Picture this: a room with clothes and shoes strewn about, clippings of your kid’s last craft project, piles of school supplies and what seems to be an endless collection of toys. Sound familiar? How many times have we walked into this scene, spent what feels like ages tidying up, only to find the exact same scene a few minutes later? Between chores, school and bedtime activities, keeping our kids’ rooms organized can be a challenge.

Instead of spending your next weekend stacking toys and other belongings for the umpteenth time, check out these 5 tips to keep your kid’s room organized year round!

Use Your Wall Space

With most of the mess in your kid’s room taking up the floor, using the wall space can be a big help. Extra tip: consider using the wall behind the door!

To do so, you can install bookshelves that will be useful to store reading and colouring books, notebooks and other materials your kid might need for homework assignments. Organizing the bookshelves with your child at the start of the school year can help create a good habit to keep their materials tidy.

To install your bookshelves, you’ll need baseboard or moulding pieces, aluminum track and wall anchors, saw, drill, hammer and screws.

• Measure and cut the aluminum track and baseboard to fit your wall space.
• Insert the wall anchors and mount the track on the wall with screws.
• Secure the baseboard pieces onto the aluminum track. You can use screws or construction glue for this.
• Fill up with your child’s favourite books. Place those materials your kid uses the most at a height where they can easily be reached; place those books seldom used higher up.

Designate and Set Up a Workstation

One of the keys to keep the mess away is to establish spaces for different activities and supplies. For example, setting up a workspace for your kid to do homework, colour or do crafts can help keep all the necessary supplies in one place.

You can set up a desk or worktable for your kid to have a surface of their own for their activities. If you have limited space, consider using a folding table or fold-up desk that can be attached to the wall and put away when not in use.

At this workstation, you can also set up a DIY organizer for all your kid’s supplies. You can keep it simple and use containers found in your own home. Here are a few storage solutions and ideas to consider:

• Use muffin trays for smaller supplies like paper clips, sharpeners and erasers.
• Clean and remove the label of soup or veggie cans. Glue Velcro or magnets to attach the cans to a board where they can be attached when not in use. These are perfect for supplies like pencils, scissors and crayons.
• Install a magnetic bar and use metal tins you can detach.
• For older kids, try repurposing glass jars where they can clearly see their supplies.
• Find inexpensive baskets or caddies to store larger supplies like glue, scrap paper and ribbon.

Whichever DIY idea you use, make sure to clearly label each container to keep everything organized. Painting containers and labelling them with your kid can be a very fun activity!

Use Mobile Storage for Toys

Once playtime is over, you might find your kid’s room looking like a toy tornado just came right through. For a quick (and, honestly, kind of fun) way to clean up, you can create your own mobile containers that can fit under the bed or at the bottom of your closet, where your kid can easily reach them. You can have your kid roll the containers around and placing toys in them before bedtime!

To create your own mobile storage, you’ll need some containers (drawers, shallow bins, crates or even baskets), glue or a drill and screws, and some casters (wheels) to attach to the bottom.

• Flip your container upside down and mark the 4 corners of your container where you’ll attach the casters.
• If you’re using wooden containers, attach the casters using the drill and screws. If you’re using plastic bins or baskets, you can simply use glue to attach them to the bottom.
• For a personalized look, you can paint your containers to match your kid’s room décor!

Set Up A Grab-and-go Station

Your kid’s backpack, jacket and lunchbox need a home within your home. To avoid finding a trail of belongings when returning home or running around in the morning in search of a lunchbox, set up a station where these can be stored.

You can create your own station using hanging hooks:

• For lighter items, you can use contact glue hooks on a strip of corkboard.
• For a sturdier station, you can use a wooden board and attach it to the wall, using a drill and screws. Then, attach hanging hooks onto the board using short screws.
• Make sure to install these hooks at a height your child can easily reach.

For heavier items, you can add a few cubbies to store loaded backpacks, rainboots or any sports gear your kids need.

Rent A Storage Unit

Sometimes you might simply run out of space to store all your kid’s belongings, even after tidying up. In this case, you can rent a storage unit to get the necessary additional space for those extra items you might not need right away, but which you can still easily access whenever you need them. Many storage facilities, such as U-Lock Mini Storage offer a variety of size options and month-to-month rental so you can get the storage unit that best fits your needs, for however long you need it.

At U-Lock Mini Storage, we have storage facilities across Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Our facilities include storage units Victoria, storage units Parksville, storage units Nanaimo, storage units Burnaby,storage units White Rock and Surrey, and storage units Chilliwack. Contact us if you have any questions!

