Whereas I miss spending lazy summer days with my seven-year-old, I have to admit there are some perks to having her out of the house and back in school.
If you’ve ever attempted to clean your kids’ rooms while they are in it, then you know what I’m referring to.
Try sorting through mountains of old art projects in an attempt to save some and toss the rest, and you know that the task can be akin to Chinese water torture.
“You’re throwing that away!” my little Picasso screams each time I try to recycle even the most obscure art project.
Now that she is back in class I am free to sift through the mess without going to battle over single sheets of paper with random paint streaks, piles of dandelion fluff, and what appears to be a collection of lint.
Basically, I can dump at will minus the shrieks and screams.
That said I don’t operate with a bulldozer. I am mindful of my daughter’s prized possessions and wouldn’t dare trash anything that would cause irreparable harm to her psyche. Rather, my goal is to get her room organized so that she can keep it that way for the foreseeable future–by herself.
To start I lowered the clothing rods in her closet so that she has full access to her school uniforms and other outfits. In addition, I rearranged her dresser so all her socks, underwear and school belts are now in individual plastic containers in the same drawer. Now she can grab everything she needs for class by opening a single drawer, and hopefully I won’t hear, “Mom, I can’t find…” at the moment we should be backing out of the driveway on school days.
Another organizational technique that I have found to be quite effective is the bottom up method. When cleaning a child’s room organize from the bottom of the room, and work to the top. For younger children who aren’t tall enough to reach the top of bookshelves or dressers, the items they use the most should reside on the lower areas. Place less-frequently-used objects on higher levels.
Finally, I just invested in a label maker and I can honestly say it has changed my life. If you have younger children you may be better off using a computer printer to make simple picture labels with colorful graphics, but my daughter can read, so traditional labels have worked wonders for detailing what’s inside of certain drawers, toy storage cubes and plastic containers. Now she doesn’t have to rummage through areas, tossing items and making a mess as she goes provided she reads the labels first.
How do you keep your kid’s room organized?
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