Share your tips on keeping organized

[mlc1982]

How do you keep your house organized while caring for children? What are some tips that have helped you keep things looking tidy?

Since opening my day home I feel like I have way too much 'stuff' and my house feels like it's being taken over by clutter. It's starting to stress me out!

[dodge__driver11]

My saving grace is toy buckets, designated areas and shelves. I also rotate my toys.

[mom-in-alberta]

Shelving and BINS BINS BINS BINS BINS.... lol.
I am big on "container-izing" anyway. But when it comes to corralling all the papers, crayons, small toys, clothing, and everything else; I just love bins and baskets.
Although, anytime I feel clutterstrophobic, I reassess what I really do need. If we have not used it in 6 mos to a year, it's gone!

[Cadillac]

I like those tall plastic cabinets with pull out bins. The kids know where everything is and goes and clean up after themselves!

[Momof4]

I've been struggling with this for years now! I share my home with the daycare so the living room is also the toyroom and sleeproom and the dining room table has boosters all week long. The clutter was taking over my home! My best advice is to get everything 'daycare' out of your sight so you can shut it down a little in the evening and on the weekend (she says as she's on a daycare website on a Sunday, HA!). I got big cupboards with doors on the front and use closets to store as much as possible. I rotate the toys and have stored more away so that every few weeks they have new toys to discover. I do the internet searches on Sunday afternoon for crafts and ideas then pick up books at the library on Monday plus any craft supplies I may need and I'm ready for my theme for the week.

I plan my meals for the week when I make out my grocery list and use the crockpot so I can prepare it the evening before and just start it up in the morning. I've simplified my cooking anyway possible because I'm very busy during the day. The older children help me clean up all the toys before their parents arrive and then are allowed to just run around in a circle or dance at the end of the day so I don't have to do all the cleanup after hours. I now even run the vacuum in the toyroom in the morning because I have a cat while the first children are eating their breakfast in the next room in my direct line of sight.

It comes with time and experimenting and changing things around until you figure out the best method for you. We all run our daycares in a similar fashion yet we are all so different.

[Inspired by Reggio]

In the playroom - all my toy shelves and toy bins are labelled with a photo and typed word of what is contained within them - so the kids can learn at a very young age to help everything find its home at tidy up time to keep that area organized. We have a closet downstairs that houses the 'rotational items' which also have their photo/label of what is contained within them to find easily. My 'art supplies' are stored in similar manners all labeled and stored on the shelf in this cupboard.

Like Momof4 on my main level where we also play at 'drop off / pick up and quiet time' because I do not like being down in the playroom with my front door unlocked and do not like running up and leaving kids down stairs so it is just easier to be on that floor I invested in large hutch cabinet with doors in my dining room to house daycare things for that floor so that on the weekend it is out of sight out of mind...quiet time activity bins, my circle time bin, fidget toys and so forth. I also bought some wicker bins that look 'attractive' but slide under the coffee tables and end tables to store 'floor toys / books' to explore with for this floor.

My spouse made me 'cubbies' for the children's belongs in my foyer which neatly hold their outdoor clothes and so forth and in the closet I bought those 'sweater hanger organizes' and have their diapers and wipes / changes of clothes in each 'holder'.

I also do not do visual clutter anymore ... the playroom is decorated with a few pieces of their art creations tastefully hung - these are permanent pieces we have made for this purpose with my initial group otherwise their 'daily art' goes home daily for their enjoyment. I generally focus on photos of the kids engaged in play as the 'themed decor' down there and only in 'specific places' - I just change up as the kids grow and new photos are taken ... I no longer do bulletin boards sets or other theme related 'decorations' because this is a HOME so aside from seasons where I would 'normally' decorate my home - like Christmas / Halloween I do not 'decorate' the playroom because I find that the visual clutter was stressful to finding 'focus and calm' within the room which is my goal.

[mom-in-alberta]

It's funny you bring this thread up.... I don't know if it's the unseasonably warm weather we are having in my area, but I am just DYING to clean and reorganize my entire house right now. Good thing I have 4 days off this week!
(If I didn't know better, which I do, I would say I was "nesting", lol!!!!)

[playfelt]

Hubby has 9 days of leave of needs to use by the end of March and is taking next week to paint the playroom and we are putting in new carpet. Was at home depot today picking up paint chips. Going for a shade of yellow I guess. Spent last week looking at daycare setups and seeing how the wall colour effected me and was surprised by what I liked and didn't like. Leaning towards something called "pale daffodil".

But of course to paint it means remove all the decorations, shelving which I have an entire wall of and toys out of the space so the carpet can come up. I will then be starting over to put it all back and want to change things while I have the chance just working with what I have already so there are no extra costs.

But I hear you on the reorganizing urge and no I am not nesting either - not even possible at my age. Usually at this point in the winter we are all dragging ourselves around bordering on the desire to hibernate with the bears for a bit but this year yes it seems like we are skipping and going directly into spring. Maybe if we start sooner we might actually get it done this spring instead of it dragging out to the summer.

[Momof4]

Eeee, playfelt I attended a seminar where the speaker told us that babies cry more in yellow rooms and you're painting your daycare room yellow??? I sure hope they were wrong and you are right!!!!

[Inspired by Reggio]

Eeee, playfelt I attended a seminar where the speaker told us that babies cry more in yellow rooms and you're painting your daycare room yellow??? I sure hope they were wrong and you are right!!!!

My playroom is a very pale buttercream yellow and my crew rarely cries

That said I too have read that more and more brain research is showing that the primary colors or bright red / blue / yellow we have typically seen in childcare spaces over the past several decades actually overstimulates the brain and makes it harder for them to 'attend' or 'calm themselves' ... if you attend any workshops / seminars on planning emergent child led environments or go into any of the newer Full Day Early Learning programs that have been 'renovated' they are gone to natural wooden furniture and natural tones in the walls and curtains and so forth to lower the 'stress' in the room and create that calm soothing learning environment ... any 'color' added to the room is in the materials and equipment for the children to explore with so that they can 'focus' on that and not the walls/decor.