- All right, we all know
kids clutter up our lives.
So being organized is so key.
So I brought in Susan Spencer
to help us declutter our lives when it comes to kids.
So, thank you for coming on.
- Well, thank you for having me!
And it is true,
children can kind of create
a little bit of mess in their paths.
- Just a little bit, just a little bit.
So we actually have three areas
that we're gonna declutter.
And so the first one is here in a playroom,
which is just adorable.
So playrooms, it's like the black hole of toys
is what it feels like at times.
- Right, and even though it's a black hole,
it doesn't mean that you can't
put some semblance of order in this.
And we've come up with some really fun ways to do this.
And you can do this using everyday household things.
You don't even need to go out and buy anything.
So, let me show you a couple of ideas.
First of all,
we have ordinary kitchen canisters.
Super easy, they usually hold beans
and flour and stuff like that.
Great for corralling pencils.
- So cute. - Or pipe cleaners,
or any other supplies
that you want to put in here.
- [Rachel] And I love clear stuff
because of kids toys and everything,
they're so colorful.
So you still get the fun colors.
- [Susan] A bit of a decorative moment.
- That's right, that's right.
- Another kind of a decorative moment
is, of course, you want to display your children's artwork.
You can buy an inexpensive frame.
So, one thing that I love to do
is just get really fun plain old clipboards.
So it doesn't have to be fancy.
You can even mount them on the wall if you want.
You can switch them out as they do them.
So, super fun, super easy
and inexpensive thing to do. - So cute.
Love it.
- And I also find that paints are very, very messy.
So, one way to corral paints
and try to keep the mess factor way down
is just get an ordinary dish soap container
and just put paints in it.
- Oh that's so smart. - Super fun
and then you can just squeeze it out
and no fuss, no muss,
and kind of corrals your kids
and lets them be creative
but at the same time not super messy.
- Yes, we love that.
Order. We love order around kids.
Oh, it's so great.
And art supplies, it's perfect.
Such good stuff.
All right, coming up next,
we're gonna talk about how to organize the closet.
All right, next place to organize, kid's closets.
So we have these really cute bags.
I can't wait to hear all about them, Susan.
- So, I think kids' closets
are another clutter hot spot
where stuff really, really tends to accumulate.
So, our recommendation here
is to create a series of canvas bags
with different labels on them.
We have homework, crafts,
and we even have sports back here.
And basically give them to your kids
and let them run around the house
and collect all their stuff.
Then they can store them in the closet,
or they can take this around with them as well.
So homework can go from the closet to the playroom
to the kitchen,
wherever they're doing their homework.
So it's just a great system.
So, these particular bags are from Lands' End.
They're about $40.
But you can come up with much less expensive alternatives.
You can actually just find regular canvas bags,
give your kids some Sharpies,
have them decorate them.
You don't have to actually do the full-on monogramming.
But how cute is that?
- So great
because our stuff,
I feel like it piles up at the bottom of the steps,
and half the time I'm always like,
"Okay, Emilia," the four-year-old,
just grab a couple things
and I'll grab stuff.
When you have this,
you can already just organize it as you go.
It makes it so easy. I love it. That's great.
All right, so next tip.
I can't wait to go
because I need it probably more than all of these things.
The car, organizing the car.
That's what's up next.
All right, last place we need organization
is in our cars.
So, there's some great tips here. I love it.
- Yeah, I think the car
is actually the place
that collects the most clutter.
I was cleaning out my car a few weeks ago,
and I found a Lego piece from 2010.
It was really, really bad. - Story of my life.
Story of my life.
- So the key to success
is to try to corral as much stuff.
So you want to give stuff to your kids
before they get into the car,
and then have them take it out of the car.
So the easiest way to do that
is really literally to contain them.
So you could put little craft supplies,
you can put snacks,
you can put all sorts of things
into these little zippered containers. Super easy,
or even easier, a nice Ziploc bag.
Everything goes in there.
Super easy. Take it to the car, take it back. Really fun.
- Keep it all together, all together.
- Exactly, and another way that I love to organize things
are with these cute little shower holders.
You might see these inside your shower or in your bathtub.
You can put snacks in.
You can put little toys.
It keeps them contained
so they don't end up all over the car.
- I love it.
And the snacks, it's easy to access, to get,
because I know my kids are always like,
we're hungry, we're hungry.
And I'm like trying to—
I'm driving, trying to get them snacks.
It's all right there.
- All right there, super easy.
- So good.
Well, all these organization tips,
wonderful, Susan. Thank you
so much. - You're welcome.
- To get more tips and tricks just like this,
you can go to womansday.com
or pick up the latest Woman's Day magazine issue
on newsstands today.
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