15 Tips for Organizing All Your Kids’ STUFF!
Having children in the home isn’t easy (uhh, duh!), and sometimes it feels like their stuff is literally everywhere, but there are simple, affordable tricks to help keep all that STUFF stay organized. And, lucky for you, I’m here to share them!
01. Labeled Bins
One of the best ways to create an organization system in your home is to label your bins. This helps keep you (and your kids if they are at the age where they can be helpers) accountable for when you’re putting stuff away. It may seem easier to just throw the hair bow in the bin with the pacifiers, but if it’s labeled, it’s a subtle reminder that that specific bin has a purpose, and that purpose is pacifiers, not bows.
These bins are old, but I found similar ones on Amazon here. For the labels, I simply use Avery Shipping Labels and print them on my home printer. This is a great option if you don’t own a Cricut to avoid expensive custom labels.
02. Multi-Use Toy Storage
If you have enough space in your home to dedicate to a playroom, I highly recommend a multi-use organizational system. A system like this enables you to store all of your kids play things from books to puzzles, to Barbies and craft supplies, I have all of my kids play things in this organizer. This is an older model from Pottery Barn Kids, but here’s the gorgeous updated model of the Cameron Storage Solution. There’s also several options for narrower or shorter storage sets f you don’t have the space for something quite so large!
03. Under Crib (or bed) Storage
For my design clients, I always recommend a crib skirt in their nursery to allow for some hidden additional storage. In a nursery I keep back stock diapers, wipes, and diaper caddy bags. In a room for an older child, I recommend storing extra linens or out of season clothes. The Sterilite Under Bed Storage is perfect for under any bed or crib and is a great way to store items you aren’t currently using.
04. Craft Organization
Mason Jars: I love using Mason Jars whenever I can in home organization, they are not only vintage and adorable, but super affordable. Plus, they are super functional since they are available in so many different sizes.
Lazy Susan: Lazy Susan’s are another amazing product to use to organize your children’s craft supplies! Lazy Susan’s don’t only allow children to see many different items without actually taking them all out at once, but they are also a great storage option for taller items like glitter glue and Dot Markers that otherwise would have had to be inconveniently stacked front to back .
Stackable Drawers - Modular stackable drawers enable you to store both long and wide craft supplies. I love the Container Store Acrylic Stackable Drawers, but you can also find similar items at Home Goods and Marshalls!
05. Shoe Shelves
Since we don’t have a traditional mudroom with lots of storage, our kids keep all but one pair of shoes in their room. Shoe shelves work great on a closet shelf in a kids room because there typically is still space above the shelf to hang baby clothes or shorter kids items (like the tutus below!)
06. Book Storage
There are an infinite number of ways to store your children’s books, but it’s always a great idea to keep books easily accessible to your children. You never want to make it difficult for your child to read! In a nursery, I also like using a small bookshelf that can be right next to your rocking chair, so a bedtime story is convenient while you’re rocking your little one to sleep. In my daughter’s room, we created a little reading nook. You can make corner shelves, but we just took two sets of straight book ledges because it just happened that the length worked out perfectly that way.
07. Snack Storage
When organizing a kitchen of a client with small children, I often like to put the snacks in a drawer because they allow the child to see all of their options, unlike a cabinet in which you may have to put some items in front of others. A drawer is also a great place since it is more accessible for children. In my home I have two separate drawers with snacks. The top one is for treat-like snacks (potato chips, rice krispies, fruit rolls ups etc.) that they don’t get all the time, and the bottom one is snacks that they are allowed to take to school and are just a tad bit “healthier.” In this kitchen I paired Oxo Pop Top Containers with Container Store Acrylic Drawer Bins, due to the size of this drawer the Pop Top Containers simply were a better fit.
08. Shelf Risers
Another kitchen storage solution hack are shelf risers. This allows you to maximize your cabinet space to store shorter items like snack cups, plates, and utensils. I use this two pack of shelf risers all over my and my client’s homes to create additional shelving. This also allows you to have different height shelves on different sides of the cabinet. For example, if you only needed short height storage on half of the cabinet, you can use a shelf riser to have taller storage on the opposite side.
