Clutter Control: How to Let Your Kids Run Wild in Your House Without Losing Your Mind

As a parent of two toddlers, I understand the chaos that comes along with having little ones. It feels like your house is never clean and your life is out of control. In order to gain back some semblance of control, you chase your kids around the house either yelling at them to pick up their stuff or picking it up for them. I will encourage you right now to let go of having a spotless house. If, like me, you are in the thick of toddlerhood, your house will not be clean any time soon. That being said, by using my clutter control tips below, you can allow your kids to play the way that brings them joy without completely losing your mind.

Toy Rotation

I have been doing a toy rotation for my kids for over a year now and it is essential for clutter control. It is by far the biggest thing that keeps me from losing my mind as a stay-at-home mom! This makes it so there are not so many toys available to the kids and therefore there are not a million little toys that end up all over the floor. Kids are also more at peace in their space when there are not as many toys all over the place. If you want more information on how to get a toy rotation going you can read my article here. For now, just know a toy rotation is going to save you significant headaches and clean up time.

Kitchen Play Space for Clutter Control

Limited Clean-up

Don’t follow your kids around and clean up all day! This is going to drive you and your kids nuts. I know, it’s hard to have things all over the place. It is certainly ok to ask your kids to clean up something they are done with. Most likely though, they are still playing with things and maybe took a pause for a little bit. Be ok with things being scattered around the house.

There are a couple things I do to keep myself from losing my mind surrounding the house clutter control. The first is that things need to stay in the playroom or the living room. You can choose the rooms that will work best in your household. If things start to enter other rooms (aside from the playmat we talked about in the kitchen), I just throw them back into the living room or playroom or ask my kids to.

The other thing I do to keep myself from losing my mind is only do a full clean-up of toys during nap time and after the boys go to bed. This gives me a peaceful space a couple times a day and allows me to embrace the chaos for the rest of the day. Cleaning up twice a day shouldn’t take too long if a toy rotation is implemented or if the kids just have limited toys in general.

No Toy Dumping

Choose Your Battles with Clutter Control

We can’t keep up on everything all the time. Everyone has that space that they need to be clean and clutter free, and then the spaces that they can let go without losing their minds. For me, my vehicle can be full of fishies and my yard can look like a toy wonderland. I need my house to be chaos and clutter free when possible.

I have friends who have certain rooms in the house they completely let go so they have the energy to focus on the rooms that matter to them. Choose your battles and don’t try to have everything perfect at all times. Pick the spaces that matter most to you, implement some strategies like the ones above, and take a few deep breaths.

Your Turn

There you have it! Just a few tips on clutter control and how to let your kids run wild in your house without losing your mind. Do you have any tools you implement in your house to keep the chaos from overwhelming you? Please share it below! Us parents can use all the help we can get!!