TRAINS

Every member of your household (adult, child or pet) brings a raft of possessions – and potential clutter – into the homestead until, before you know it, you’re wading through a sea of sports kit, toys and kitty litter. Getting your shit together as a family can seem like a challenge too far, but since the only other option – selling your family members on eBay – is illegal, you’re going to need to take action.

How will you get everyone to agree to the clutter cull? Well, take some time to explain the benefits of decluttering to everyone and you’ll soon have the team on board. So grasp the nettle – and some bin bags – and crack down on family clutter with the help of these simple tips.

Before you start sifting through the family’s cupboards, it’s worth taking a little time to get everyone’s support.

Explain that a decluttered home will mean:

• more space for storing/using favourite items

• less time spent cleaning/searching for things

• far fewer stressful mornings trying to get out of the door on time.

Lead by example. Declutter ‘your’ area and other family members may well covet your tidy space – just don’t let them clutter it up again.

Make decluttering a game. Younger children often find moving things around tremendously exciting. Form a human chain to empty the understairs cupboard or challenge the little ones to see how many loose coins they can collect from around the house.

Make a plan of action. Get everyone to write down an area that they think should be tackled and start with these.

Toys are obviously the main source of kiddy clutter. With Christmas presents, birthdays (including presents from everyone in your child’s class, if they’ve had a party) and hand-me-downs from friends, it’s very easy to let toys take over the whole house, however hard you try to corral them into one area.

Set a reasonable amount of storage aside for each child and help them to downsize their belongings to fit that. Some children may like the idea of donating outgrown items to charity, while others may be motivated by the thought of having space for whatever new acquisition has captured their imagination. While it is lovely to involve older children in the decision-making, there is no harm in tidying away your tot’s abandoned or forgotten toys for a while and then rehoming these if they are not missed.

If you like to keep a few of your child’s toys in the living room, get kids into the habit of tidying things away at the end of the day, so that you can enjoy the evening in an uncluttered environment. A smart toy chest or set of sturdy stackable boxes can hold a surprising amount of playthings. Or why not slide an under-bed drawer under the sofa as extra toy storage, if you have room?

You may be reluctant to break up large building block playsets and other similar toys, which can take your little one (and you) many hours of hard work to construct, so find a suitable-sized storage box for these and store them in all their assembled glory.

“THE CHILD’S TOYS AND THE OLD MAN’S REASONS ARE THE FRUITS OF THE TWO SEASONS.”

It may seem harsh to call your little ones’ masterpieces clutter – what with every artwork being an expression of their unique personality, an’ all – but once you’ve seen a dozen sketches of princesses or dinosaurs, it’s only natural for your enthusiasm to wane. It’s just as well that most of us adults don’t carry on knocking out paintings, stories and cardboard models at the same rate as children – we’d be up to our ears in paper and glue!

Pick a few items to display and then quietly recycle the other random sketches that make their way home. You could hang some washing line or string up and help the kids to peg up their favourite pieces. For the sake of your own sanity, refresh your gallery regularly.

You’re ready to leave the house in time for that appointment except… Where are the car keys?! I had them yesterday… I know because THAT’S HOW I DROVE THE CAR HOME! There’s nothing worse than being held up by a frantic last-minute search for something essential. Avoid these stressful moments by making sure that these items are always kept somewhere convenient for you to grab and go.

Put door keys, car keys, etc. in a bowl or hang them on a rack in the hall (out of sight of the front door).

If you have a hallway, a free-standing shoe rack might be a good choice – you can store other seasonal items on top in wicker baskets/ containers.

Keep winter hats, scarves and gloves ready to grab in winter, and replace with sun cream, sunglasses and sun hats in the summer, packing away the out-of-season gear.

It’s great that children get the opportunity to try out so many sports and activities, but with swimming on Mondays, fencing on Tuesdays, clarinet on Wednesdays and – hang on, what’s on Thursday again? – they tend to accumulate so much stuff that they could do with their own porter and baggage trolley.

If you have room to hang pegs for them at a suitable height in the hallway then do so, and make sure that book bags, PE kits and coats live here – and here alone. (And enjoy the added challenge of not impaling yourself on the hooks.) If lunch boxes and water bottles have an assigned place too, you’ll avoid dashing around looking for them at Zero Hour.

For other sports paraphernalia, try to keep a designated bag for each child’s swim kit, football gear, etc., with the basics stored in it and – if possible – stash these in one place so that everything is easy to find.

Some of our belongings tug at the heartstrings: photos from childhood, souvenirs from our first trip abroad… But if we hold on to every dog-eared print or novelty key ring, our keepsake collection can take over the home.

Go through boxes of photos and discard any that are blurred, duplicates or pictures you can’t identify. Sort the rest chronologically and store them in albums or boxes. (Organise your digital pics by doing the same thing: delete any duffimages and store the keepers in folders marked with the month or year. Don’t forget to back them up, too.)

For gifts and keepsakes, think carefully about whether items: a) serve a purpose or b) enhance your life. If they do neither but you’re holding on to them because you would feel guilty giving them away, be strong! You deserve a home filled with things you love and these objects deserve a home where someone else will love them. Pass them on!

Child’s age	Toy type	If you stand on it, it…
0–3 years	Large colourful lumps of plastic	Squeaks
4–8 years	Smaller colourful lumps of plastic	Hurts
9+ years	‘Toys’ now come with a charger and a health warning	Costs a month’s salary to replace