This might be a spare bedroom, an office, or a second living room.
If you don’t have the luxury of an unutilised room, keep the children’s bedrooms as sparsely furnished as possible so that they have more room for their toys and a free area to play.
Rotate Toys
No matter how big your home is, it can sometimes seem like your children’s toys have taken it over. There can be building blocks scattered on every surface, or your dining table is continuously covered in toy cars and puzzles.
While you want your children to have all the toys they desire to keep them entertained, it shouldn’t be at the expense of functional family space. Children can’t play with all toys simultaneously, so consider rotating them and putting some in storage.
Keep a certain number of toys in the house that your children are playing with right now, then swap them out for another lot later. The novelty of not seeing them for a while may mean your children are more interested in playing with them, and you can keep your home as free from clutter as possible.
Make Rules
No toddler, child, or teenager likes rules, but they can be necessary for ensuring they understand your expectations. They can also prevent a lot of frustration when you feel like you’re constantly nagging them.
There are many different rules you can implement, and these can all depend on your family’s dynamics and the issues you’ve been facing. Some of these rules might be things like losing toys for a week if you have to tell them to put them away more than once and making sure toys are cleaned up and put away before they can have dessert.
When these rules have been in place for some time, your children may automatically start helping you keep a tidier home.
Keeping a tidy home with children can seem like an impossible task, and there’s no denying it’s challenging. However, with a few minor changes like rotating toys, setting rules, and clearing out the clutter by hiring a skip bin, you may be better positioned to keep your home clean, tidy, and clutter-free.
