21 Home Organizing Shortcuts

From toys under the couch cushions to booby traps of clothes and gadgets upon entering kids’ rooms, clutter can easily take over a family’s home. There’s no reason to let that continue if you follow a few organization tips. Four local NYC personal organizers shared their ideas with us on maintaining a stress-free kind of clean, which of course can be especially challenging in city apartments. But our four guides swear it can be done—and to good effect.

Let’s start with this ironic gem: As keeping-it-clean genius Nancy Heller of Goodbye Clutter advises, beware of organizational products that can actually create more clutter. “Purpose your space,” she warns.

Another pearl of wisdom we love: “The clutter in your home probably didn’t happen in a day, and it’s probably not going to get cleared up in a day,” says A.J. Miller, of Miller Organizing, who recommends each family member receive a specific age-appropriate job and space to clean and organize.

Step-by-step, and room-by-room, here is some more great advice from the city’s best cleaner-uppers for de-cluttering your home and re-claiming your family life.

KIDS’ ROOMS

Think of favorite toys as friends and babyish or unused toys as strangers that go to stay with other kids. When children are aware they can help another child, they are often happy to donate and take pride in doing so. (A.J. Miller)

Double-duty furniture goes a long way. The Boon Animal Bag (see photo above) doubles as a snugly beanbag-like chair while neatly stowing plush toys. (Nancy Heller)

Folding mesh cubes from the Container Store can be tucked away when not used but are great to have as new games come into the house. (Nancy Heller)

Take photos of kids’ artwork to create an art album, eliminating the need to keep every original piece. (Erica Ecker of The Spacialist)

Clean up quickly with lightweight containers (like Strapping Storage bins from The Land of Nod), so young children can throw in toys after use. (Lisa Zaslow of Gotham Organizers)

MASTER BEDROOM

You need to wake up without visual noise—a.k.a. clutter. Find a home for anything kid-related piling up in the bedroom. With an “address,” the items will always get put in their “home” rather than on your floor. (Erica Ecker)

With the hectic pace of family life, it’s crucial to make your bedroom a place of calm, relaxation, and romance, by keeping keys, phones, and change stowed away in decorative boxes or on trays. (Lisa Zaslow)
Here, or in any room, keep an EZ Fold step stool for quick reaches to upper shelving. It’s amazing how the high shelves get used when accessing them is so easy. (Nancy Heller)

LIVING ROOM

To make a small space feel larger, replace overstuffed chairs and couches with sleek, minimalist designs—an armless, open chair or a low table. (A.J. Miller)

Store puzzles in 2.5 gallon Ziploc bags, but mark the bags so you’ll always know what pieces are for what puzzles. (Nancy Heller)

Cabinetry and wall units should be cleared of old DVDs, unused items, and other junk to make way for toys, games, and other kids’ items. That way, when parents want to entertain, the space is adult-friendly. (Erica Ecker)

Nothing makes your living room look worse than piles of papers. And there are serious consequences if you forget to do your To-Dos. Try a Container Store desktop file box to match your decor. (Lisa Zaslow)

KITCHEN

Keep a Sharpie and a roll of masking tape in a drawer so you can label food with the date you opened it. You’ll be able to tell at a glance what’s no longer fresh and what needs to be purged. (Lisa Zaslow)

All items–except for daily use items such as microwaves and coffee pots–should be put away, not kept on the counter. (A.J. Miller)

Turn a lower cabinet into an arts and crafts station by putting markers, pens, and paper in caddies for kids, especially little ones, to easily access. (Erica Ecker)

Family calendars allow everyone to keep track of each other’s schedules. Sondra Boynton’s planners have vertical grids for family names at the top and the days along the side to write activities. It includes a dropdown storage pocket, 500 color stickers, and a dry erase phone list for the fridge. (Nancy Heller)

BATHROOM

Apartment bathrooms, notorious for being tiny, can be plenty cluttered when multiple people share them. Each person should own a plastic tote of bathroom products that is taken to and from the bathroom each day. (A.J. Miller)

Suction cup bins hold shower goods and keep clutter from the corners and bottom of tub space. (Erica Ecker)

Your medicine cabinet is the most accessible storage in the bathroom. Use it for toiletries and cosmetics that you use at least once a week. Store other items under the sink, on shelves, or in a nearby closet. (Lisa Zaslow)

