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Ask Vicki a question. Vicki
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 Restoring
Order to Your Home
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CBN.com –
With summer in full swing, it’s a great time to
partner with your children to un-earth the
playroom.
If you can’t see the floor of your children’s
recreation space, and if it is hazardous to carve
a path through the room, it may be time to
“restore order”! When the playroom is a dumping
ground, it is impossible to put things away, it’s
confusing, and it can be dangerous!
Perhaps the task seems overwhelming to you. Maybe
you’re convinced it’s a lost cause because the
space always returns to chaos after you take the
time to put it in order. If you could use a little
convincing to take on this juvenile jungle, here
are some benefits to taking on this project:
The benefits of organizing the playroom
include:
- Having more time to play
- Making it easy and fast to put things away
in their appropriate “destination”
- Helping children take responsibility for
their own belongings
- Teaching children organizing skills
- Eliminating the waste of toys that are lost
or neglected
- Reducing the damage to toys
It’s true that “cleaning up” the playroom
will ultimately not work. You may have tried
before, and been disappointed with the results
if all you accomplished was re-arranging the
space and stuff. If you simply tidied up or
cleaned the room, it likely returned to a
muddled mess in no time. Maybe you even
purchased pretty bins and baskets and are
disillusioned with these plastic solutions.
The reality is: to create lasting change, you
will need to follow a process, not simply
substitute shortcuts.
Also, note that I started the article by
suggesting that you “partner” with your
children. I am a strong believe that—if your
kids are old enough—they should be a critical
part of the process. First of all, if they are
consulted as to their favorite activities and
preference, the organizing systems can be
customized to their needs. Equally as
important, if they are involved from the
beginning they will feel more ownership of the
space and can be held accountable to maintain
the systems and belongings.
Here is an 8 step process to reclaim the play
space:
- Assess. Assess ALL the
activities that are currently taking place in
the room (example: music, toys, arts and crafts,
computer games). Then, ask your children which
are their favorite activities they enjoy in that
space. I prefer to ask these questions when you
are NOT in the room, otherwise their eyes will
wander over to the games and they will announce
“playing games”! If your children say that
reading books and playing with cars are their
favorites, you’ll want to dedicate enough space
to those activities in Step 6.
- Empty. Remove everything
from the space (this will allow you to clean the
space and re-arrange or purchase furniture). Use
a nearby room as a staging area so you can
spread out and see what is coming out of the
room.
- Macro-sort. As you are
taking items out of the room, group the contents
by activity (all music materials, all arts and
crafts, all dress up clothes, all games and
puzzles, etc.). I label a big sign to denote
each category so that everyone can carry the
items to the proper pile. Categories should
never be discovered as you go through the
process.
- Micro-sort. Continue
sorting each category of items even further
where necessary. Large categories can be broken
down further (for example: the “miniature toys”
category could be divided further into “animals,
action figures, transportation,” or whatever
other type of small toys you find, etc.
- Evaluate. Go through each
category of items with your children and discuss
what is there and how often it is used and how
much it is enjoyed. Perhaps they’ve outgrown
some of the stuffed animals, board games, or
arts and crafts. Maybe by simply seeing books
that had been buried beneath other things, they
will get excited about them again. This is a
great time to get some bags and donate items.
Talk to your children about passing along things
they don’t need or use to children who are less
fortunate. Organizing can help instill a
charitable spirit in your family; as you witness
your own abundance it is easier (and even
compelling) to share the wealth.
- Subdivide. Dedicate special
real estate to each key activity. Determine the
amount of space needed for each activity
(drawing a floor plan and eyeballing the
quantity of items accrued in that category will
help). Common activities are reading, building,
make-believe, etc.
Create “neighborhoods” by creating a distinct
area for different kinds of activities. Focus on
the categories your children identified as their
favorites. (For example, if doing arts and
crafts is popular, create an “art district”
within the playroom for an easel, table, and
wall space to display their masterpieces.)
- Outfit. Purchase or
assemble the appropriate furniture in each
activity zone. Bear in mind your priorities,
budget, quantity of each category to be stored,
ease of access, safety (if your kids are
climbers, rickety open shelving won’t work), and
aesthetic preferences (closed versus open
cabinets, matching, quality, color, etc.)
A built-in system will look the most seamless,
and it will allow you to customize your storage
to the types of items you have, but it can be
more expensive. On the other hand, buying a lot
of inexpensive shelving and rolling carts can
create the appearance of mis-matched clutter.
- Re-load. Place the items in
their appropriate activity area. This is the
time to contain like items in smaller containers
like bins, baskets, buckets, etc. Measure before
you buy! Consider cost, ease of access (clear
shoebox sized containers might be on sale, but
lids limit access), style, durability, weight,
etc.
Note that this is number 8 in a 10 step process.
Many people mistakenly buy products prematurely
in the organizing process because they are
attracted by the adorable containers promising
instant order. I strongly caution against giving
into this urge or you will waste your money.
Wait until you know exactly what you have to
organize, and the shelf, cabinet, or space it is
intended for, measure, and then purchase the
right product at the right
time in the process.
- Label. After you’ve stowed
the items in the appropriate zone (neighborhood)
and storage unit (furniture or container), it’s
time to label the items.
- Maintain. Now that you’ve
tackled the backlog and established new systems,
review the revitalized room with your delighted
children, and vest them with the responsibility
of putting things away at the end of each day!
Immediately establish a protocol for how the
room will be maintained (ie: everything picked
up and put away at the end of each day, or
before naptime, etc.).
Not every home has a playroom. If you need a
play place for your children, consider converting
an infrequently used spare bedroom or a wide
hallway space. If you simply don’t have extra real
estate, you’ll have to carve out space in the
children’s bedrooms or another room (like the
family room) for their belongings.
If playthings must live in a public space (like
a family or living room) avoid creeping clutter by
establishing boundaries—where playthings can be
stored and played with and a maintenance
expectation as well. These boundaries honor a
special space for your kids while preventing toys
from taking over.
Adapted from: Restoring
Order™ copyright © 2006 by Vicki Norris (available
now at
www.RestoringOrder.com and in July 2007as
Reclaim Your Life™. Copyright © 2007). Published
by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, OR. Used by
permission.
About the Author: Vicki Norris is
an expert organizer, business owner, speaker,
television personality, and author who inspires
people to live out their priorities. Norris is a
regular on HGTV’s nationally syndicated Mission:
Organization, and is a recurrent source and
contributor to national lifestyle publications
including Quick & Simple magazine, Better Homes &
Gardens, and Real Simple magazine. Norris is also
author of Restoring Order™ to Your Home, a
room-by-room household organizing guide. |
