Allow there to be some space around the objects. When you put the important stuff back, don’t try to fill up each drawer, shelf or closet area. If you do this quickly, you can do a room in a couple of hours. Then put back the important stuff, and tackle the next area. Get some boxes and put all the stuff to donate in there, and when they’re full, load them up in your car to donate on your next trip. From that pile, take only the really important stuff (See Tip 1). Take everything out of that area, put it in a pile. Do one area at a time: a drawer, a section of the closet, a shelf. The way to do this is to block off a day to go through their rooms. In the beginning, if you have a lot of kid clutter, you’ll want to go through a massive purge. What do they play with, what do they love? Then get rid of as much of the rest as possible, keeping only those they use and love. The first step in decluttering is identifying which toys and other possessions are truly important to the kids.

Here are my tips for simplifying your home with kids:

But it’s not as bad as it once was, and it’s at a manageable level. Sure, the house still gets messy - especially their rooms. However, I have found ways to simplify my house, including the kids’ rooms. While my minimalist inner self would like to live without a car, a cell phone, or a large house, my kids preclude those things from happening.

You’ll never get an absolute minimalist lifestyle with kids, and I’ve learned to accept that. Let me first state the obvious: any life that includes children is going to be complicated, at least to some degree. It seems we have toys everywhere, and the kids stuff accumulates into every room of the house. Still, with a little diligence, and a little bit of Zen detachment, it’s possible to have a simple, (relatively) uncluttered home as well as peace of mind.Īs a mother of 4, I have to ask how you manage to simpify, declutter and live a minimalist lifestyle with 6 children. It’s enough to drive a simplifier such as myself crazy. Follow me on Twitter.Īny parent knows that kids create clutter like nobody’s business.

How to organize your life with kids