34 Weeks of Clean: Rinse and Repeat: Week 19- Bedrooms 1&2

We are back!  I hope you had a good half-time week!  I know some of you took a well deserved break while I know others of you used this week to catch up.  Either way, I hope it was a week to do something that made you smile!  I also know for a fact that we have some new friends joining us.  If this is you, or if you just need a reminder of why you jumped on this crazy train with us, I would encourage you to go back and read THIS POST!  I will wait here while you catch up!

And so where do we go from here?  Back to the bedroom.  So here's the deal.  For the next two assignments you are getting an advance notice. We will spend TWO weeks, this one included, on bedrooms. (The Master Bedroom was done in week 15 if you need to catch up!)  Children's, guest, whatever.  Therefore, if you have more than 2 bedrooms left you will need to pair some up.  In our case, you will see the two girls' rooms together and then a week for our boys.  No guest room in this house, but you divide as you see fit.  The basics will be the same!

The Basics- 

• Strip the beds and wash ALL of the linens.  Replace any torn or stained sheets or such. Rotate your mattress if you think it needs it.

• Take everything off all flat surfaces and move it out!  Some children are not naturally neat people!  So thankful that only one of my kiddos is still in this stage and let's just say, it is NOT one of the girls! ;)

• Dust all surfaces, sides and all!

• While stuff is still off, move furniture away from walls so you can wipes down baseboards and vacuum around all edges.

• Replace furniture or rearrange while you have the chance! ;)  See a trend here?  I am the queen of changing furniture around, just ask my friends.  Luckily for the girls, there is only one way to arrange Riley's room and I am not in charge of Ashton's room anymore.

• Put things back, but try to eliminate half.  Remember, we are on a quest to declutter as well as clean.  Does your child need it?  Do they use it?  Could someone else get better use of it? Make a pile and move it out! See notes at the bottom!

• Time to tackle the drawers.  Again, take it ALL out, decide what you need to keep and then put only those things back, neatly.  Now is a good time to get rid of clothes that are too small, not in good shape, or your child hates. Now, teach your children how to keep it clean.  Even a young child can be taught to put things away neatly.

The boys may have a Lego problem, but this girl is all about socks!

       
   -My best tip for you here- fold t-shirts in thirds and then put them in the drawers.  We have found it is much easier for a child to see the shirt they want without making a mess of a stack of them, and you can fit many more in!

• Wipe down light switches, door knobs, and door frames, inside and out.  Look up, again, and clean off ceiling fans and light fixtures. 

• Clean window frames and windows.  Once again, mini blinds and curtains are on the list.  Sorry!

• Vacuum the floor and you are done.  Mostly!

 

Although this does not apply to my older girls, let's just take a moment to talk about toys, since I KNOW this is an ongoing challenge for many of you. (I still have a "little" and I get it!)

   -Stop buying them!  We have a pretty strict rule about no buying toys unless it is birthday or Christmas.  Best thing we ever did.  Of course, when a child has saved up their own money we make exceptions, but we want our children to learn early that just because we WANT something does not mean we NEED it.  Ok, yes, we do break the rules for an occasional special treat, but I mean special and oh, did I say small!?  Happiness is not built on toys alone and it is time kids today were taught that.

   -Stick to a few themes.  Our children do not need one of everything.  Really, they don't.  Pick a few things they like and stick with them.  The themes around here tend to be Legos, nerf guns, Playmobile and audio books.  Find what your child likes and plays with, and don't get carried away. In my experience, it is parents that get caught up in collections, not kids.  Let's not teach them our bad habits!

   -Containerize and rotate toys.  (I made that first word up) Trust me, it helps and it works.  I did another decluttering post a while back that you can check out that shows one way to containerize easily.  We tend to use baskets and when the kids were really little we rotated those baskets in and out every few weeks, a few at a time.  You would be surprised at how excited they get about toys they haven't seen in a few weeks.

Even coloring supplies can be kept together!

- Special items!  Yes, even my kids like to hang on to things, despite my natural tendency to dump stuff in the trash.  You know, important things like rocks, paperclips, old art projects.  There are two ways we have helped with that problem.  One - a small plastic tackle box. The rule is if you can fit it in there, it can stay.  If not, something else has to go.  And two - a simple folder with pockets. If there are papers you just cannot let go of, put them in your folder.  Again, if there is no more room, it is time to weed out what you do not want anymore.

Let's face it, every child's room is going to be a little different.  I would love for my boys' rooms to look like the ones in the Pottery Barn catalog.  I would REALLY like that.  But for now that is not reality for us, OK, that is probably NEVER going to be reality for us.  So we do our best. When we have lived in houses that have playspace areas we tried to make bedrooms just a place to sleep.  I love that!  But that does not always happen.  So sleep and play must co-exist.  And sanity must reign, so I try to make it as easy as I can for them to maintain a reasonably clean room and ignore accept the rest.

Clean up, declutter, and embrace the space you have!

So, about that Half Time week, how'd you do?  What area did you catch up on?  I want to see!  Keep those pictures coming- we have some great prizes thank to our lovely friends at Redeemed and 621 Gifts!  Have I mentioned how much I love those friends?  I would love if you would drop by their FB pages and say hi!

Until next week, happy cleaning!

Blessings,