4Real Forums: Messy bedrooms

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Topic: Messy bedrooms

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Becky Parker
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Joined: May 23 2005
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Posted: May 19 2006 at 7:23am \| IP Logged

Any tips on how to keep kid's bedrooms clean? My kids have bedrooms that I can hardly walk through at times. It is so frustrating. I guess I didn't train them correctly from early on. Our house is ranch style, so when guests come over it is easy to see the kid's bedrooms. I feel like I spend so much time cleaning the rest of the house that I just don't have time to get to every bedroom as well. My kids are 12, 7, 5 and 2. Amazingly, the 5 yo (who is the most active) has the cleanest room! My 7yo dd is the worst. DH and I have gone through her room with trashbags, cleaned it beautifully, and 2 weeks later it's a pig sty. Sorry to rant here. I'm just a little disgusted and don't know how to remedy the problem.
Becky

Danielle
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Joined: Aug 27 2005
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Posted: May 19 2006 at 8:51am \| IP Logged

Quote:

2 weeks later it's a pig sty.

That's the trouble-- you just can't let those 2 weeks slip by. Living in a very small space with a very large number of people as we do, I have found it really helpful to make bedroom maintenance a part of everyday chores. Pick a time of day (late afternoon works well for us) and have everyone spend a few minutes tidying up, throwing away, and putting away. We do this in addition to a weekly "get everything out from under the beds" kind of cleaning up. The beauty of it is that it really does only take a few minutes to maintain order. It's when it gets to that chaos point that it becomes an all-day project.

We don't always have perfectly clean bedrooms, but I find this maintenance program keeps us on top of things. If we slack off (like the two weeks where I had a son in the hospital) we all really notice the difference.

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Willa
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Posted: May 19 2006 at 10:53am \| IP Logged

We have older kids so they usually clean their rooms once a week, on Mondays. I have it scheduled to do the deeper cleaning once a month. Having it scheduled on the calendar really helps.   I usually have them run through it before visitors come too.

When my kids were all younger, we would do daily clean-up "pegged" to something else, like before bedtime or in the morning before breakfast.   We needed daily or twice-daily because they could easily trash our living space in hours.

So my main tip is regular habits of maintenance. Maybe you could get your olders involved in helping with the rest of the house so it doesn't take so much of your time? We clean and launder on Monday mornings -- my older kids have a job rotation -- then buy a treat at the local market and watch a movie in the afternoon.   That is a natural motivator and gives us incentive to work fast and well so we can relax and enjoy the clean house.

Then we have daily maintenance jobs, like kitchen cleanup and sweeping and toy/project pick-up.   Our house looks lived in and not immaculate, but we have a routine for getting it in shape within the hour if we are going to have visitors.

You have a different situation because your kids are young, but when my crew were all young even the 5yo and 2yo could be pretty helpful in an immature way.   The hardest part for me was always accepting their help and supervising them.   So much easier to do it myself and more perfect results; I still struggle with this, but getting them involved paid off in the long run.

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lapazfarm
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Posted: May 19 2006 at 1:26pm \| IP Logged

I agree with both of the above. What really helps here (and I am just learning this after years of horribly messy bedrooms and all-day cleaning binges) is supervised multiple daily pick-ups. I schedule them at times I would be intheir rooms anyway so it is easier for me to supervise. In the morning after dressing, before nap, and after bathtime (after dressing for bed). This way they are quick and easy without being overwhelming. Then there is the weekly more thorough cleaning-usually saturdays where we do the floors and change/wash bedding.
That being said, I am having more trouble with teenage dd whose bedroom is upstairs, out of sight-out of mind. She just ends up doing more work on the weekend if she doesn't maintain it during the week.

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Becky Parker
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Joined: May 23 2005
Location: Michigan
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Posted: May 19 2006 at 5:05pm \| IP Logged

Thanks everyone. I guess the answer is a daily clean up. I have a cleaning schedule, but bedrooms are on the weekly list and the day is Saturday. This isn't good because we tend to go places on Saturday or do big things like work in the garden and the kids really don't have time to clean their rooms. I like the idea of adding it to "pegs" throughout the day. I'm working on a schedule and really like the idea of "pegs" for many things. I'll have to find one for cleaning the bedrooms.
Thanks again. It's seems so obvious now. You ladies are great!
Becky

Donna Marie
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Joined: Feb 07 2005
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Posted: May 19 2006 at 5:44pm \| IP Logged

We also have many in a smaller space. Simplify is the mantra here...if it doesn't have a place we give it away or throw it away. Everyone has a place to put treasures and a place to put artwork. We keep clothing to a minimum too...I hate laundry outta control aka...Mt Never Rest!

My sympathies and prayers...I just cleaned the girls room...phew...just sat down! Once a month DEEP cleaning with mom and once a week without really keeps things easier too! They clean with a re-locate box...a laundry basket and a garbage bag. Most toys are out of the room except for like... dolls for the girls and a few special items. We usually do room cleaning on Saturday with the idea that if we get done before dinner we get dessert and family fun...ie movie, game...etc...it keeps us motivated...usually...

Each room has a bookshelf filled to overflowing with books that we NEED!!

I placed large colorful canvas boxes on the shelves so we could sort books and treasures by person or type to make it seem less intimidating...

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