A kid’s closet can be a toy graveyard, a fort to play in, or a laundry nightmare. Getting your kid’s closet in order can make it a great place for playing, toy storages, and orderly laundry. Learn how to incorporate everything into your child’s closet, even if it’s a small space.

First, consider what you must keep in the closet. Because dressers can tip, many parents have tried to eliminate bedroom furniture in children’s rooms. This only elevates the need for closet storage. The closet can easily become a problem area. Kids generally own a lot of clothing to begin with. Adding toys, diapers and wipes, or a small play area to the closet may seem impossible. However, if you get things arranged correctly, you could be surprised at the amount of stuff you get organized inside the closet.

You can put a shelf about three feet off of the floor in the closet. The space underneath can be for playing, storing clothes, a toy box, or a laundry basket. Most of the things you need to organize can be accommodated by the large central shelf. Smaller shelving can be built on top of the main shelf to hold baskets and bins of socks, pajamas, underwear, and supplies. Another set of shelves can hold games, toys with small parts, t-shirts, or shoes. The hanging bar can be left in place for outfits and other items that need to be hung.

Another option would be to cut two or three short bars with a pipe cutter and work them in between several shelving units. This is a great way to keep dress clothes, school clothes, casual wear, and clothing that your child hasn’t grown into yet separated.

Make sure that you think about the different needs of a summer and winter wardrobe as you draw your design. In the winter, there are bulkier coats, sweaters, hats, mittens, scarves, and boots. Don’t forget to make room for these items when you’re planning out shelf space. Don’t forget storage for these items in the off season either.

Hang outfits on infant hangers or children’s hangers. Baby hangers don’t stretch and damage clothing. Plus, they’re easy to use, so that when you start to teach your child to hang their own clothing, it’ll be just that much easier. There are many options when it comes to infant hangers, from wooden baby hangers to decorative beaded ones. Choose the ones that match your child’s room décor and your kid’s closet will be complete.

About the Author: Kurt Adams is on the staff of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of infant hangers. The right baby hangers, like wooden baby hangers and children’s coat hangers, keep baby clothers organized and children’s hangers are great for retail stores.

It can be so exciting to start to plan your nursery. For many new parents, this is the first time in their lives that they actually get to start from scratch and design an entire room. Here we’ve compiled some ideas for you to inspire you to create the nursery of your dreams.

1) Choose a theme. Some people go shopping for baby furniture, choose their favorite set, and then pick a theme that matches the furniture. Cherry sleigh cribs and elaborately decorated dressers lend themselves to a classical theme. More modern bamboo furniture may make you feel like creating a more contemporary nursery. This is a great place to start for most people. Another thing you might want to do is pick a decoration that inspires you. A beautiful mirror from an antique shop, a painting, a lamp, your grandmother’s rocking chair, or a special stuffed animal could inspire you to go a completely different direction than you thought.

2) Choose a color palate. Going to pick out your paint is exciting. If you want to stay away from traditional pastel pinks and baby blues, it might be a good idea. It can be tempting to paint the walls and decorate with a newborn in mind, but remember that you will soon be a busy parent and time will fly! Using bolder or more exciting colors can help you to create a nursery that can easily be changed into a kid’s room. Many parents complain that they spent so much time and money making the nursery a perfect place for their newborn to come home to, and then before they knew it, they were at it again transforming it into a toddler room.

3) Shelves are really useful in a nursery and can grow with your child. Go beyond the dresser and install shelves everywhere! Low shelving is great for storing toys on your child’s level. The tops of the shelves, if only a foot or two off the floor, double as play areas and seating when your baby gets a little older. Put smaller shelves wherever you may need them. Above the light switch for those “gotta have it now” items, above the windows and door for displaying stuffed animals, and near the crib for keeping things out of reach while you change your baby.

4) Think about how many little things you will need to organize once the baby is in the room. Luckily, baby clothes and necessities are really small, so you can take a standard sized closet and turn it into an organized heaven. Small hanging bars, baskets and shelves will be your best friends once the baby comes! Use baby hangers and children’s hangers to organize baby clothes by size. These specialty hangers keep clothes from getting stretched out and will grow with your child. Even infant hangers are great for big kids’ clothes, because they don’t stretch out necks or pucker shoulders. They also are easy for kids to handle and maneuver and they don’t take up as much room in the closet. Get that closet ready to grow with your child and you’ll be on your way to a nursery that is functional and efficient.

About the Author: Kurt Adams is on the staff of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of infant hangers. The right baby hangers, like wooden baby hangers and children’s coat hangers, keep baby clothers organized and children’s hangers are great for retail stores.

