How to Organize a Child's Room for Cheap

Closet Solutions

• Closets can morph into mountains of mess in a hurry, but they can also become organization central when used right. Start by removing any sliding doors -- they just end up off the track when your kiddo pushes from the bottom. Hang a fabric curtain instead and sew pockets onto the curtain to store hair elastics, dress-up jewelry and other small items. Move the rod in the closet lower, to make it easy for your child to hang up clothes. Use colored dividers to help her keep track of what goes where. Pick up a seven-shelf, hanging fabric organizer for the closet. Help your child pick out one outfit for each day of the week and store one day on each shelf. Now there̵7;s no need for her to rummage through the closet or dresser drawers to find clothing.

Boxes, Bins & Baskets

• Containing the mess absolutely requires containers in a youngster̵7;s room, but stay away from overpriced and over-sized toy boxes for the job. Buy a variety of different size boxes or plastic bins, or make the storage containers yourself from cardboard boxes and decorate them with wrapping paper. Throw away all the broken toys, put away two-thirds of the intact toys and rotate them on a monthly or bi-monthly basis. Store books in a basket on the floor or on your child's dresser. Organize the remaining toys in the store-bought or homemade boxes according to their size -- figurines and cars in small storage bins, large dolls and remote-controlled fire trucks in larger boxes. Next, label every box to make it easy for your child to remember where everything goes. Print labels off the computer or cut them out by hand. If your child doesn't read yet, use picture labels instead. Turn cleanup time into game time by encouraging your child to match the toys to the correct bins.

Shelving in a Snap

• While your child̵7;s most-loved toys are now stored neatly in boxes, there̵7;s likely a plethora of mess still wading on the floor. You can organize photos, awards, keepsakes and less frequently used toys on shelves higher up in the room. For a thrifty shelving solution, take the shelves out of an old, junk-bound bookshelf and hang them on the wall with L brackets. As your child gets older, hang a shelf near her desk or work table to store homework and school projects so they are out in the open and it̵7;s easy to keep track of what̵7;s done and what̵7;s due.

Time for Tidy-Up

• The most organized room turns to chaos quickly when nothing is put away. Time is one of your most useful organization tools. Build routines into your child's day to keep his room neat, tidy and organized. After breakfast, schedule a morning tidy-up during which beds are made, pajamas are put in the hamper and sneaky toys are returned to their bins. If your child is home during the day, incorporate a brief cleanup period during transition times -- before snack times and lunch and before a rest period. Add one more cleanup time before the bedtime routine, and now the mess is never left long enough to accumulate, and cleaning up before moving onto the next activity becomes part of your child̵7;s routine.