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Make
a Messy Child's Bedroom Neat
When was
the last time you saw the floor of your
child's bedroom? Is the mess in the bedroom
piling up to the point you might lose your
child in it? If so, let's clean it up. Then
let's organize it in a way it will be easier
to keep neat.
First, go
through all the toys in your child's
bedroom. Have two piles. One pile is for
stuff to keep. The other pile is for things
to give away (charity) or to sell at a
garage sale. Honestly, your child doesn't
need 100 stuffed animals. Their room is not
a big storage space. It's a place to play
and sleep. Let them keep any special stuffed
animals and the ones they play with. The
rest need to go. Also, get rid of any games
or toys with broken pieces which can't be
fixed, or in reality, won't be fixed. You
can make an exception if it's their very
favorite toy or game that their grandpa or
uncle gave them. But tell them everything
can't be their very favorite toy. Go through
the books. Keep sentimental ones and ones
they might read again. Also, if they have a
younger sibling keep books he/she might
read. Donate the rest to your local library.
Many libraries have monthly book sales to
raise money for new books, etc. So not only
are you teaching your child how to clean up,
but you're also showing them how to help out
their community.
Once the toys
and books have been gone through, take a
look around to see how to best organize them
in the space you have. If there is ample
room under the bed, get some rolling plastic
bins to go underneath. Organize the toys
inside by sizes. If there isn't much room
under the bed, buy some plastic bins of
assorted sizes. Keep the store receipt and
return the bins you don't use. Put games in
one bin. Larger toys in another. Toy
cars/small dolls in yet another. Building
blocks can have their own bin. Etc. Label
the bins. Then put them on the closet floor.
You can stack smaller ones. If your child
doesn't have a closet, stack the bins
against a wall. Or better yet before buying
bins invest in a bin organizer. You get four
to eight metal/plastic bins which fit inside
a wooden or medal shelf system.
To save room
you can purchase a hanging net to put
stuffed animals in. Hang the net in a
corner. For the books, hopefully, your child
has a small bookcase. If not, consider
buying one or making one. For a used one
look online on Craig's List. There are some
real bargains to be found there. If you
prefer to make a small bookshelf you can buy
wood pieces and nails at a hardwood store.
You can paint and stencil it too. This could
be a nice project to do with your child.
Once the toys
and books are taken care of, go through any
papers. If your child has a desk, get
him/her to organize the papers. Afterwards
put them inside folders. Put these folders
inside the desk. You can purchase a folder
organizer. Call your local office supply
store to see if they carry them. If your
child has trouble getting rid of old
schoolwork and artwork tell them they can
keep X amount per school year and the rest
needs to be released to the recycling bin.
Or for the artwork it can be given away to
relatives. If your child doesn't have a
desk, once again, you can put the keepsake
papers in plastic bins. But don't store them
in your child's room if he/she doesn't need
them. Store them in the garage or attic. Or
even the hall closet. The point is you don't
want your child to go through the papers
again and then have them strewn about the
room once more.
Hopefully by
now things look neater. If the room still
seems cluttered, look around and ask
yourself, "Does my child need every item in
here?" Remove excess furniture and large
toys your child doesn't use. Maybe it's the
rocking chair you rocked her in as a baby.
If she doesn't use it, remove it. She can
use the space. If there are any big toys,
such as a plastic doll house that hasn't
been used in ages or a frog bean bag chair
that has a leak, either put it in the attic
or get rid of it.
I saved
organizing clothes for last. Pick a period
in the day you and your child will have
enough time to go through their clothes. Go
through all their drawers, as well as the
closet, to see what fits and doesn't fit
anymore. Clothes that don't fit, but are
still in good use, can be passed down to a
younger sibling, a relative, or a friend. Or
you can give them to a homeless shelter.
Once you have gone through their clothes,
teach your child to fold their clothes
neatly. You can label what goes inside what
drawers with removable sticky tape if you
want. It's easiest for children to have
separate drawers for each clothing type. A
pants drawer. A shirt drawer. A PJ drawer. A
sock drawer. An underwear drawer. Though the
socks and underwear can go together to save
space. If you live where you have seasons,
you can save space by using the drawers for
only seasonal clothes. The rest of the
clothes can be stored in bins and taken in
when that season arrives.
If you really
want to get into organizing you can organize
by clothes and color. Take the closet: All
plain shirts are hung first. Start with the
color white and go darker. White. Yellow.
Light blue. Violet. Dark blue. Brown. Black.
Next, hang the fancy shirts. Go from white
to dark again. After that, hang the dresses.
Then the sweaters. Then the jackets. All by
light to dark. This looks great, but
remember your kid is just a kid. If it
doesn't stay this way, let it go. With a
messy child just be thankful if they can
keep their room clean for a week.
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