Clutter seems to come with the territory when you have children.  Your house soon becomes overrun with toys, games and books.  It’s not just built up from special occasions either, the gifts they get for birthdays and Christmas are just part of the problem.  For example, something as simple as buying a magazine can come with at least four additional free gifts!  It’s only when you then have to find space for a blaster gun, stickers, trading cards and tattoos that you realize decent storage is a must.  So, read on for my top organizational tips for your family home.

Complete A Home Storage Audit

First things first you should assess the storage needs of everyone in your family.  For example, my husband needs a lot less storage than my two children.  My husband doesn’t have much in the way of belongings.  In your home you might need to add further storage in certain rooms based on the results of your audit.  Make sure you also consider the storage needs in each of your shared rooms too.  In our living room I would really like a closed cabinet to store the boy’s computer games, so they are better organised.

Add Lots Of Hidden Storage

I was reading this article from Rapid Racking about how to organise your house room by room and I loved the suggestion of incorporating hidden storage.  This is storage that is truly multi-functional, it doesn’t take any more space and is very practical.  We already have an ottoman bench box and its been a real asset.  My son has somewhere comfortable to sit and ample space to store his toys.  It also looks so much nicer than plastic boxes we used to have before.

In our living room we have a foot stool.  When we ordered it we had the option to add storage space inside. Unfortunately, we declined as you had to pay a little bit more.  I still regret that decision.  It would have been handy to have it to keep the living room tidy and uncluttered.  So, if you ever get a chance to add hidden storage always give it quite a lot of thought.  Even if it’s going to cost a bit more.  I don’t think you will ever regret having more storage options when you have a family.

Be Ruthless

Is there anything you can get rid of? It will be easier to organize you family home if you have less clutter to deal with!  If you haven’t used something in a year is it likely you are ever going to miss it? Naturally this doesn’t apply to seasonal items like your Christmas tree so don’t get too carried away!

Open your wardrobes and if you haven’t worn an item of clothing in a year, donate it to a charity shop.  A good thing to try is when you wear an item of clothing it goes back into the wardrobe with the hanger turned the other way.  At the end of the year its easy to see which items of clothing never made it out of the wardrobe.  Apparently, we only wear 20% of our clothes so you should soon see quite a few items to clear out.

If you have multiple items that do the same thing, consider whether you really need each and every one.  Go through each of your rooms and try and reduce your belongings.

Don’t Buy It In The First Place

Take it back to the beginning.  Before you buy anything, think about whether you really need it.  You will find your children in particular are very attached to the items they own, so its easier to buy less overall than try and sneak it out once they love it!

Hopefully by making a few changes you can avoid a chaotic and disorderly living space.  Clutter has been known to increase levels of cortisol which is a stress hormone.  For the sake of your health its important to follow this advice, I hope you found these organizational tips useful.