Keeping your home clean is a daily struggle. Between taking the time to organize your rooms and trying to keep things off the floor, it can seem like a never-ending task. This gets astronomically harder when you have kids, especially when it comes to their bathrooms. To make sure that you keep your sanity as the week progresses, here are 8 creative ways to keep your kid’s bathroom clean.
1. Teach Good Cleaning Habits
While it may seem like an impossible endeavor, it’s important to teach your kids good cleaning habits from the beginning. This will help them understand that cleaning a little every day is much better than having to spend hours cleaning a large mess, especially when they’d rather be doing something else. As soon as they’re old enough, make your kids help with the cleaning process. You can start this transition with having your kids put away their toys, wiping off counters, or picking up after bath time. If your kids are younger, just make sure that you use child safe cleaning wipes and show them exactly what to do in order to avoid waste and keep them safe.
2. Keep Things Organized
Another essential element of keeping your kid’s bathroom clean is to keep things organized. When you have a place for everything, everything will always be in its place. However, this is easier said than done when you have an increasing number of children. To help, try to eliminate any clutter that’s in the bathroom. You can utilize a self-storage unit to help you store away unnecessary items, extra supplies, and more. This is especially beneficial for those who have smaller bathrooms or those who have children with large age gaps. You can keep things that your older kids used safe and ready for your younger children when they come of age.
3. Add Labeled Hooks
One of the best ways to keep your kid’s bathroom clean throughout the week is to keep things off of the floor. Unfortunately, kids don’t seem to do well with towel rods and when they do manage to hang them up, they don’t look too great. Instead of using outdated towel hangers, switch to hooks instead. Hooks are easy to use and keep towels securely off of the floor with little to no effort. If you have multiple kids who share a bathroom, label each hook with the letter of their first name so that everyone knows where their towel is and where it goes. You can also incorporate a sleek hat rack for extra hanging capabilities as the week goes on. This is great for summer, when swimsuits are used often.
For those looking to keep their home’s aesthetics more uniform, there are plenty of great ways that you can incorporate more classic designs into the walls of your children’s bathroom.
4. Utilize a Bathroom Hamper
Another way to make sure that things stay off the floor is to incorporate a hamper in your kid’s bathroom. While some families are blessed with laundry chutes, most modern homes no longer have them in the design. In addition to keeping a dirty clothes hamper in each of your children’s bedrooms, put one in the bathroom as well. This will encourage your children to put their dirty clothes immediately into the bin before taking a shower or bath.
There are many ways that you can utilize a bathroom hamper. If you have the space, you can place one out of sight underneath a cabinet or behind the door. Otherwise, find one that is stylish, but functional for a small corner. For those with younger children, consider getting plastic bins as an alternative. Plastic bins make for a great place to keep wet or muddy clothing after a day out at the beach or exploring the forest. When you go to wash these, you can rinse them out in the sink before bringing them to your laundry room.
5. Store Child-Safe Cleaning Products
Chances are high that your kid’s bathroom is going to need to be cleaned far more frequently than your own. This is especially true if you have more than one child. To make cleanup easier, keep supplies close. Make enough space to store child-safe cleaning products in their bathroom so that both you and your children can contribute to cleaning up messes with ease. You don’t need much to make things work and there are plenty of great, easy to use cleaning products that you can teach your kids how to incorporate into their chores. When you simplify bathroom cleanup, your kids will be more likely to actually use the products.
Some great examples are disinfecting wipes to clear surfaces, toilet wands to help keep the bowl clean, and plenty of air freshener to keep the bathroom smelling its best.
6. Create Coded Systems
Children are very receptive to systems, which is why creating daily routines while they’re young is so important. The earlier that your children begin to move through a routine, the more likely they are to develop good habits and stick to them throughout adulthood. One way to help your children create good bathroom habits is to make sure that everything they need is in one space. Create a travel-sized bag or a color-coded organizing system for each of your children that has everything they’ll need to get ready both in the morning and the evening. You can store the bags in a linen closet or under the sink to keep surface space clean and encourage children to put things away immediately after they’ve been used. With everything at arm’s reach, they’ll be more likely to practice good hygiene and prioritize self-care. As an added benefit, if you are heading out on vacation or they’re having a sleepover, you’ll have everything already packed and ready to go. Color coding the bags to correspond with each child will make this process even easier. If you can’t color code things, at least write your child’s name on their bag to avoid confusion between siblings.
To take things to the next level, color code each of your child’s items using their favorite colors. You can get toothbrushes, hairbrushes, towels, and more in blue for one child, purple for another, et cetera. This makes things easy to find and easy to differentiate between each child.
7. Reclaim All Usable Space
Most bathrooms aren’t as big as you want them to be, making it difficult to find enough space to store everything you need. Luckily, there’s plenty of opportunities for you to reclaim unused space. Some of the best places to take advantage of extra space include the back of the bathroom door, the doors of bathroom cabinets, and any small, vertical spaces that are available.
8. Eliminate Clutter
A cluttered home will inevitably lead to a cluttered bathroom. To help you keep your whole house clean and organized, including your bathroom, take some time to declutter your space. Go around your home using the three-box method and get rid of any unnecessary items. You can either put things in storage, take them to your local donation center, make some money off your clutter, or toss damaged things into the trash. It might take some time to get through your entire home, but once you start, you’ll find that you have plenty of space for everything you need.
Keeping your kid’s bathroom clean and organized may seem like an impossibility, but it is possible with the right approach. For all of your organizing needs, utilize a self-storage unit to get the most out of your efforts. Self-storage units are a great way to compartmentalize your extra things while keeping your home clean and clutter free. However, not all storage units are created equal. You’ll want to find a storage unit that’s temperature controlled and protected to ensure that your belongings will stay in great condition regardless of how long they’re stored. Using a self-storage unit will help you declutter and organize your life, making space for things to be properly stored, used, and put back away in your home. For a self-storage company that you can trust, head over to The Lock Up Self Storage today. All of our self-storage units are temperature controlled and 100% secured so you can be assured that your things are safe and well taken care of. To learn more about our available units near you, or to talk to a representative about procuring a self-storage unit, give us a call at (866) 327-LOCK today.
