Making Use of a Small Kids Closet

You may be surprised as your baby reaches toddlerhood just how much stuff they can accumulate. It is nice to get their room organized where toys are categorized and play space is kept empty. But how do you accomplish this when the closet in your nursery is the size of a phone booth? Here we will discuss tips and tricks to making every bit of space count inside of your child's closet, enabling you to leave an open, safe place to play in your toddler's room.

The number one thing to consider is safety. Toddlers can decide to climb just about anything and you need to have their room prepared. Make sure that dressers, changing tables and shelves are anchored to the studs in the walls. Stud-finders are usually around ten dollars and can help ensure that those furniture anchors you purchased are correctly positioned and installed. Better yet, coordinate your closet space so that you no longer need a dresser in the room at all. Changing tables can go once you decide to convert to a big boy or big girl room.

Measure your closet and determine how deep and wide it is. Inventory what you need to go into the closet and determine how far apart shelves need to be. Go ahead and measure, marking with a pencil on each wall, where you want each shelf to go. You can leave room in the bottom of the closet for a laundry basket and your child's shoes. Put a shelf right above it for books and things that you want in your child's reach. Above that, you can stack t-shirts and shorts. Shelves are nicer than dressers because you never have to dig for what you need. You will not unfold everything trying to find that cute shirt that goes perfectly with the shorts . Finally you can get organized and stay organized.

The next shelf should go about six inches higher than you need. This leaves room for those great little baskets that hang down from shelves, forming a drawer. These are usually around five dollars and make great spaces for socks and underwear. The next shelf up is for pajamas, special blankets or stuffed animals that are only for bed time. Diapers, wipes, and other essentials can be kept here in an easily removable basket. If you decide to keep diaper cream or medicines in the closet, consider installing a medicine cabinet that locks inside of the closet. Remember, your baby will soon become a climber if they have not already.

Place the hanging bar for dress clothes up high to protect those delicate items and heirlooms. Use childrens hangers to protect delicate fabrics and maximize the space that you have. Place one shelf above the bar for out of season clothes storage and you are done!

About the Author: Ron Maier is the owner of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of childrens hangers. The right children's clothes hangers really make the difference in kid's retail or home organization. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Ron_P._Maier

Closet Organizing For Kids

Do you have a child? Does he have a bedroom? With a closet?

Are you afraid to go in there?

Relax! Closet organizing is not just a topic for adults. After all, if you could get your child to keep her closet organized, you could get her to...rule the world. See? This is good stuff.

Successful closet organizing for your child is based on the same ideas you would use in your own closet.

-- Everything has its place.

-- Everything is accessible.

-- Get rid of what you don't use.

-- Use tools and accessories to prevent clutter.

For maximum effectiveness, I suggest you organize your closet with your child working alongside you. While you have the final say in all decisions, a child that has some input will bring cooperation to the process and undoubtedly will have some vital pieces of information to contribute.

Your child needs to tell you how she likes to use her closet. Lots of hanging clothes? Toys stored in the closet? Need more shelving? Tiny items that need to be sorted?

If your young sweetie can't see the point in this domestic exercise, you can try pointing out that an organized closet will save him time and energy. But, at the end of the day, you may simply have to play the Big Card.

"Because I said so", is the parent's reason of choice and always plays well with "the buck stops here".

Once that's settled, here are the quick steps to use during this closet organizing session with your child.

1. Take a good long look.

The first step is to open those closet doors wide and see what's really in there. Can't see the back or the floor? Then everything should come out.

Yes, this is the part of the process for the strong and the mighty. Steel yourself. Unclaimed food nestled in the back corner of the closet will NOT make you and your child feel closer.

2. Get rid of what's broken, moldy, out-of-date, or no longer used or wanted.

As always, recycle usable items to a local charity. Be sure and include your child in this important step of community involvement.

3. Assess what's left.

This is where you both decide what needs to get hung up, folded and shelved, put in bins and baskets, or archived to a better place.