The time leading up to your baby’s arrival can be exciting. When it comes to getting the nursery ready, it can also get expensive. You can spend a lot of money decorating, stocking and organizing the nursery, but you don’t necessarily need to. You can get a lot done with less money by focusing on function and efficiency first. Use these tips to get the basics down and then decide what extras will be most useful to you. When the baby first comes home, the main thing is to have the nursery functional. You don’t want to spend a lot of time and money on a room that is cute, but doesn’t suit your needs.

1) Think about what you really need. First, think about the bare necessities. Many new parents prefer to sleep with their baby in the master bedroom with them, so that they can keep an eye and ear close. A basinet and a rocking chair in your room may be all that you use for the first few months. However, you do want to have the baby’s room ready for other things, like storing clothing, bedding, and toys.

2) There are many safety concerns to consider right off the bat. You don’t want to find out that the dresser should have been anchored the first time your baby pulls up. Baby proofing as you go is a lot easier than deciding to do it all at once, the day that the baby starts to crawl. Use the baby’s closet as a storage area for clothing, shoes, diapers, wipes, bedding and more. This will help you to save money and space by not necessarily needing a dresser for the baby. Play room will quickly become more important to you than furniture! Plus, everything will be out of the baby’s reach and easy for you to access.

3) Set the closet up as your safety zone. This will be your area. Medications should be up high, diapering items below that, then shoes, clothes and storage items down below. You’ll love having everything in one place. Baby items are tiny, so it doesn’t matter if your nursery closet is smaller than you had wished. Install inexpensive wire shelving that is adjustable so that the system can grow with your child’s needs. Go ahead and stock the closet with infant hangers, baby hangers and children’s hangers. Your baby will have several sizes of clothes in their closet all the time. Size markers are helpful, and so are containers for hand-me-down clothing that is too big, and clothes that are outgrown that can be handed down.

When the basic needs are taken care of, you will be free to decorate when you wish and when you have the funds to do so.

About the Author: Kurt Adams is on the staff of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of infant hangers. The right baby hangers, like wooden baby hangers and children’s coat hangers, keep baby clothers organized and children’s hangers are great for retail stores.

Keeping the nursery organized is not an easy task, but is certainly necessary. It pays to have everything close at hand and in order when you’re taking care of a baby. It can get out of control really quickly if you don’t stay on top of it. Use these tips to get your nursery organized while simultaneously making it look great.

1) Categorize things in the nursery. Keeping related items together will make it easier to quickly straighten up and find what you need when you need it. Divide by medication, diapering, clothing, pins, emergency items, and also by how often you use things. You don’t necessarily need medication every day, so store it somewhere separate from your everyday needs, like diaper rash cream.

2) Get what you really need often organized first. Things like diapers, wipes, burp cloths, pacifiers, hand sanitizer, and tissues are needed often. Make sure that you can quickly and easily reach these things while also making sure that the baby can never reach them. A simple shelf or cabinet up high will suffice for these items. Use labeled bins, buckets and baskets so that you can quickly and easily find what you need and put it back. Don’t ever let your baby put diaper wipes in their mouths because the chemicals inside are dangerous.

3) Keeping toys organized makes playtime more fun for your baby. Start early teaching them how to categorize and organize. Separate the toys however you want. You can have quiet sections of toys, climbing toys, a reading corner, building toys, arts and crafts, and fine motor toys all organized into separate categories. Categories make it easy to clean up and like toys generally stay in their right areas.

4) Keeping the baby’s clothes organized can be one of the biggest nursery challenges. They outgrow them so fast, that you’re constantly changing things out. You have your clothes to give away, your hand-me-downs, the dirty clothes, the clean clothes that aren’t put away yet, and then there are the clothes that your child hasn’t grown into yet. We haven’t even made it to out of season clothes yet! If you don’t get a handle on it, it will sure get a handle on you. The easiest way to keep baby clothes smoothly rotating is to have big containers for each thing. Avoid using a dresser or drawers because things tend to get pushed back where you can’t see them. Use shelves, infant hangers, baby hangers, children’s hangers, baskets, bins, and other containers to organize tiny items.

About the Author: Kurt Adams is on the staff of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of infant hangers. The right baby hangers, like wooden baby hangers and children’s coat hangers, keep baby clothers organized and children’s hangers are great for retail stores.