9. Bathroom Storage
For a child’s bathroom, just like an adult, I like to use labeled bins. Although your child may be too young to read, it is a great way to help learn solid organizational habits. I have my children help pick up and also put away any new items so they learn where things go immediately. The bathroom is another place you can use shelf risers to increase space if your cabinet or linen closet doesn’t have as many shelves.
10. Dress Up Storage
If your kids are like mine, they love to play dress up. I recommend using a separate organizer for their dress up clothes, that allows you to hang the clothes up, as opposed to throwing them in a basket or tote, so they can easily see them.
I have the Kid Kraft Dress Up Wardrobe, and it’s great to not only store the dress up dresses and outfits, but also has handy slanted shelves for shoes, a dump bin for accessories, and hooks for jewelry.
Since I have girls, they own about 10 million different princess dresses. We only bring out about 5 at time and rotate them monthly to keep them excited about their “new” dress up dresses!
11. Baby Supply Storage
Another question I often get asked is how to organize all the miscellaneous baby and kid items like overstock diapers, wipes, blankets and swaddles. I highly recommend a multi-use storage center that can fit inside a closet. This allows an organic way to separate the different types of items you need to store, as opposed to having them all on a single shelf or toy box. Of course, you may have more extensive built-in storage in your closet, but most clients only have simple pole and shelf systems. This particular unit is the Storagepalooza Toy Storage System from Crate & Barrel, but Amazon sells a similar version of this toy box you can find here.
12. Accessory Storage
Accessory storage, for obvious reasons, is more of an issue with my clients with girls rather than boys. For kids, I like to use storage where the kids can easily see all the options so they don’t have to dig through a drawer or to see what they all have (kids in general often need to see everything before they decide so if their bows aren’t all displayed it may cause a mess!) For bows, glass jars work great, or you can find a similar picture frame bow organizer on Etsy. (A blogger friend uses this fringe bow holder and it’s super cute in her daughter’s boho room!)
For hat storage, I like to use decorative hooks or even curtain tie backs. These gold hooks from Target are perfectly sized and gender neutral.
13. Clothing Hangers
I always recommend to my organization clients that they get new (and matching!) hangers for their children’s clothing. Not only to appropriately sized hangers make it easier to get tiny shirts hanging properly, they also help to avoid stretched out neck and arm holes. I nearly always use velvet hangers for my clients, unless they have tons of storage and opt for a wooden hanger. These Amazon Basics Kids Velvet Hangers are an insane value; I’ve literally ordered this set dozens of times in a variety of colors.
One of my favorite baby or child organization hacks, are these kids velvet clip hangers. They are PERFECT for organizing outfits (especially since so many baby clothes are sold in actual sets), and they are also great for keeping diaper covers with the matching dress! Bonus - if your spouse is like mine, he can’t match an outfit if his life depends on it. This type of hanger is (almost) a guarantee that your child will be off to school with a coordinating outfit, even if Dad is in charge of getting dressed in the morning.
You can also add a bow or accessories (necklaces, jewelry, baseball cap) around the hanger neck to any hanger for convenient and pre-matched accessorizing!
14. Drawer Dividers
Kids and baby stuff is small, and if you’re using an adult-sized dresser or armoire, the drawers are often not set up for the most efficient organization. I like to use drawer organizers to create specific spots for the different types of items the child has. These IKEA Drawer Dividers are fantastic not only because of the price, but the different size offerings gives you the ability to completely customize your drawer space to exactly what you need!
15. Diaper & Wipe Storage
Coming from a seasoned Mom of three I highly recommend having diaper and wipe spots literally all over your house, maybe even in every room, so you don’t have to trek across the house just to grab a diaper. That being said, you do also need diapers in the baby’s room. Personally, I always suggest to skip the changing table and just put a changing pad on top of a dresser. I also like to use cute decorative baskets or bins instead of a traditional diaper caddy to match the aesthetic of the nursery better.
Well, there you have it! 15 Tips and Tricks to finally organize all of your kids stuff! I hope you find this list useful, and if you have any other organizational dilemmas, please drop a comment below and I would be happy to help!
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