My girls were at a sleepover party together. I woke up in the morning feeling lonely and lost...then I realized this was my PERFECT opportunity to declutter their rooms!
You see, I have a 'less is more' philosophy with "stuff". The less there is, the easier to keep it clean and organized. I admit, I am a stickler for clean and neat and tidy and organized.
My girls do not share this. I know, I know, I should get them to give to charity...and they do, at times. Old toys, old games, old books, old clothes.... But then there are other things...the 900+ drawings that their friends made that they can't bear to part with, but are honestly taking over their desk...their favorite t-shirts that are 4 sizes too small...bit of fabric from sewing projects that they are too lazy to throw away...
I go in each of their rooms with at least two bags (I just recycle old shopping bags because I am too cheap to use Hefty bags). One bag is for garbage (wrappers, bits, 900+ drawings, scraps of paper, tissues, etc.) and the other bag is for stuff we can donate (sometimes I have one bag for toys and another for clothing).
You may judge me for doing this while my kids are not home. Yes, I have been warned that they may be in therapy because they came home and I had gotten rid of the 6000 scraps of paper and the Zhu Zhu pets that they just had to have a few Christmases ago but never played with. Believe me, the Zhu Zhu pets are more catastrophic for me because I made Jason drive all the way to PA to get two off a truck in a Toys R Us parking lot when they arrived! No joke! My girls were obsessed...but quickly lost interest...as in THAT DAY. Never again will we do something like that!
I think we coddle our kids too much. Sometimes I think we worry too much about their feelings and don't spend enough time teaching them good life skills.
I know I could make my kids declutter their rooms and I try OFTEN. But it's easier to do it myself. I am ruthless. AND it's not easy to pry a size 4 tutu out of a 12 year old's hands when I am about to bawl myself because my baby is growing up. Believe me, I want to hold on to that tutu with all my might and remember when my girls were little...and there are some things (clothes and toys) that I do hold on to...but I hate clutter. I have learned that putting things in boxes in the attic only means I have to go through them AGAIN and decide what to get rid of AGAIN.
You see, I have a 'less is more' philosophy with "stuff". The less there is, the easier to keep it clean and organized. I admit, I am a stickler for clean and neat and tidy and organized.
My girls do not share this. I know, I know, I should get them to give to charity...and they do, at times. Old toys, old games, old books, old clothes.... But then there are other things...the 900+ drawings that their friends made that they can't bear to part with, but are honestly taking over their desk...their favorite t-shirts that are 4 sizes too small...bit of fabric from sewing projects that they are too lazy to throw away...
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| one bag for garbage, one bag for clothes |
I go in each of their rooms with at least two bags (I just recycle old shopping bags because I am too cheap to use Hefty bags). One bag is for garbage (wrappers, bits, 900+ drawings, scraps of paper, tissues, etc.) and the other bag is for stuff we can donate (sometimes I have one bag for toys and another for clothing).
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| my girls will not throw away any drawing or gretting card |
I think we coddle our kids too much. Sometimes I think we worry too much about their feelings and don't spend enough time teaching them good life skills.
I know I could make my kids declutter their rooms and I try OFTEN. But it's easier to do it myself. I am ruthless. AND it's not easy to pry a size 4 tutu out of a 12 year old's hands when I am about to bawl myself because my baby is growing up. Believe me, I want to hold on to that tutu with all my might and remember when my girls were little...and there are some things (clothes and toys) that I do hold on to...but I hate clutter. I have learned that putting things in boxes in the attic only means I have to go through them AGAIN and decide what to get rid of AGAIN.
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| I hung the things we wanted to give to friends on the door I almost cropped this so you couldn't see the mess of shoes in the closet; they are organized now ;-) |
My girls are responsible for cleaning their rooms. I have been known to dump messy drawers out and inspect under beds. I do ask them to take bags in and get rid of stuff and they do...but they can't bear to part with some things (like birthday party tchotchkes). When I go in and do this, it really does help them to keep their rooms neater.
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| not bad for a morning's work |
On a happy note: Allie's room really didn't have a lot of clutter, this is mostly from Piper's. I would like to think it is because I have trained her well, although it just may be that as she is getting older she collects less crap.
