More Space Does Not Equal More Organized

The idea that having more space in your home equates to being more organized is not reality.

I have seen it many times, when a family moves into a bigger home as they have more children, and they often think they will be more organized because they have more room to spread out.

What’s missing here? The first thing missing is TIME.

Having a bigger home doesn’t mean you get more time in your day to organize your new space. It becomes harder to keep things organized because you are more spread out. And, often, you bring more items into your home than you would have in the small space - because you have “more room”.

The second thing missing is a customized organizing system. If you don’t have clear systems with a home for everything, then it will be impossible to keep a busy household organized.

We were working with a family with two children under the age of 3, who recently moved into a bigger home which afforded them a large playroom for the kids. It was a dream space, right off the kitchen where the kids could read, play, and be within eyesight of their parents.

This is what she told me about the space before we got started:

“We moved into a new home 2 months ago and I hoped a dedicated Play Room would help with some of the clutter and chaos, and help me be more organized, but I find that in the larger space, I'm feeling less organized”

It made perfect sense. The systems they had in their previous home were not set up to optimize the new space. It needed to be modified to meet their new needs in this new home.

She said, “My husband and I both work full time, and I've recently taken on more responsibilities at work, so I feel like I have less and less time to dedicate to organizing this room — which is a shame because I feel there is so much potential.”

She was right. The space had a ton of potential. Creating a playroom that was age-appropriate was one of our first goals. The 3-year-old needed to be able to play in this space and access his toys with ease. 

The books were on a shelf in the corner of the room which was not very accessible for the 3-year-old, so we moved them to a low shelf under the window. They are much easier to access for both children. And, we were able to repurpose a piece of furniture they already owned!

The family had a large stash of overflow toys that lived in bins in the garage.

She told us, “I try to rotate out toys every few weeks so there's variety (and because we have so many options), but again, I get overwhelmed at the thought of sorting through and storing toys that are not in use.

So we downsized the amount of overflow toys and made sure they had age-appropriate toys for both children in this space.

For the toy storage, instead of starting from scratch, we repurposed some bins they already owned and purchased more to match.

We kept things like arts and crafts up higher on the shelves, since that is an activity that needs adult supervision. We didn’t want the boys getting into this stuff on their own just yet.

Lastly, we added labels to the bins. At this stage, the labels help the parents keep it organized and should make clean-up quick and seamless. It’s also a great opportunity for the children, as they get older, to start to recognize words and letters – and make a big difference down the road when they can be a part of the clean-up solution!

We strive to create organized spaces for our clients that work for them and the season of life they are in right now. I am happy to report that the systems are working and the family is thriving in their new space!

“It was a wonderful experience, and I can proudly say the rooms have stayed organized (I'm very motivated to put things back in their place!).” - Sweet B Client

If you are finding a space in your home overwhelming, and you don’t have the time to get it organized, we would love to chat. Set up a free phone consultation today, and let's see how we can support you.

Be well,

Meghan LeBaudour