Keep the kids rooms tidy, without lifting a finger

"The kids holidays are a nightmare around the holidays - I seem to end up constantly picking up, cleaning & tidying their rooms - there are toys everywhere! It doesn't help that the cleaner, who I practically worship for the way she does our house, won't come during the holidays. Please can you give me a bit of advice on how to get the kids' rooms straight, so I avoid losing my marbles this half term? Thanks Busy Girls Guide, love Mandy, Chorlton x"


Dear Mandy, when we read your letter, we knew we had to help quickly! The holidays can become a total tidying nightmare with a sudden influx of bodies in the house, all leaving their bits & pieces for you to clean up.

We've been passed some top tips, which we hope will hope you get sorted this week - as always, we'd be delighted to hear if we helped...

7 Little Things That You Can do to organise the kids' rooms

1. Sink to their level.

Get on your knees in their room to view things from a kid's level. Convenience is an important factor in getting anyone to organise or put things away, so: lower clothing racks in the wardrobe; put most frequently used items on the lowest shelves & in the lowest drawers. Set up decorative bins, crates, baskets & boxes in corners, on closet floors & at the foot of the bed.

2. Hide stuff under the bed.
Use flat, rectangular storage bins on wheels that are made for under-the-bed storage (Ikea £3.99). Designate one of these for dolls, another for books & so on. Store your children's artwork, paper & crayons in one of the bins. Older children can store schoolwork & notebooks here. Got music loving little ones? They can keep a pile of CDs handy here.

3. Make organizing fun.
Organising can be a pain even for us "big girls" so imagine how your child feels at the thought of clearing away their toys, clothes & school work! Get your children involved by letting them creatively label their own drawers & bins with little pictures. Or you can take photos of your child with an object that goes in the drawer & tape it to the front of the bin or drawer (Jessops Polaroid Camera & Printer £39.99). Is the drawer supposed to hold small toy cars? Tape a small clear plastic pocket to the outside of the drawer that's stuffed with an example of the contents such as one toy car then just cut them to the size needed.

Top Tip: Try putting the laundry basket under a kid size netball hoop John Lewis Netball hoop £20.00.

4. Keep drawers shallow.
The deeper the drawer, the more kids will fill it. With a few exceptions for big bulky items, use shallow drawers. Some narrow storage carts on wheels come with five or six shallow drawers. You can roll the cart into the wardrobe if needed or line several in a row against a wall.

5. Fill deeper drawers with mini-organizers
Use small trays, tins, recycled cardboard boxes & more. Don't use lids on the mini-organizers; that's just a hassle for kids to find their items & remember to put the lids back on. Use makeshift cardboard dividers to separate things in drawers like socks.

6. Colour code. Buy blue bins for Barbie dolls & red bins for Brats. Put summer clothing on green hangers & Sunday dress outfits on blue hangers. Or use different colours for different children. Harry gets blue bins & hangers & Sarah gets red bins & hangers.

7. Hang it. Your children might view their collection of self-created artwork in much the same way as you view your collection of store-bought artwork. See Little Art Works for an amazing unique way to make your kid's school drawings into beautiful works of art - from only £50.00 plus free delivery. Put up a cork/bulletin board for the kids to hang ribbons & medals. Another cork board could be for photos. Or hang an organiser with pockets beside the door (Ikea £2.99
) to hold photos, souvenir card collections & birthday cards through the years.

8. Set ground rules.

For example, before you play another board game, you must first put this board game away. Before each present-giving occasion, pick one item to donate to a charity; it brings a smile to the face of a child with less than you. You can only keep things in your room that have a place. So if a drawer is full and you want to keep something new, you must throw out something from the drawer (for example, an old piece of artwork for a new piece of artwork or an old broken toy for a new one).

Working mum with kids off? Letting it all get on top of you? You make find this useful... When an extra hour isn't enough

Love from The Busy Girls Team x