It’s finally spring, and you can practically smell the Pine-Sol in the air. The urge to spring-clean is real, but good luck finding a surface to scrub buried under … So. Many. Stuffies. Art projects. Toys and clothes. Trinkets.

I’m pretty sure someone sneaks into my house at night and deposits clutter while we’re sleeping. It’s hard to remember that in the B.C. (before children) years, I was a minimalist who stored a couple of empty boxes in my otherwise empty closets.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard of the polarizing neatnik Marie Kondo and her “sparking joy” purging method. Good for her, but you’ve got kids, i.e. no time, no energy and way too much junk. No wonder you’re overwhelmed and constantly stepping on tiny Barbie shoes.

With kids in the house, keeping the clutter at bay is a never-ending struggle. We reached out to the Marie Kondos of Seattle for tips on how to manage the chaos.