The simple hack Katie Piper uses to keep her daughter's playroom tidy

The presenter has a secret weapon to help keep her daughter's belongings in order

While you might have resolved to have a tidier home in the New Year, getting your kids to stick to that can be tricky. However, presenter Katie Piper's organising tip is a genius hack for any parent with young kids.

Related: Presenter Katie Piper shares her simple tips for creating a happy home

Mother to two young girls, Katie knows how tricky it is to keep family spaces and the playroom tidy. While labelling can help keep drawers in order for an adult, if your children are still learning to read it isn't the best solution. Instead, Katie Piper uses colour coding and picture labels made using her Cricut Joy machine to help organise the playroom, which you can currently pick up £70 in the Cricut black Friday deals.

katie piper reading book with book shelf

(Image credit: David Parry/PA Archive/PA Images)

'This is where the Cricut machine is really good because you can make all kinds of labels,' she explains. 'We labelled all the different drawers in the playroom. So with my eldest, a conventional labelling machine might have worked, but with my youngest, she needs all the different colours and fonts because she can't read.'

To help teach her youngest daughter to put things away, Katie creates labels with little logos and pictures on. While Katie admits that her daughter still isn't the best at tidying away after playtime, she's getting better.

white book shelf with books and toys

(Image credit: Future PLC/Colin Poole)

'She's got a guide,' explains Katie. 'It's also educational because it's learning her colours. So I say all the puzzles go on the green shelf where the green writing is. She'll remember that as green.'

'It complements the work she's doing at nursery, so I think this has been the really good thing about it all, it's not been laborious,' she adds. 'It's been a great approach on how to get them to do basic life skills.'

blue wall with wooden table and lamp light

(Image credit: TBC)

Katie used a Cricut Joy to create her own custom labels. The clever gadget is label maker of choice for organising experts such as The Home Edit who recently starred on Netflix.

The Cricut Joy is available to buy from Hobbycraft, Very.c0.uk and Amazon, for £179.99. If you aren't ready to splash the cash just yet, you can try the system using pre-made stickers.

Related: 5 genius home organising tips from professional organisers The Home Edit

Now the kids have no excuse not to put away their toys.

Katie Piper has partnered with Cricut to create #MessagesOfJoy this Christmas.
You can recreate Katie's range of designs with the free Design Space app and Cricut Joy, which retails at £179.99 and is available at Very.co.uk, Curry’s PC World and Argos. 

Rebecca Knight
Deputy Editor, Digital

Rebecca Knight has been the Deputy Editor on the Ideal Home Website since 2022. She graduated with a Masters degree in magazine journalism from City, University of London in 2018, before starting her journalism career as a staff writer on women's weekly magazines. She fell into the world of homes and interiors after joining the Ideal Home website team in 2019 as a Digital Writer. In 2020 she moved into position of Homes News Editor working across Homes & Gardens, LivingEtc, Real Homes, Gardeningetc and Ideal Home covering everything from the latest viral cleaning hack to the next big interior trend.