It’s a risky move to clean up with twin toddlers in your house. Will the pint size destroyers spill milk, dump out legos or worse grind cracker crumbs in the carpet? Maybe all three, in three minutes🤷‍♀️. It happens. For me, the less my twins have to mess up, the easier it is to clean up.

Raise your hand 🙋‍♀️ or leave a comment if you have a trick to keep your home tidy with toddlers?

I started this year, like most, getting rid of what I don’t need and reorganizing trouble spots.

For me, I always do a nightly clean up after the twins are asleep. But I do have them help me during the day with laundry, dishes and toys.

Trouble Spot #1 The Kitchen

I start with my favorite task, getting rid of things I don’t need or have gone bad… expired food, old spices or any food we just don’t like and is taking up space.  It’s so fun to fill up the trash bag! Then I clean and put things back into place.

Next, I always go through my kitchen cupboards, and drawers and take out items I have not used in over a year. This year, I took out margarita glasses (a wedding gift) that I kept holding onto and had never used. These I could sell or donate. I used to prefer less on counters, but with some “childproof locks” on doors it’s easier for me to keep some things I always use on the counter, like a toaster (I just bought an extra cute one).

In love with my Toaster 🥰

Trouble Spot #2 The Playroom

December birthdays and Christmas means toys, toys and more toys.

So I grabbed some bins and started pulling out toys that I don’t like, the twins rarely use and ones that are losing interest with age.

I put the baby toys into a donation box, and separated our less favorites into boxes for a rainy day (and they will seem new again).

I did add a couple new storage bins that work better with our 3+ toys and all the little pieces.

These hidden away spots can cause so much added stress into your life because even though you do not see them everyday, you know that they are full and cluttered with junk.

Trouble Spot #3 (All the areas we tend to “store” things)

I set off to tackle those hidden areas.  This includes spots like under your bed, in the back of each closet, your attic, your garage (even though it’s not hidden, people still act as if it is hidden), your basement, your backyard shed, your storage facility, if you have one, and more. 

For me it is the basement.  That is where I store old toys and baby items the twins don’t need anymore.

Last year, I was able to sell car seats (to friends I personally know), travel cribs and high chairs.

This year, I had items like potty training seats and baby gates that were no longer needed.

With the twins clothes, I have two baskets in their closet: Dirty and Too Small.  Once the “Too Small” bin fills up, I bring it to a consignment shop. What they don’t take, I donate.  It keeps the bins in the basement fewer.

Create A Relaxing Master Space

As a parent, you need your sleep, and an organized and relaxing master space is essential for that. That’s why I always organize my master space (especially the closet) periodically. When you are going through your things in your master, make piles: a pile to donate, a pile to keep, and a pile to sell.

For your jewelry, I have a unique way to make money off of the pieces that I do not wear anymore. I have recently come across Chapes-JPL, which is a company based out of Atlanta. They were established in 1980 as an alternative to banks and traditional pawnbrokers and they provide low-interest loans on gold, diamonds, jewelry, watches, and other valuable assets. In addition to providing collateral loans, they are also a jewelry buyer in Atlanta. Serving 18,000 customers nationwide, Chapes-JPL wants to make selling your jewelry easy for you. Since they have over 38 years of experience when it comes to appraising and buying jewelry, their offers are honest and fair. Don’t hesitate to get a free estimate if you have old jewelry sitting around.

Chapes-JPL

Utilize Organizational Products

When you are organizing your home, you can find great boxes and storage solutions at places like Homegoods, The Container Store, or even Amazon!

My personal favorite (and best on the budget) is saving nice boxes from things you bought and reusing them.  For example, I store batteries in old an old iWatch box and iPhone box. I copied this idea from Marie Kondo.

These will help you stay organized because once again, everything will have a spot in your home. It makes it easy to put things back vs. just having them out on the counter because you aren’t sure where to put the item.

Do Not Buy Unnecessary Items Going Forward

This is the hard part – avoid buying unnecessary items going forward. I struggle with this, especially when it comes to the kids. Sometimes it is easy to think that you (and your family) NEED it all. But, think about what you are doing right now. Some of the things that you are throwing away were probably once purchased thinking that you would love it for a lifetime. Think long and hard before buying another item that you will eventually toss. 

Reorganizing your home is a long process, but at the end of the day, it will make your life so much easier, and your cleaning process faster, so that you can spend more time with the ones that you love.