Children love playtime, but they can easily lose interest when it’s clean-up time. Have fun! Turning cleaning into a game by using a timer or playing find & fetch games will make the job enjoyable.

By using these tips, you can be off to a good start to help your children keep their spaces tidy for longer and build good habits and organization skills that can last a lifetime.

When it comes to decluttering and organizing our homes, we might sometimes set the bar too high and end up ditching the task soon after. Between work, school, family duties and daily errands, the reality is that most of us don’t have the dedicated time to spend organizing and decluttering. This means we simply have to learn to organize on the go!

Decluttering doesn’t have to be the difficult and unachievable task we sometimes make it out to be. Instead of trying to tackle it in one go, taking a few conscious steps on your day-to-day will simplify organizing in the long run. As you prepare for the coming holiday season and start decorating your home, focus on making some conscious planning to save your time and energy – you’ll thank yourself in the seasons ahead!

Here are five tips to start decluttering and keep your home organized during the holiday season.

Organize While Packing and Unpacking Christmas Decorations

We all have found that broken bauble or an elf with a missing leg that have stayed around creating clutter. When you’re getting ready to decorate your home for Christmas and have taken out boxes with decorations, start by sorting out what you need and what you don’t as you go. Keep a bin nearby and fill it with things you don’t need or use anymore as you unpack, and either donate or throw it out right away.

When it’s time to put away your decorations, make sure to label each bin and box and note what items you’re putting in it. You can even number each container to identify it or label it with the room where you usually set up those decorations. Keep a list of containers and their contents in the garage or closet where you store them; that way you’ll know where everything is next year!

Clear up as You Wrap Christmas Presents

As you’re wrapping all your gifts, avoid keeping those bits and pieces you won’t use again. Immediately toss out old, wrinkled wrapping paper, short or mangled pieces of ribbon and damaged tags and cards.

Simplify your wrapping game by using an over-the-door organizer or a DIY wrapping station. You can streamline your wrapping by getting neutral wrapping paper like brown or white that you can use all year with seasonal or themed ribbon.

Declutter When You Entertain Guests

When you invite guests over for holiday get-togethers, make note of what you no longer need to prepare for entertaining. Donate any utensils or dishes you haven’t used in a while to cook or serve and get rid of broken items or sets with missing pieces you can’t use anymore.

Conversely, if you noticed you were missing a utensil or platter that would have made preparation easier for you, or if you need to replace a broken item, take note. Then, look out for end-of-year sales or new-year deals to find these missing items to be ready next year.

Reorganize Your Holiday Baking Supplies

Christmas cooking and baking often require special ingredients and utensils that you might not use the rest of the year; this can result in cabinets full of old spices, unused or expired baking ingredients and burnt or sticky items that were used once and forgotten after. As you start planning your baked goods for the season, throw out any items you don’t need or can’t use anymore, and make a list of what you’ll need for this year’s special meals.

As you shop for new ingredients and start your seasonal baking, plan ahead and store your fresh ingredients in air-tight glass or plastic containers to preserve them longer and keep them organized in your pantry or cabinet. When you are done with your holiday cooking and baking, throw out any ingredients you know will go stale before next year’s holiday season. 

Rent a Storage Unit

Sometimes you might run out of space for all those holiday items you only need once a year, especially if you live in a smaller space where every inch counts. Other times, it might be hard to let go of decorations and items with sentimental value. In these cases, you can rent a storage unit to safely store all your seasonal belongings until next year, with the ability to easily access them in case you need them before. Many storage facilities, such as U-Lock Mini Storage offer a variety of storage unit sizes to choose from for your storage needs. A month-to-month rental mode allows you to store your belongings for however long you need.

At U-Lock Mini Storage, we have storage facilities across Greater

Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Our facilities include storage units Victoria,storage units Parksville, storage units Nanaimo, storage units Burnaby, storage units White Rock and Surrey, and storage units Chilliwack. Contact us if you have any questions!

Above all, make reorganizing and decluttering an enjoyable activity that won’t take hours of your time; you can even get your family involved and make it a seasonal tradition! Taking these small steps as you go through the holidays will make a big difference in the long run.

Whether you’re planning for your first term in college or looking for a better way to organize your current dorm room, it’s important to maximize your living space.

Any available space in a student’s dorm room gets quickly cut in half when boarding with a roommate. This means it is crucial to make the most of every inch and effectively use the space available. For this, check out these tips to organize your dorm and keep it that way!