New York Society of Play Summer Camp and Classes

Summer Game Camp There are many who do not feel safe sending their children back out into the world with summer camp, this year. To serve those parents and keep the children connected and stimulated during this challenging time, we are offering NYSP Digital Summer Camp. The name of the game with NYSP Summer Camp is community. We have made a large effort to make our camp feel like a living space, with features including &ndash; - Role-Playing games familiar and new, led by our master storytellers! - Enriching electives such as Chess, World Building, Character Acting, Crafts, Drawing, and more! - Discussion and media screening rooms during lunch! - A digital campus! - Moderated chat hours! &nbsp; Join us for a summer of games, friends, and more! Mon - Fri 10am - 2:30pm &nbsp; Roleplay Expeditions: Dungeons &amp; Dragons No experience is required to join one of our Dungeons &amp; Dragons games. Our game masters have pre-made character sheets, so you'll be able to start playing the game right away! We adapt the rules of traditional Dungeons &amp; Dragons to make them more approachable to children of various ages. Battle in dungeons, search for relics, and make new friends in our one-of-a-kind Dungeons &amp; Dragons workshop!&nbsp; &nbsp; Public games meet once per week, with different groups every time. Private games meet 1 to 2 times per week with the same group of kids. Since the players and the storyteller in the group are consistent, this enables us to tell epic tales of adventure together! &nbsp; Dungeons &amp; Dragons Junior No experience is required to join one of our drop-in Dungeons &amp; Dragons games. Our Dungeons &amp; Dragons Jr. game provides a D&amp;D storytelling experience without character sheets. Battle in dungeons, search for relics, and make new friends in our one-of-a-kind Dungeons &amp; Dragons workshop! A great way to introduce young children to D&amp;D so they can eventually move onto the main game.

Asphalt Green

Asphalt Green&rsquo;s high-quality sports programs start at 4 months old. Two beautiful facilities in vibrant Manhattan neighborhoods provide the optimal space for children to learn the fundamentals, play for leisure, or compete at the highest level. As the leading sports and fitness facility in Manhattan, Asphalt Green&rsquo;s never-before- seen training methods focus on improving your mental and physical game. Whether participating in swim, soccer, flag football, martial arts, basketball, baseball, tennis, or volleyball, coaches instill values that set athletes up for success in life and bring out their full potential in sports.

The Language Workshop For Children

After offering both group and private lessons for many years and analyzing the results over&nbsp;time, The&nbsp;Language Workshop for&nbsp;Children, founded&nbsp;in1973, has decided&nbsp;to emphasize private remote lessons at shorter intervals.&nbsp;Our skilled educators&nbsp;will&nbsp;focus their attention exclusively on the&nbsp;unique needs, learning style, and interests of your child.&nbsp;This allows a&nbsp;bond&nbsp;to develop&nbsp;between teacher and student, which&nbsp;has been&nbsp;shown to&nbsp;drastically improve retention.&nbsp; OUR METHOD&nbsp; Developed by the pioneers of language education for children, our programs bring decades of&nbsp;experience to your living room with individualized, active language classes. Each lesson is based on proven methods and materials perfected to capture your&nbsp;child&rsquo;s attention during the ages when he/she absorbs information the fastest. &nbsp;&nbsp; While other online language classes rely on videos for passive learning, we deliver interactive, and engaging lessons with native-fluent teachers. In addition, all our teachers are certified in the Thibaut&nbsp;Technique which has been featured&nbsp;in the New York&nbsp;Times, the&nbsp;Wall Street Journal, and many other well-respected&nbsp;publications.&nbsp;&nbsp; Our short one-on-one lessons give kids the chance to focus, hear pronunciation clearly, and practice speaking in their target language.  THE PROCESS&nbsp; First, students have a short meeting with our Director&nbsp;Francois&nbsp;Thibaut, in&nbsp;English, with&nbsp;their parent(s)&nbsp;present.&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut&nbsp;will determine&nbsp;the best course of study, including&nbsp;class length and&nbsp;frequency, the&nbsp;right&nbsp;teacher, lesson&nbsp;format and materials (or action games for younger students.) Then the learning&nbsp;begins!&nbsp;Mr. Thibaut will continually check in on your child&rsquo;s learning to assure they are getting the most&nbsp;of&nbsp;their&nbsp;classes.&nbsp; OTHER OFFERINGS&nbsp; We can also help your child prepare for: the French subject tests for SAT, AP &amp; CLEP, the European DELF/DALF, the Canadian TEF and other standardized testing, college entry exams, studying or traveling abroad,&nbsp;cultural changes when moving abroad,&nbsp;and much more!&nbsp; &nbsp;