Last weekend, after a moment of pure, brain-exploding frustration that my boys had no idea where any of their clothes were (even though they carried armloads of clean and folded laundry into their room only two days earlier) . . . I declared that Saturday afternoon would be spent decluttering their room.
There were no cheers of delight.
I didn’t care.
I sat on the bottom bunk holding a black trash bag and leaning on a laundry basket designated for donations.
And . . . I spouted off many words of motherly wisdom:
1. Don’t start over there. Let’s worry about the stuff you trip over first.
2. Do we actually need that sheep/cuckoo clock? (The one that baaas on the hour.)
3. It can’t be your favorite drawing if it was at the bottom of a pile of trash.
4. Do you even see that corner? That one. The one piled high with stuff?
5. Next time you receive a gift you know you’ll never, ever play with . . . let’s return it for something you’ll actually use.
6. Please stop wasting your energy doing flips off side of the bed.
7. The corner! The SAME corner. Please don’t leave that corner until it is completely clear.
8. Where do books go? Put them there.
9. IF I let you keep that snakeskin, it must NEVER be left anywhere where I could possibly accidentally touch it. Ever.
10. Any money that is not in your personal designated “money spot” will be divided equally between you. Period. Shhh. We’re not discussing it any more.
What are some things you’ve heard come out of your own mouth while helping your kids purge the, ahem . . . clutter out of their rooms?
I’m linking this up to Top Ten Tuesday over at ManyLittleBlessings.com.
Funny! I feel like I am constantly nagging my kids, especially my daughter, about their rooms. They are old enough that they should be able to clean on their own (13 and 16), so I can remember any recent quotes. But I did get so frustrated recently that I had my husband remove my daughter’s door from the frame. I told her she could have her privacy back when it was clean. And it didn’t take long – but also didn’t take long to get messy again~
“Can’t” remember….
“How exactly did you carpet the entire room in Legos? And WHY do you want to spend your money on yet another Lego kit??”
I know where you are coming from, but I have to say I LOVE the sheep “cuckoo” clock. No, no, please don’t mail it to me…my son has no space in his room for ANYTHING else
It has a unique charm . . . I guess. And really, it’s exactly the sort of thing I would have chosen from a prize room as a child!
I am frequently telling my kids that they clean faster when they aren’t sitting down…. I make them squat or kneel so they can pop up and put things in the right place. Another one is “ok, stop looking at that now…. It takes 5 seconds to figure out a)what it is, b)to whom it belongs, and c)where it ought to be located…” Some day I am going to prerecord myself telling them these things and sit in a corner reading and pressing ‘replay’.
Just put it on a loop tape and wire it to play subliminally under their pillows every night until it happens by osmosis into their brains.
Hee hee.
Nothing I say but something my “everything has a place and everything should be in it’s place” mother would say/do to me (her unfortunate slob of a daughter).
I would come into my room to find EVERYTHING that was on my bedroom floor/under the bed/bottom of the closet/stacked on surfaces was now tossed on the top of my bed-which now had no sheets on it (so I guess it was technically my matress). I had to get everything put away to her specifications before I would get the sheets to make the bed. Boy did that make for a LONG day.
Ouch. But I may have to try that at some point!
Some days I wish she would come to my house and do that now (but don’t tell her that). It would definitely make me stop procrastinating.
Oh I love that clock! It’s so cute!! (yes I would totally take that off your hands
LOL The last time I had my daughters clean their room, when I went up to check it when they said they were done, I saw piles of “stuff” shoved in a corner. When asked why they thought they could do that they said “because we didn’t think you’d come look”….I told them, ALWAYS clean like I’m going to be a psycho mom checking every inch of this room! LOL
So, last week I exhumed every toy in the house and put them on the living room floor.
Then I left the house.
Then I came back and sorted all the toys. My kids are 4 & 6 so I just let them play with the discoveries.
Then I swept out their rooms and introduced them to “what space and order could feel like in your space.” they agreed it was sort of awesome.
THEN I had them “shop” the living room for the best, most important toys that would fit in their rooms.
Voila.
The leftovers have left the house.
It was a little more positive choosing what to keep that would fit than choosing what to let go of. We’ll do it again in Advent to make space for the new toy onslaught!
Erica, I LOVE this idea! It’s truly brilliant! Think you might want to write it up as a guest post? If not, I may make it its own post!
I’ve learned to say, “Is it MOM clean?” when they come tell me they are done. That usually sends them back in there for a second round of cleaning, LOL. Because they know I come check with a garbage bag!
I still haven’t had the occasion to find myself saying any of those things, but oh, number 1… I need to record it and put in on repeat when *I* clean and declutter.
Because we have just turned 1 year old named Rachel, our constant question when claiming that their room is clean is “Is it Rachel safe?”
“if you don’t cooperate, daddy is bringing the shop vac upstairs to clean up all your legos.”
If I want their room cleaned up, I just grab a garbage bag and open it in their doorway. They start running to clean it up. I have been known to tie the bag on the door handle, that way they can see it and it serves as a reminder that anything left where it shouldn’t be goes in there and never comes back out.
Oh my, oh my, oh my – I’ve said every one of those things (ok, don’t have the sheep clock, but I’d have a good substitute for it).
Looks like you struck quite a chord, Nony – look at all the comments! I can relate to nearly every one, and appreciate the tips, too.
The only thing I’d add is: when we near the ‘finish line’ I’d say something like “now, isn’t this nice? I know you really like it this way. So THIS time, we’re going to keep it this way, right?”
to which the response is always goofy grins and enthusiastic nods of the heads and “yes, Mom”s (big sigh)
What the heck is that?
That’s disgusting.
How long has that been there?
So funny that I found myself thinking it could be an inner dialogue with myself, actually, as I try to purge my own stuff. Well, except for the parts about snakeskins and flipping off of bedsides…
LOL! Or how about…
“There is no stuffing left in that pillow. Throw it away already.”
“Pick a new favorite shirt that doesn’t have a rip across the front”
” Do you really NEED all the tags from your new clothes?”
“What is that thing? An apple? It’s blue and fuzzy!”
Ah, boys. Gotta love them!
my mantra for my girls (3 and 5) is, “bend down, pick something up, put it where it goes!” if i say it once, i say it a thousand times. they are notorious for seeing one pony on the top of the pile, which triggers their minds to search desperately to rescue ALL of their ponies from the pit of toys… meanwhile, they are spending valuable time sifting through toys that could already be put away!!
your blog has been an encouragement to declutter our house, and i’m thankful that after a major cleanout a couple of months ago, they’ve been doing great (mostly) at keeping things picked up! thank you!!
“NO! You CAN’T keep it….because I can’t tell what it is or was. And it kinda looks like poop. DON’T EAT IT!!!!!!!!”
Said this to my two year old daughter when trying to clean out her toy box. Figured out it was once a banana, when it fell apart.
Ha!