Sonia and Zoe's room: clean.
After Christmas (and after the weeks of sickness at our house!), there were some areas that needed some pretty serious attention.
I already showed that you that I tackled my laundry room (and even painted the floor in there).
I'm pleased to tell you that Sonia and Zoe and I also took on their room. It's been 3-4 weeks now and it's still in good shape, which is quite amazing.
Whenever I declutter one of my kids' rooms, I always work on it with them because I think teaching children how to clean up and pare down is super super important.
It takes practice to learn the art of deciding what's important and what's not, of figuring out what needs to be thrown away, and of thinking how best to organize the important things that are left.
I'm gonna pair the before and after pictures together so you can see the difference.
This one is, ah, obviously a before photo.
This is after, but it doesn't really show the floor.
(The cardboard box with the foil is a light hut, which we are using to grow plants for our botany course.)
But this one does. Yay for floor space!
The view looking out the door then...
and now. There really is less stuff on those wall hooks than before!
The corner by the closet before:
And now.
We got rid of a LOT of paper.
We also threw out small broken toys, found some things to freecycle, organized the closet shelves better, gave away outgrown clothes (sent some to Schoola too!) and put clothes away.
The girls even cleaned out all the random beads and papers and pencils and whatnot that were under the bed.
Sonia can fit her whole self under the bed (I posted an instagram pic here!), so she put her headlamp on, wriggled under, and went to town. It cracked me up something fierce.
It is not perfectly minimalist and neat in there (because children have possessions!), but it is so so so much better than it was before.
And because we got rid of stuff as opposed to just organizing stuff, I think the neatness will hang on for a while.
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P.S. The last disaster area of my house was the office, and while I did do a big cleanup, it's starting to degrade again. So, I will motivate myself to clean it up by promising to post photos!
Adorable! I love those Crane humidifiers. I have the "adult" version for our master bedroom, but then I found the little frog one at Goodwill for $7 and I couldn't resist it. I was a little worried since humidifiers have to be kept so clean, but I gave it a VERY thorough cleaning and we haven't had any trouble with it!
I used humidifiers for years. I filled them 1-2x/day, changed the filters when they looked mucky, and did a bleach-based cleaning at the end of the winter (i.e., only once a year). I never had a problem with slime or buildup.
Looks great! I love the feeling of cleaning out and getting rid of stuff...it's what winter time is for, in my book. Just wish the rooms would stay clean, longer!
Looking good!
When my daughter was tiny, I'd clean out her room by myself and get rid of whatever I wanted. But the older she gets (she's almost six), the more I think she needs to be involved - not only to learn the skills of organizing and decluttering herself, but so that she doesn't feel upset over her toys "disappearing".
Oh yes, six is definitely old enough to be involved. Zoe is eight and she's been involved in cleaning up/decluttering for a number of years now.
It's a little harder to involve them when they're young (faster to do it yourself!) but if you involve them now, then odds are good that they'll actually be able to do this on their own when they are older. Joshua and Lisey are pretty good at handling this kind of thing without me now!
Oh my goodness! Our sons space is the struggle in our house. Toys, toys, toys! I try to take some out and put them in storage, then organize the rest in cubbies, but those little buggers have a way of sneaking in the house (birthdays, gifts from relatives, holidays, etc). I have realized until he is old enough to tidy himself, devoting 20 minutes a day myself goes a long way in there.
I don't know if this would help, but when my kids were toddlers/preschoolers, having a basic sorting system helped a lot (a big bin for Duplos, a drawer for toy food, etc.) The basic categorization meant that even toddlers could help put things away.
Oh I am doing a purge on my house February 2nd. I took the day after super bowl off so I will be all by myself with no interruptions. Even though I have started in baby steps on this monumental task, I am doing full on come Monday. Whoot!
I love cleaning and reorganization. Well, I love the end result anyway. I just did the master, both bathrooms, and both my little girls rooms. Such a relief to have a clean house. This room looks great. I love that you show how it REALLY looks, rather than staging it for a photograph. 🙂
Yeah...Angry Birds stickers, Calico Critter houses and all! If I wrote a home decor blog, I might have been tempted to take all that stuff out of the photo, but that does seem a little disingenuous.
I'd rather show what we actually do fit into the room.
Wow, your girls did such a good job! Their room looks so tidy, but fun at the same time! My daughter likes to empty her drawers all over her floor now. And dump toys. Floor space sounds great to me!
You have my sympathies - the office is the hardest. Mine is down to a scatter of news articles and a 1" pile, and I couldn't be prouder of my efforts.
If you find your momentum lagging, you could post the "before" pix now.
Ohhh, that is SO great because I know you struggle with paper clutter. Yay you!!!
I'm pretty sure I took before pictures but it's been a while now. I'll have to go rummaging through my photo files.
I need to do this before my daughter's Bday in March when I know she'll be getting more toys! It's so overwhelming that I don't want to start! I know that makes sense 🙂
I completely understand.
What helps me sometimes is to tell myself that I am just going to clear off a dresser or clean out a corner. And then often once I get started, I'm up for doing more. But giving myself a little job really does help me to get started.
Slow but steady wins the race for long term organization. When my boys were littler (elementary school ages worked best) we did a "five minute frenzy" two or three times a week or a whole family "ten minute tear" on the weekend. They usually needed some suggestions on what to tackle in the 5 or 10 minutes but it worked really well for us in keeping up with neatness and ultimately, organized space. I set the timer so that I would not get carried away with unrealistic expectations of what was really important. Many hands make light work and all that:)
I thought I was the only one sick for weeks! I had 2 sinus infections, Flu and now one of the three kids came home with the Strep from High School! Ahhh!
Oh, man, I'm sorry to hear that.
I actually never did get sick, but Mr. FG and all the kids got sick with pneumonia and bronchitis. So much coughing around here for a while!
Looks great! I love that you do it with them, what a great lesson!
Did I miss a critical hamster update? I remember those adorable photos of the hamster budgets, and now I see cages!
You noticed! Sonia and Zoe actually each own a little hamster now. I should take some pictures and do a little post about them, since you all saw Sonia's detailed budget sheets. 😉
Nice work 🙂 I need to do some decluttering myself - it's hard because I'm renting a room and so my bedroom is also a study and storage space! I have done well lately with getting rid of clothes that I don't wear, now to concentrate on everything else.
I think it is great that you involve the kids in organising and decluttering and teach them how to do it. I think many people (myself included) lack basic decluttering / cleaning skills, and I wish I had learned more from my grandma / mom when I was little. Though I was responsible for some chores, they did most of the work for us. So thumbs up!
It is absolutely great that you let kids get involved in the cleaning and organizing! I believe that it is really important to teach them to take care of their rooms and to be more responsible! You did really great! I need to try this at home with my kids. Thank you for sharing! 🙂