Multi-purpose furniture are ideal for small spaces, or if you don’t like to have a lot of furniture in your room.  When you can store a multitude of items in one piece, it can alleviate clutter in your room and make organizing a lot easier.  One of the most popular multi-purpose furniture pieces today is the Armoire.  Armoires are used to store and organize clothing and crafting supplies. They are also used as TV entertainment centers, or as a  small office that you fold away at the end of the day.

Another multi-purpose item that is perfect for both teens and adults is the Nightstand Valet (pictured above).  This valet stand comes with 2 shelves, a pull out drawer, a hanger for suit coat or shirts, bottom shelf for shoes, top shelf for personal accessories, side bar for trousers and the other side comes with hook for additional hanging storage.  It is the epitome of multi-purpose. 

CD organizer

Cosmetics organizer

Your teenager or pre-teen can get organized the night before school by choosing their outfit, including their shoes, packing their backpack and selecting the books and other items they may need for school the next day, and all can be stored in the Nightstand Valet.  On the left you’ll see some additional organization products that can help your children keep their rooms organized from Home Storage Warehouse.

 Visit Home Storage Warehouse to learn more about the Nightstand Valet and other organizing products to help kids keep their rooms organized and clutter-free!

Find more organization product ideas and back to school tips for your kids here.

Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Organization products, like toy bins, pop-up storage bins, pop-up hampers, over-the-door organizers and hanging shoe pockets are just a few of the many organizing products available to help keep your children’s rooms organized and free of clutter.  Summertime is a good time to get those organization products in place in time for back to school.  Once your kids get busy with homework and afterschool activities it’s going to be even harder for them to keep their rooms clean and organized, so every little bit helps. 

Most children can do basic room upkeep chores on their own.  However, it’s best to continue to build confidence in them by showing them how to do routine tasks, like, picking up toys and putting them away, putting away their clean laundry, light dusting and even vacuuming. 

At the very least, all children should have easy access to a laundry hamper as soon as they are able to dress themselves.  Begin by explaining the rules and consequences, if you decide to have consequences.  One example of a consequence would be to not wash anything that’s not placed inside the hamper!  After a couple of weeks of this, they will soon realize that there is very little left to wear, except maybe a handful of their least favorite clothing! 

Purchase a fun or decorative hamper for their room or bathroom that they actually won’t mind using. Here are some fun kids’ hampers for both young children and teens at Home Storage Warehouse.

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More back to school organizing tips
More Organization Products for Keeping Your Children’s Closets Clutter-Free

Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and President of the NAPO Baltimore Chapter, she helps homeowners to clear their household and paper clutter and organize their home or home office.  Jacquie also offers home organizing workshops to the general public and brief time management classes to businesses. Jacquie is the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  If you want to take control of your clutter, visit CastAway the Clutter to get Jacquie’s free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

There are many organization solutions in the marketplace today that can help keep closet clutter under control without spending a fortune on high-end custom closets.  Outfitting your child’s closet with a custom solution may not always be the best idea when they still  have a lot of growing to do.  It might make more sense to use less expensive organization products that can be changed and adjusted as the child grows.

Here are a few ideas that can be incorporated into your child’s existing closet, assuming you do not already have built-in shelving installed:

Hanging organizer shelves for clothing
Storage cubes to corral small toys
Hanging shoe organizer to keep shoes off the floor
Shoe stands, also to keep shoes off the floor
Quality hangers to take better care of clothing

Closet hanging shelf organizer

Magic toy pop-up cube

Closet hanging shoe organizer shelves

Stackable shoe shelf organizer

Childrens' wood hangers

Folding canvas bins

Rolling bins or carts to hold folded clothing or toys can also be helpful.  Find more closet organizers at Home Storage Warehouse.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie is also the author of Take Control of Your Clutter Before it Takes Control of You: 101 Tips to Success.  Visit CastAway the Clutter to get a free organizing goals worksheet when you sign up for her organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com

Does your children’s clothing spend most of the time on the closet floor or hung on the clothing rod?  If your child is too small to reach the rod, you may find that you’re spending way too much time picking up clothes and trying to keep the closet organized.  Many closets consist of a single rod and shelf, but there are many affordable closet organizing solutions to help with eliminating closet clutter. To begin with, store their most frequently worn, or favorite garments at their level so that they can be responsible for putting away their clean laundry and choosing their outfits for the day. 

By incorporating some additional storage options inside the closet, you can also teach your child to be responsible for keeping their closet neat and organized.  Set up an easy organizational system so that they can select their outfits each day, with very little help from you.  One way to do this is to install a hanging pocket shelf organizer. Hanging shelves, which usually include at least 5 pockets for each weekday, are a great way for them to feel grown up because they get to pick out their pre-selected outfit for the day, without help from you. 

Dealing with children who are a little unorganized can be a challenge and sometimes quite stressful.  Teaching your children to be more organized is much easier when you start early.  By assigning them small organizing tasks from a young age, it helps to teach them responsibility and the basic skills of organization.