Families with kids can really go through some laundry. Some parents insist that their kids are experts at making laundry happen, no matter what they do. Kids’ clothes can get dirty, they can come home and change out of school clothes and into play clothes, change out of play clothes into dance attire, change from dance attire into their soccer uniform, change from that into another set of play clothes, and then finally change into their pajamas.

That means that in one day, one child can change clothes that actually need to be washed in upwards of six times! No wonder parents get swamped. If you have a baby or more than one child, add in the parents’ casual clothes, work clothes, work-out clothes, pajamas, towels, washcloths, etc., you’ve got yourself an ever-growing monster of a laundry mountain that can be nearly impossible to control.

Don’t let the monster intimidate you any longer. It’s time to take charge. While your laundry may always be an uphill battle, you can make it easier on yourself, and we’re all for making it easier!

First, make sure that everywhere laundry accumulates has a basket, bin, or hamper to catch the fallout. Encourage family members to put their dirty clothes where they go by offering rewards. You can give them a pass from putting their laundry away if none of their clothes are outside the basket when you go to collect. Find ways to make them get into the habit of putting it where it goes.

Many things that you would normally separate don’t actually need to be separated. If something dark has been washed many times, it’s not likely to bleed on anything if you go ahead and wash it with whites. Use your best judgment, but don’t waste your precious time following every laundry direction to the tee. Of course, be careful and don’t ever wash something that is dry clean only in the washer.

Use a rolling garment rack to hang and stack folded clothes as they come out of the dryer. Hang, fold and stack everything right on the rack. Then, simply pull it around the house and distribute the clothes where they go.

Give yourself a schedule so that you stay on top of things. You can also assign a day to each family member if you’d like. If you throw in a load in the morning, dry it when you get home, and then put it away before bed, it’ll be done every day.

One major problem with staying on top of the laundry is having an easy place to put it away. Stuffed drawers and messy closets make it seem draining to put clothes away. Stock each kid’s closet with infant hangers, baby hangers, children’s hangers, or adult hangers, depending on the size of their clothes. Hanging clothes and stacks of shirts and pants are much easier to put away if the closets are stocked and shelves are sitting there waiting. Kids are less likely to unfold their clothes looking for what they want if they’re not crammed in a drawer. Keep everything out where you can see it and it’ll make less work for everyone in the long-run.

About the Author: Kurt Adams is on the staff of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of infant hangers. The right baby hangers, like wooden baby hangers and children’s coat hangers, keep baby clothers organized and children’s hangers are great for retail stores.

Living in disarray can cloud your thoughts, suck up your time, and psychologically wear you down. People who stay organized spend less money, live more productive lives, are generally healthier, and are more successful in life. Teaching your children to be organized from an early age can benefit them in many ways.

Learning to organize is also about learning to prioritize. If you can teach your children to prioritize, then you are also teaching them to be flexible and efficient. Simply saying “clean your room” is rarely successful. This is because cleaning things up, organizing them, and doing it efficiently are learned skills. If you don’t take the time to teach kids how to do these things, then it will always be an uphill battle for you as a parent, and a dreaded task for your children.

There are some creative ways to help your children learn how to prioritize and organize their rooms. A good way to keep them motivated and on task, instead of staring at the huge mess and complaining, is to create some small games with small goals to play with them.

A good place to start is with the “big things” in the room. Have a race with the clock to see how many big things you and your child can clean up in two minutes. You may be surprised what all gets done in that two minutes. Then go for something else, like clothes. Pick up dirty clothes and get them into the laundry basket or hamper. If your child isn’t keen on racing the clock, try for “making goals” in the basket. Let them see how many baskets they can make from the chair, the bed, or the closet. You can even toss the clothes to them to keep them going.

Look around the room after each activity and think out loud. Say things like, “Let’s see. What’s the biggest thing that we need to take care of?” This technique will teach your child to prioritize what is most important so that cleaning will be quick and efficiently done. Next, try to divide what’s left into piles. Make a game of who can divide their “junk pile” into organized stacks first. Blocks, cars, baby dolls, action figures, game pieces, and other categories can be made. Try not to make it too detailed or you might lose them.

Next talk about where everything can go. “This pile is small. Let’s put it into this basket. Should we put it in the closet so that your little brother doesn’t accidentally lose the pieces?” Let your child decide where things should go and point out reasons why that is a good idea. Keep in mind that you’re teaching them how to “think” organized. Let them know why you chose infant hangers for their smaller shirts and children’s hangers for the larger ones. Tell them about how the smaller ones are safer for their clothes and easier for them to handle. Mention that hanging their clothes on baby hangers takes up less space and leaves room for toys to be stored in the closet.

