I struggle with mess. I come from a long line of crafting hoarders and every new project calls my name. So when I realized that my family’s creativity was taking over the house, I knew it was time to do something about it. These Easy Cleaning Tips for Creative Families come from hints from more organized friends and some creative thinking that will help your family get back to making. I’ve partnered with Safeway and their exclusive Open Nature™ household cleaning and care brand today on these easy to implement tips.
Contain the Mess Cleaning Tips
The first hint in cleaning up creative messes is to contain them in the first place! And I’m not talking about squelching your imagination or creative juices, just your supplies :) There are three musthaves I use to contain the mess.
Trays
I’ve nicknamed myself the Crazy Tray Lady because I’m always ready with a tray to put under that creative project. But honestly, they’re cheap and actually help kids manage the project in a less frustrating way.
Bins
Having a place for everything makes creating so much nicer! When your kiddos say “Mom, can we make a spaceship out of cardboard and glitter and glue?” You can say yes! Because first you’ll manage the glitter (gasp!) with the aforementioned tray. And because you know where all these things are in the bins you have in the closet. And don’t make the mistake I made buying little bins. Go for the big ones, it’s way easier to manage.
And to make it even easier for you to manage, I’ve whipped up some cool Makerspace Organization Labels. Just print on label paper or use cardstock and tape them on.
To grab your free printable labels, simply fill out the form and they will be emailed to you.
FREE! PRINTABLE
MAKERSPACE ORGANIZATION LABELS
Carts
The last thing we love to have is a cart on wheels that the kiddos can access for everyday creative projects. Throw the basics on here and store it in a closet or corner of the kitchen. If creative supplies are easy to get, they get used a lot more.
Wondering what we have in our makerspace? Grab this super easy checklist to help you out. It matches the bin labels…
Streamline Cleaning Tips
I’m far from a minimalist, but I definitely have realized that clutter makes me struggle with creativity and life in general. I can’t find what I’m looking for, the kiddo has no space for her project, we don’t have anywhere to eat dinner… Here are a few tips on how to easily streamline your creative space.
- One great way to streamline is to channel Marie Kondo. For each item in your creative space, ask yourself “Does this make me happy?” This is the basis of Marie Kondo’s organizational phenomenom called KonMari. It’s easy to go through your supplies and ask yourself if it gives you positive feelings. Or maybe do they give you a bit of crafter’s guilt because you never quite got around to it. If it’s not positive, thank it for its service and let it go…
- This sounds basic, but is that bottle of paint expired? Really, craft supplies can expire, just like mascara. And if you didn’t know that mascara can expire, please walk over to your bathroom and throw your current tube away. I used to work in product development for cosmetics, and expired mascara isn’t pretty. Then come back and toss that weirdly smelling tub of playdough, too.
- Think quality vs. quantity. I fall prey to the pattern of keeping three of everything. Because, you know, what if my daughter’s friends come over. They can share. I really don’t need all that clay…
What to do with the stuff you don’t use anymore? Pay them forward. It felt good passing along a big box of sewing stuff to a costumer designer friend and bringing over some dot markers to school. I’d rather see someone use it and love it than it sit in my basement. Here are some places to play it forward.
- Donate to school.
- Give it to local churches for Sunday school or summer camp.
- Donate to a creative reuse center.
- Put it up on Facebook in sales groups.
- Or my favorite… Leave it on the curb and see who bites ;)
Don’t Stress the Mess
Things get messy. But that’s what cleaning supplies are for!! My daughter and I had this lovely creative session the other day.
But the next thing I knew after I started cleaning up, lovely turned into this…
Luckily, Open Nature™ had sent me a giant box of cleaning supplies just in time for this painting session gone crazy. Not even dried on paint could stop the cleaning power of the Open Nature™ All Purpose Dye Free Lemon Scent Cleaner. I loved the lemony scent, but was excited to hear that they have some fragrance and perfume free laundry detergent too. And I’m so glad that the paper towels are 100% recyled paper, because then I can feel a little bit better about the number I used to clean up the paint that went everywhere!
When this big box of stuff runs out, I’ll be running over to a local Safeway to grab some refills!
So, contain and streamline to help the mess. But definitely do creative projects with your family. Because a clean house is rewarding, but the time spent in it with your family is even more rewarding. Here are a few projects to get you started…
And get ready to clean up that paint afterward with some super effective, biodegradable cleaners from Open Nature.
FREE! PRINTABLE
MAKERSPACE ORGANIZATION LABELS
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