Tips For Learning Less is Best When Raising Kids

Let’s talk about why less is best when raising kids. My husband and I were in our mid 20’s when we started our family. We had four kids in six years and during those early years family life was busy. As I reflect over the past eight years it has been hard work. But when I look at the big picture, some of the best things is seeing how much each of our family members have grown and learned. 

We are not experts but we have learned a few things along the way. If I could go back and give myself some of the best advice, I would tell myself “get rid of stuff!” Don’t spend your days overwhelmed by stuff. Get rid of it and you will gain your freedom. 

What We’ve Learned Along The Way

As new parents, it’s easy to feel like you need a lot of things when you’re raising kids. A nursery, the best stroller, toys, decor, and the list goes on. As your family grows, your stuff will grow too if you are not intentional. I am 100% guilty of this. It’s been a process. As the years have passed, my husband and I have realized just how overwhelmed our kids are with too much stuff. We’ve noticed that the more they have, the less they actually play with. 

Over the past year, we’ve realized that if we are overwhelmed with our stuff, what must our children feel like? So we started to purge. We are about three rounds in and are loving how our home feels. We want to keep going. If we focus on one area and it seems overwhelming to tackle, we look at each other and say: “This isn’t us. We are clean. We don’t like clutter. We are minimal. We are organized.” Then we get to it. 

How To Declutter

When I am decluttering, I keep several trash bags on hand and a box or two. If items are worn out and are not worth donating, I throw them away. I put donated items in a trash bag and anything I want to sell I put into a box. This helps stay organized when sorting items. One way to make a little extra income is to consign kids items to stores like Once Upon A Child. I usually keep the money I make and put it away to spend on something else my kids will need next time I am shopping. Anything they don’t take I drop off at the thrift store.

How Do I Decide What To Keep? 

This is different for everyone. There is no magic answer on deciding what to keep and what to let go of. The way I decide is asking myself one of two questions. “Is this item helping me or hindering me?” “Is this item helping my kids or overwhelming them?” I explain this concept to my kids as well so they can implement problem-solving skills. Several of them are old enough to buy items with their own money. We explain to them that it’s okay to use something for a while and then sell it, donate it, or give it to a younger sibling when they have grown out of it. 

Now don’t think that this is a one and done thing. When you have growing kids, your life will ebb and flow. You need to adjust and ebb and flow with it. Spending time decluttering now and getting into the daily repetition of buying, selling, storing, changing, letting go, then it will be easier for you in the future. 

What I Have Found To Be Helpful

We have a designated closet called the “play closet” for toys, games, puzzles, crafts etc. I have found this to be extremely helpful because most everything my kids play with goes into the closet and they can easily access their things and put them away and close the door. I have most of their toys in plastic see through bins with snap on lids. 

My daughter enjoys crafts and all the little things that go along with crafts. She used to keep all of this in her room and it became too overwhelming and hard to keep tidy. All of her craft items are kept in an helpful 10-tier drawer system on wheels. I rolled it right into the closet and now she can take it out whenever she wants, but can easily roll it back and shut the door. 

Get Stuff Cleared Out

A big part of decluttering is the more you can get up off the floor or out of eyesight, the more you feel like you can breathe when you enter a room. For example, we have a small loft area that was designated as our “play room.” The kids books were on a book shelf, their toys lined the perimeter, and I thought “what a great space for the kids to play with all their toys and read!” In reality, they didn’t spend much time playing in the “play room” because it was too cluttered with stuff. 

Now with this specific action, we have cleared out the play room and put a desk there for my work space. There is literally nothing else in that space and my kids have played in it more than ever. They can now pick something out of the play closet and bring it into the open space of the former play room to play with it. 

Our Book Rotation

We are trying something new when it comes to the kids books. My kids love to read and we have some large collections of the Berenstain Bears, Little Critter and many more favorites. My kids are also in different stages of reading so we have quite an assortment. I started out by only keeping our favorites and the books that will fit on the book shelf. If I had a stack that didn’t fit, I would go through it again and let go of more. 

When we cleared out the playroom, I decided to try a book rotation. Instead of keeping a bookshelf out, I utilized it elsewhere in my house and only kept out two baskets of book that are seasonal. The rest of the books I put in bins and slid them under a bed. That way we can easily access them and trade them out. My daughter is reading chapter books now so she keeps those in her room where she can read them regularly. A stack of beginner reader books is kept in my sons room so he can practice anytime as he’s learning to read.

Overall, managing the books has been a great way for our family to set ourselves up for future success. 

Some Things We Have Kept

There are toys that we have held onto and will for years to come. Some of the kids favorite toys are ones that allow them to build and create things alone or together. A few examples are: legos, magna-tiles, marble run, zoo animal collection with play mat, stuffed animals, and dress up clothes. 

Allowing Your Kids To Make Their Own Choices

I admit, I do not always consult my kids when getting rid of their stuff. But there are times when I think it is important for them to make their own choices. A few years ago, my boys matchbox car collection was getting out of control. They played with the cars a lot, and I knew they had their favorites. I felt it wouldn’t be right of me decide which cars to keep. I sat them down and explained that they had too many cars and we needed to go through them. They were up for it! Every time I held up a car, they either gave me the thumbs up or thumbs down. It was a fun way to go through the cars and lighten the load. Everyone was okay with the decisions and never looked back. 

The important message to my kids was to cultivate the idea and ability of decluttering. Only keeping the cars that they really loved and being able to let the others go. Hopefully it will someday become second nature to my younger kids and older kids.

A Work In Progress 

Like I said earlier, we are not experts but we’re learning. I wanted to share with you some of the good things we have learned over the past eight years of raising four young kids. We hope that this life experience will help children become successful kids by teaching them positive behaviors and problem solving. As the parent, you play such an important role in your child’s development by creating a space that is peaceful. Now this is easier said than done, but the bottom line is there is always room for improvement and everyday is a fresh start. Things won’t change all in one day, but it’s a good idea to set your goal, have the right balance, and start! Even if it’s going through one drawer a day, it will be progress and you can do it!