Reclaim Your Floor Space

It’s simple – use bed risers. It’s surprising how much floor space can be made available under dorm room beds. Bed risers might only lift your bed a few inches, but this provides plenty of extra space for flat or smaller items that might not fit elsewhere. You can also use this space to store seasonal items or items you only need every so often.

Need more space? Use a loft bed. This solution provides way more under-the-bed space that can be used for a desk or work table, a couch or more storage like a tall boy dresser. For this, you’ll need to remove the bottom bunk to free up the space. You can choose to go for a DIY project and personalize this space for your needs.

However, if you’re looking for something simpler, a futon is a great, versatile option. It can help you save space during the day and transform into a full-sized bed at night.

Use Your Wall Space

When trying to maximize your dorm room space, making use of your walls is essential. You can choose from a variety of removable attachments to keep your desk and countertops clear. Here are a few options for your wall:

Magnetic board or strips. You can keep items organized above your desk by attaching a magnetic strip to the wall where you can attach metal containers for your supplies and other small items – you can even use it to keep your keys in a handy place. Alternatively, you can hang a magnetic white board on your wall where you can both make notes with erasable markers and use magnets to attach notes. Some boards even have a cork section attached where you can use thumbtacks to pin papers and notes.

Removable pods. Small things can quickly stack up and become a messy pile. For these trinkets, you can use stick-on pods or containers that you can attach to your wall or on the side of your desk,

Adhesive hooks. You might not be able to nail or drill anything to your dorm room walls, but you can still use adhesive hooks that you can remove when it’s time to leave. Adhesive hooks are a great temporary solution that can easily be installed. You can attach these to your walls, door, cabinets or the side of your desk to hold anything from your headphones next to your bed to your jacket behind the door.

Make The Most Out of Your Closet Space

You can maximize your closet space using your hangers and other attachments in effective ways. Check out a few tips to make the most out of your closet:

Stack your hangers with pop can tabs. You can collect a few pop tabs to slip through the hanger hook and you’ll be able to hang another hanger onto the tab. You can use two or three tabs as the height of your closet allows. That way, you will use more vertical space and save space on your rod.

Use a pocket organizer. You can use the inside of your closet door to hang a pocket organizer where you can store shoes, socks, totes and any other belongings that you can’t hang elsewhere.

Use tension rods. You can get extra hanging space at the bottom of your closet by attaching a tension rod below for shorter items. You can also use tension rods to create some shelving below for your shoes without having to nail anything! 

Use multi-purpose storage

There are additional multi-functional solutions that can add storage space within your limited dorm room space. Here are a few pieces to consider:

Storage tables or ottomans. In a reduced space, it’s beneficial to choose items that have more than one function. Ottomans and tables with storage are a perfect example that you can use to store extra accessories and stash blankets, shoes or clothing you don’t need immediately.

Organize with caddies. Not only are shower caddies a great item to repurpose anywhere in your room for extra wall storage, but they are also easy to find and easy to install and remove. You can also use some bed caddies to store your charger, books and phone instead of using a nightstand to save some space by your bed.

Door-handing organizers. Just like the closet pocket organizer, you can use door-hanging organizers behind your dorm room door. Here, you can keep your items ready to go out of the dorm room in the morning. Keep a few pairs of shoes, bags and other items that you’ll need for the day.

Use Dividers to Avoid Messy Drawers

Keeping your drawers tidy will save you tons of time in the long run. Instead of spending half your morning looking for a matching pair of socks, use drawer divider inserts to keep your clothes organized. This will also help you keep your drawers organized for longer, as you’ll know exactly where everything goes when it’s time to put the laundry away.

While you can purchase these divider inserts in your nearest hardware or homeware store, you can also create your own using cardboard or foam core to create your own compartments.

Rent A Storage Unit

Sometimes the space available to you in your dorm room might just not be enough for all your belongings. For those extra items and even furniture, you can rent a storage unit to safely store them. You can use the storage unit to store all your seasonal belongings, your sports gear while not in use and even use it to temporary store your things while you rearrange your dorm room Many storage facilities, such as U-Lock Mini Storage offer a variety of storage unit sizes and a month-to-month rental so you can find exactly what you need.

At U-Lock Mini Storage, we have storage facilities across Greater Vancouver and Vancouver Island. Our facilities include storage units Victoria, storage units Parksville, storage units Nanaimo, storage units Burnaby, storage units White Rock and Surrey, and storage units Chilliwack. Contact us if you have any questions!

Making the most of your dorm room space is important, especially since you will be spending

your time here for the next few years. As you go through college, you might make changes and upgrades to adapt to your different academic activities and needs. With these few tips, you can take some steps that will help you keep your space organized during your stay!