The skills that your child learns will benefit them for the rest of their lives. Learning how to stay organized isn’t quite as easy as it sounds, but starting early in life can make it become second nature to your child.

About the Author: Kurt Adams is on the staff of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of infant hangers. The right baby hangers, like wooden baby hangers and children’s coat hangers, keep baby clothers organized and children’s hangers are great for retail stores.

Has your home been an organizer’s nightmare since you brought the children home? Even one child can pack a housekeeping punch, even before they are ever brought into the house. Babies and kids come with so much stuff. You need things for sleeping, eating, changing, bathing, clothing, and let’s not forget, playing. All of these things can add up to a huge amount to organize. With parenthood being the busiest time of most people’s lives, it can be hard to keep up with the major things, much less all of those little things. However, it must be done. If you don’t spend some time getting it together, then it will only get worse and swallow you up. Use these tips for getting your child’s things in order and most importantly, keeping them that way!

1) All the organizational products in the world won’t keep you organized. Setting things up in a practical way should always be on your mind while you’re organizing. Here’s an example; Some people really enjoy having a changing station or changing table in the nursery. However, an overwhelming percentage of people who buy them, never use them. How could something that you’ll use several times a day that stores all of your related baby items never get used? Location, location, location! Most people do not have the nursery right off of their living room, where they’ll spend most of their time. So, they end up using a changing pad instead. The lesson here is that being expensive or seeming like a great idea means nothing if it’s not convenient to use.

2) Keeping the convenience factor in mind, figure out where you want to organize. Don’t make the mistake of creating plenty of space for toys all over the kids’ rooms if the kids’ toys are always all over the den. Your best bet for keeping a space organized is to provide easy access areas for toys to go. You’ll have much more success in getting help from your family if you place your buckets, bins, toy boxes and shelves very near where they will usually be playing with these things.

3) Do yourself a favor and make it easy for everyone in the house to help you. Even toddlers can put their own clothes away if you simply lay pajamas flat instead of folding, use children’s hangers instead of adult hangers, and have a separate bucket for socks and burp cloths. Lower your perspective and think about what would be easy on your child’s level. Infant hangers and baby hangers are much easier to handle, plus they don’t stretch and damage little clothes. Clothes that don’t wrinkle, don’t necessarily have to be folded or hung. Making daily tasks easier will make organization a lower maintenance job.

About the Author: Kurt Adams is on the staff of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of infant hangers. The right baby hangers, like wooden baby hangers and children’s coat hangers, keep baby clothers organized and children’s hangers are great for retail stores.

What type of child do you have? Do you have one who loves to keep everything clean and organized, or are you like most parents and you worry about whether or not your child will ever clean their room without being threatened? It can be a struggle because cleaning isn’t always seen as fun. It can take a lot of work on the parents’ part to get a child to realize the benefits of keeping their room clean. Use these tips to help your child not only like to clean, but to be able to keep it that way for longer periods of time.

1) First, you have to try to make it just a little more fun. This can be difficult if your child is used to throwing tantrums, fighting, screaming, or just flat out not doing it when you tell them to. However, there are ways to motivate kids to clean up after themselves without resorting to yelling or punishment. First, work on positively reinforcing the behaviors that you like. Don’t be afraid to offer rewards for good behavior and cooperation. However, there is a right and a wrong way to reward.

2) When rewarding or bribing your child to do what you want them to do, make sure that you make the prize something that they want. One child may be motivated by a new toy while another is motivated by a quarter. Choose something that is affordable, the goal is not to spoil the child. Don’t offer a grand reward that can be difficult to follow through with. Make sure that there is a reward that is not only motivating to your child, but present when you offer it. There’s nothing like a dangling carrot to get someone moving!

3) Don’t make the mistake of overwhelming your child. You might find out just how stubborn they can be if you tell them that you want a disaster of a room spotless in a certain amount of time. Give them small goals that can quickly and easily be accomplished. Have multiple rewards ready and help them if you can. Talk about things that they want to talk about while you clean so that they associate cleaning and organizing with positive attention and experiences.

4) Make it easy to stay organized. Use open containers and label them with what goes inside. Keep buckets with small pieces across the room from each other so that they are less likely to get intermingled. Let your child use infant hangers, children’s hangers, or baby hangers to hang their clothes. They are easier to handle, come in interesting colors and cartoon designs, and won’t damage small clothing.

About the Author: Kurt Adams is on the staff of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of infant hangers. The right baby hangers, like wooden baby hangers and children’s coat hangers, keep baby clothers organized and children’s hangers are great for retail stores.