Begin by setting up systems in their rooms and finding a place for everything.  If they keep toys in their room, there should be an area specifically set-up to store those items.  When it begins to get overcrowded it’s time to do some purging.  Although it’s difficult for very young children to part with their toys, it’s an important part of maintaining order.  Explain to them that they cannot have new toys if there’s no place to put them.  It may also help if you donate items to charitable organizations and an opportunity to explain that less fortunate children would love to be able to play with their old or outgrown toys.

Make organizing fun by using brightly colored containers as storage.   Also, use bright coordinating colors for labeling or use cut-out pictures found on the internet or in magazines.

Primary toy bin organizer

Pastel toy bin organizer

Hanging toy organizer

 

They say that practice makes perfect, meaning the more you practice a new skill or habit, the better you become. Learning how to be organized from an early age is a valuable and necessary skill that can be learned over time and taken into adulthood.  When a new college student begins dorm life, it will most likely be their first time living away from home.  It is also the perfect opportunity to practice being independent as they embark towards adulthood.

Parents are often dismayed at the total lack of organization in their child’s dorm room when they visit their new college student after they have settled into dorm life.  They often wonder where they went wrong!  However, it’s never too late to learn how to be more organized.

Planning ahead before your child goes off to college is key.  As you shop for products for your child’s dorm room, think of items that will make it easy for them to be more organized.  Dorm rooms have the additional challenge of being a small space, sometimes shared with one or more students, so multi-purpose furniture and space saving organizers will help to control the clutter.  When your student is organized and able to find what he needs, he will most likely be more successful later in life. 

Take a look at the many spaces saving organizers that can control the clutter in your child’s dorm room. You can find organizing products for toiletries, make-up, bath products, shoes, clothing, magazines, laundry and more, that fit over the door, in the closet and under the bed.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer, speaker and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO), NAPO-Baltimore Chapter, and Maryland Association of Professional Organizers, she shows homeowners how to reclaim their time and space, and offers organizing and time management workshops and group presentations. Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips and learn more about her presentations at www.castawaytheclutter.com  

By now, you’re probably in a pretty good routine with the daily school schedule. However, even with a solid routine, mornings can be a little chaotic, especially when Junior decides he’s not going to cooperate about what to wear to school today! Consider trying a different approach – let Junior think that he’s in charge of what he’s wearing by planning ahead with the kids closet organizer.

Your pre-school or elementary school aged child will feel all grown up choosing their outfits from the 6-day closet organizer! This brightly colored organizer features the days of the week on the front section of each storage area with the last section being for shoes. Find yours today at Home Storage Warehouse.

Jacquie’s Tip: At the weekend, after you’ve checked the week’s weather forecast, help your child to select several outfits that can be worn each day of the week. This will save time and frustration in the morning!

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers, she teaches homeowners and businesses how to reclaim their time and space. Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com.

Young children need all the help they can get to stay organized. Being organized is usually not their focus! Make it a little easier for them with organized storage solutions and teach them how to use it.

Manufacturers are designing unique organizing products specifically for children, creating fun shapes in bright primary colors. Check out the fun Fire Truck Over-the-Door Hook Rack. Its bright red color and fire hydrant hooks add a fun twist which will grab their attention!

Check out the following clothes hangers sized for children’s clothing and the underbed storage bag that fits easily under the bed to store their off-season clothing and/or bed linens.

Visit Home Storage Warehouse for more children’s organizers. Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers, she teaches homeowners and businesses how to reclaim their time and space. Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com.

As if we didn’t have enough paper!  When school is back in session, we’re bombarded with flyers, notices, permission slips, artwork and more. What’s a parent to do? For schedules and other reference material there are some great products available like the Fridgemate magnetic office or kitchen kit. This wonderful item comes complete with 10 clear pockets that will hold schedules, phone lists, to do notes, and more, plus it’s magnetic, so can be stored on the fridge. Bonus items include a pencil and memo holder. Find this and more at Home Storage Warehouse. Enjoy your first week in school!

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer and owner of CastAway the Clutter!  Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers, she teaches homeowners and businesses how to reclaim their time and space. Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com.

Set up an area dedicated for your children to do their homework or study. Good study habits will help them throughout their life. Consider giving up an area in the dining room, or another area in the home that isn’t equipped with a television!

A quiet space with good lighting, a comfortable chair and one that includes all necessary supplies and reference books is ideal. Office organizers with slots for files, books, pencils and manuals will help to keep the area neat and easy to maintain. Equip their study in style with these classy organizers!

Click here to shop for these and other office organizers.

Jacquie Ross is a Maryland based Professional Organizer, writer and owner of CastAway the Clutter! Jacquie has been writing for Home Storage USA since 2007. A member of the National Association of Professional Organizers, she teaches homeowners and businesses how to reclaim their time and space. Jacquie can be reached at jacquie@castawaytheclutter.com. Visit CastAway the Clutter to sign up for her free organizing tips at www.castawaytheclutter.com.