4. Make a list and shop for the organizing accessories you need. Together.

Or use cardboard boxes and customize (including decorating) to your kiddo's satisfaction. This is the fun part!

5. Put everything in its place.

You are not done with your closet organizing until EVERYTHING has a place. Everything. Period.

6. Allot ten minutes a day to KEEP everything in its place in this newly organized closet.

This is the crucial step. If you don't enforce this, you might as well not even start in the first place. The truth is, this part is called 'discipline' and most kids aren't born with any. But they need it and you can teach it to them. You'll find this is a fantastic opportunity to do so.

If necessary (and it probably will be), your child may need help seeing the value of keeping their closet in perfect working order.

-- Do they like to socialize with their friends?

Then they put in their ten minutes (or thirty seconds if they get practiced) of clean-up time every day.

-- Do they enjoy some free time?

Have they done their ten minutes?

-- Do they look forward to other privileges?

Is everything in its place each and every day?

This is simply a new habit and like all habits, takes a bit of time and practice to master. Give your child the opportunity to feel terrific about themselves by tackling a closet organizing session with them. It may just inspire you to go take a peek in your own closets!


About The Author: Colleen Langenfeld has been parenting for over 26 years and helps other moms enjoy mothering more at http://www.paintedgold.com. Visit her website and get more closet tips at http://www.paintedgold.com/Organize/closet-organizing.html .

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Mac Tips

WFMW - Kids Closet Organizing

Source http://fortheloveofshiny.blogspot.com/2008/01/wfmw-kids-closet-organizing.html

I just love Wednesdays because I now have a reason to finish clearing out the clutter in my house. Lately, I've been sharing the few organizational tips that have worked for me. By the time I'm done with this series of tips, you will think that I have a spotless house because that's all I'm showing you. Really, though, all around the nice area is clutter, clutter, and more clutter. You don't think I'd take a picture of the clutter around the organized part, do you? Of course not! That is why I love Wednesdays. The clutter surrounding the organized part is slowly receding. Hopefully, in time, I'll find tips that work for me all over the house and not just the current sections and then I can post those too. For now, I'll stick with what already works for me. Afterall, this isn't called "Doesn't Work for Me Wednesday."

Up today is my children's closet. We have a somewhat unique situation in that we have a large, walk-in closet in each bedroom. Each closet has tons of shelves so we've never needed dressers for the kids. While I realize not everyone will store their kids' clothes on shelves like we do, some may have a shelf or two on top that needs some ideas or you can adapt the idea to another area of the house. Perhaps you'll see this idea and love it so much that you are inspired to install shelving in your kids' closets and do away with dressers so that they have more room to play. Maybe. Probably not. Either way, I've learned (the hard way) not to assume that I'm the only person in the world that has a certain problem.

My previous problem was that my nice, neat, folded piles of clothes would topple over whenever one of my children tried to remove the item that they wanted. Of course, being children, they wouldn't properly remove the item to prevent the toppling over nor would they fix the pile after it did topple. So, I came up with an inexpensive solution thanks to Organizing Junkie: dollar store baskets!


I now use baskets from the dollar store to organize my children's clothes. Each basket holds something specific. This photo shows my daughter's side of the closet. It looks like a lot but it really isn't. Each basket only holds a few things. Her baskets (from left to right and top to bottom) hold the following: swim class stuff, gymastics class stuff, tank tops, t-shirts, non-denim shorts, denim shorts, capris, soft pants, pants, jeans, pjs, and old daddy t-shirts (used as pjs). As you can see from the list, we do not put away seasonal clothing. My son has eight baskets: swimming stuff, taekwondo stuff, sweatshirts, sweatpants, shorts (2) and pants (2).

We've had this set up for several months now and it has proven itself to work very well. My kids always know where to find certain items of clothes and they can put away their own laundry easily (they are 8 and 6). Best of all, no more messy, toppled-over piles of clothes.

Head over to Rocks in My Dryer for a ton tips from other participants or visit Organizing Junkie for some organizing ideas.