The Children’s Room: Organizing

During your organizing stage, some of your deep cleaning tasks will be done as well so you will be saving yourself a few ‘steps’ during this first big task. Before we can get to all the stuff that is in this room, we need to get rid of all the clothes on the floor, on the bed and hanging around the room.

If your child has a bookshelf were all the school papers, books, videos, and movies are kept, take off what is no longer needed. Children seem to keep all their papers from school, even if these papers are from two years ago. If they really cannot part with them, at least putting them in a plastic box and under the bed or in the attic will organize this room a little more. Putting movies, books, and videos, even games that are considered too young for your child away for another child will thin out this room a little more.

I am going to make my child choose to only have ten videos on her shelf instead of twenty.  One cannot watch them all at the same time, and some of the cartoons are really for one or two year olds, and not for twelve year olds. Apply this to your own child’s situation so they have no choice but to pick their favorites and allow you to sort out and thin out the other videos.

If you really thought that my girl’s room was bad, look at the boy’s room. I know, there are two of them in there, but they have stuff all over the floor, on their dressers, even on their beds that really could be organized and cleaned up.

Your organizing will apply to all of the children’s rooms. Yes, it is going to take you a few days to get through them all but it must be done so you can work on just regular maintenance chores for a clean and gleaming home.

You are on an organizing spree. Getting rid of things that the children out grow, and that they are too old for is your mission. You have to remain strong and take a stance that your child is older now, and explain this too them so they want to get rid of some ‘stuff’ that is a bit too young for them anymore.

Where can you get rid of ‘stuff’ that your children have agreed to get rid of? Quickly take it to your local thrift stores, homeless shelters, or second hand stores and hand it over. The longer it sits in your home, the more your children are going to look at these things and want them back.

The shelving is a little barer, you can see the floor, and the closet does not have things falling out of it anymore. Under the bed might be packed with plastic containers with treasures and games, and a corner of the room might have a neatly stacked pile of games, but you are on you way to deep cleaning!