Overwhelmed by kid clutter? Get organized with these 7 smart tips

A million magnetic tiles scattered across the living room. Stuffed animals piled high in the playroom. Outgrown baby gear taking up space in the closet.

When you live with kids, your home is bound to get messy. And the more stuff they have, the more time you have to spend organizing it and cleaning it up.

That's why psychotherapist and mom of two Denaye Barahona prefers a less-is-more approach when it comes to buying and keeping kids' clothes, toys and gear.

When you "pare back on the amount of clutter in your life, you can focus on the most important things," like quality time as a family, says Barahona, author of Simple Happy Parenting: The Secret of Less for Calmer Parents and Happier Kids.

Plus, there's a positive benefit for young children. Research has shown that when toddlers play in a quieter space with fewer toys, they "do more, create more and innovate more," she says.

So how do you begin the process of decluttering all your child's things, whether it's their beloved Pokémon card collection or handmade art? Barahona offers practical ways to organize what you have and decide what to keep or let go.

🚪Create "active" and "storage" spaces to cut down on clutter: "Active" spaces are high-traffic areas of a room that should hold only things you use on a regular basis, says Barahona. An entryway closet, for example, doesn't need to be stuffed with snow jackets in summer. Keep those in a separate storage space, like an underbed drawer, until you're ready to rotate them back into the closet.

This handy infographic offers guidance from psychotherapist Denaye Barahona on what to keep, donate or let go. Try to be as discerning as possible, she says: "If everything is important, then nothing is important." Andee Tagle/NPR hide caption

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Andee Tagle/NPR

🎯 Use clear, shallow bins to help younger kids spot the toys they want. If you want your daughter to stop dumping every item she owns onto the living room floor to find that one special stuffie, this kind of storage is the way to go, says Barahona. Visible toys make for less mess.

🌀 Rotate toys in and out of play spaces. It can tamp down on visual clutter and give kids more space for focusing by reducing overstimulation from excessive options. Be warned, though: Maintaining a regular toy-rotation schedule can require a fair amount of extra effort and planning by parents, Barahona says.

💗 Reframe the purpose of your family's donation pile. You're not losing something — you're "sharing the love," Barahona says. It's just a small semantic change, but it helps her family picture an item's future purpose. "Should this jacket spend the next 30 years in this box, or should it be on the body of another child who needs it?"

🚩 Beware of recluttering after decluttering. The goal of decluttering should be to live more simply, not make space for more stuff, says Barahona. Before you buy anything new — be it storage bins or toys — pause to consider your motivation: Is this a true need, a replacement or just a personal desire? If it's the latter, try looking for alternatives that could fill that same need without accumulating more stuff. For example, could you share a new experience with your kid instead of buying them that toy?

📉 Scale back to help kids feel more responsible. If your son is constantly leaving a tornado of toys wherever he goes, he might have too many, be too young to manage them — or both, Barahona says. If he loves Pokémon cards, for example, you might have him pick his top 20 to keep in an active drawer. Move the rest into storage until he can show you he's capable of taking care of that first set.

📦 You don't have to keep all that kid art. Yes, every finger-painted picture frame is a masterpiece, but there's only so much room for keepsakes in any family closet. In her home, Barahona has exactly one box for storing both of her kids' artwork. Whenever it gets full, she looks through everything to see what still holds meaning and what draws a blank.

"Some things in the box, I'm like, 'What is this? Who made this?'" Barahona says. If she doesn't know, "then I am certainly not going to remember why I saved them 30 years from now."

Your turn: How do you manage your kid's stuff? 

Tell us your best organization hacks (and feel free to share photos!). Email us at [email protected] with the subject line "Kid stuff." We may feature your story on NPR.org.

Illustrations inked and colored by NPR's Malaka Gharib

This story was edited by Malaka Gharib. The visual editor is CJ Riculan. We'd love to hear from you. Leave us a voicemail at 202-216-9823, or email us at [email protected].

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