Works For Me Wednesday ~ August 15 (Cleaning Kids' Rooms)

Okay, on the cards for this week is a simple way to get kids to clean their rooms, a small bit at a time. Especially if you know there's a lot in there you need to declutter but you're busy doing other things.

Give them each a plastic dish tub. I bought mine for a few dollars each as 'folding baskets' so they could tote them back to their rooms and put laundry away themselves, but we've since switched to a 'most things hang' system so the tubs now take up this job.

I call it the "Five, Ten, Fifteen". I know, wildly imaginative but it will do until I come up with something more exciting, LOL. I send each kid into their room with instructions to find me five things they would be happy to donate (usually toys). I can almost always be found in the kitchen or doing some other chore, but the rule is they have to come and find me and show me the contents of their tubs. I then put all the items away in our perpetual 'donation box' in the spare room.

On the second run, they're to find me ten things to throw away (usually paper clutter). Again, I vet the contents of the tubs.

Third run is minus the tubs, and they're to spend 15 mins straightening up, putting things back in the toybox, and so on. Occasionally, there'll be times when they just can't find 5 things to donate or 10 things to throw away (or recycle). They just skip straight on to the 'Fifteen' and the whole thing just gets done quicker :)

(Fans of Flylady will recognise some of the same principles - she does a '27 fling boogie' that can be quite effective in really messy rooms, but for younger kids, starting off smaller can be a lot more effective. And ingraining the habit is what we're aiming for here, not necessarily a perfectly clean room on the first day, LOL)

This is a good way to introduce 'cleaning your room' to littlies, as it can become quite a game. If they're up for it, send them back in for a second round of "Five, Ten, Fifteen" to get even further ahead. It's also a good way to get them into the habit of regularly purging unwanted toys to give to charity, without that load falling on Mum's shoulders during a Big Room Clean Up which, as we all know, can take all afternoon. Sometimes when kids are told to 'go clean your room', they can look around and feel confused about where to start - this is a good alternative. Once the room is clean and tidy, a quick "Five, Ten, Fifteen" of the room each day or even every second day, will be enough to keep things straight.

Or so goes the theory!

Cheers,
Lizzie