Creating an inspirational bedroom that reflects the personality and style of your little girl can be rewarding in a number of ways. Helping her to establish good habits through proper organization that is easy to maintain, will further the benefits of having a cute girl’s room. It is fun to research and figure out which styles will fit your little girl’s decoration needs. Remember to keep organization in mind so that you can also teach your daughter to keep her room clean by herself.

When things are easily cleaned up and organized, girls are more likely to want to keep their rooms straight. When they are able to do this on their own, it can actually help to develop life-long cleaning habits and a higher self-esteem. When looking for themes and decorations, concentrate on what inspires her. Using things and colors that she loves in the process will make her happier and more proud of her new space.

1) Painting is an easy way to spruce up the room and make it special. Let her help you choose colors that reflect her personality. If you’re worried that she will pick something that you really don’t like, go to the store and pick up paint samples for her to choose from. With fewer options, she is less likely to get overwhelmed or choose something that you know she won’t be happy with in the long run. Paint the walls, trim, doors, ceiling, ceiling fan, and even furniture if you’d like. You can paint decorative trim accents in the corners, along the wall at chair-rail height, or along the ceiling.

2) Use her name as inspiration in your decorating. You may find templates for painting her name on the wall or removable appliqués that can simply stick on. You can decorate her bedroom door or closet door with personalized words, art, or decals. Making her room “hers” will help her to enjoy the room, respect the space, and be proud of what you’ve created together.

3) Keeping organization in mind is important so that she can easily keep her room neat and clean. Provide areas for her to display her favorite dolls, stuffed animals, collections and other things that she considers important. Small shelves are inexpensive, easy to hang, and can be painted to match the room. Shelves with pegs or a mirror with hooks will give her somewhere to hang things like a purse, backpack, robe, or jewelry. Cubby-style shelves with bins or baskets are very useful for organizing toys, doll clothes or collections of small things without making the room look cluttered.

4) Organizing the closet in a way that makes laundry easy to manage will help your little girl keep her room clean. You can buy decorative children’s hangers that match her room. Small hangers, like infant hangers and baby hangers are easy to handle, won’t stretch out her special outfits, and will help save space in the closet for other things. Getting the room easy to manage will ensure that your little girl will love her room and be proud of the fact that she can take care of it all by herself.

About the Author: Kurt Adams is on the staff of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of infant hangers. The right baby hangers, like wooden baby hangers and children’s coat hangers, keep baby clothers organized and children’s hangers are great for retail stores.

Getting ready for a baby to arrive is a big deal. It can be a stressful time in a mother’s life, trying to make sure that everything is done and that she has everything she needs. Preparing for the baby’s arrival can be intimidating, so we’ve compiled these tips to help you make sure that you have done what you need to do before the baby comes.

Preparing for the baby’s health is probably the most important step. Call your insurance and ask what you need to do to add the baby to your plan. Most insurance companies will add the baby over the phone immediately after they are born. Find out which pediatrician you should use and call them. Make sure that they are accepting new patients and let them know when your baby is due. Stock your medicine cabinet with infant medication that your baby might need in the first few weeks at home. Don’t forget a thermometer, cool mist humidifier, and an appropriate liquid medicine syringe.

Preparing yourself for mental support is another important thing to do. Have a list of family and friends that you can call if you need to talk. Other mothers are great for lending an empathetic ear. Have someone stay with you for the first few days so that you can get some rest when you need it. Be sure to have your family ready to get help for you from your doctor if you experience effects of postpartum depression.

Get the essentials ready for your baby. Your stroller, baby bath, lotion, diapers, wipes, and other baby items will help you to feel more prepared. Clothes and blankets should be washed and ready to use. Use a chemical/dye/perfume free detergent made especially for baby’s delicate newborn skin. Do not use fabric softeners on your clothes or your baby’s clothing. It’s a good idea to wash your clothes and your baby’s clothes in the baby detergent for the first couple of weeks.

Getting the nursery and your room organized will help to keep you from being overwhelmed in the first few weeks. Organize the baby’s closet and label containers with things like socks, pajamas, sheets, and layettes. This will not only make finding what you need easier for you, but also for the other people that may be trying to help you out. Hang delicate fabrics on infant hangers, children’s hangers, or baby hangers so that the necks do not get stretched out and the fabrics do not get torn.

About the Author: Kurt Adams is on the staff of Only Kids Hangers, a leading provider of infant hangers. The right baby hangers, like wooden baby hangers and children’s coat hangers, keep baby clothers organized and children’s hangers are great for retail stores.