It’s no secret that children can accumulate a lot of stuff, and there’s no mystery as to why it happens. Some of it might be necessary and some of it might not be, but it can all start to pile up and take over your home. At some point, you need to sort through it all and decide what can stay and what needs to go – but when you have your children looking over your shoulder and your own feelings to deal with, it’s not always so easy to clear out their old things. There are some things you can do to make the process easier.

Get the Kids Involved

Sorting through and removing your children’s things from your home can be tricky when they’re watching you. Suddenly a toy they haven’t played with in a year is the most important thing ever and they can’t possibly give it away. Getting them involved can help to make the process easier. Framing it as giving away some toys and other items to children who need them more could be a good lesson to teach. You can give them more choice and control so it’s something they’re involved with, rather than something that’s done to them.

Decide What to Keep

Just because you’re clearing out old things, it doesn’t mean you have to get rid of everything. There will be things you want to keep, either for now or to use in the future. You can find a storage unit with a StorageArea so that you have somewhere to store anything you want to keep. Maybe it will come back out if you have another child or even for future generations, or you could keep some items until family or friends will find them useful. Anything you don’t keep could be sold or donated so nothing is thrown away.

Sort Through Sentimental Items

One of the reasons it can be tough to sort through your children’s stuff is that some of it has sentimental feelings attached. You might not want to get rid of something that has good memories attached to it, whether it’s your child’s artwork or their first pair of proper shoes. However, sometimes it’s important to be firm with yourself when dealing with these things. Do you really need to keep every single drawing your toddler has done? One way to get around this is to take photos of sentimental items and digitise them before throwing them out.

Get Organised

Once you have decided what to keep and what has to go, you can spend time organising the remaining stuff. It’s a great time to get some new storage and start thinking about how to avoid mess in the future. Of course, you can’t prevent all messes from happening when there are children about, but you can try to keep it contained. Consider storage that allows your kids to clear up after themselves.

Clearing out your children’s things doesn’t have to be stressful. Take it one step at a time to make it work.