Parents with kids, let’s talk room cleanup and organization

[LLJsmom]

I gave up. I'm medium neat. And my kids have gone to the far extreme of not. Yeah, probably my bad parenting skills. I'm too tired to chase every day at every detail. I've provided baskets, closets, shelves, everything. The most I will do these days is do a serious purge once every 1-2 years. Garbage, donation or store. That's it.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

That room is immaculate, to me.

That’s the six year old’s room that I just took a bunch of stuff out of. He actually thanked me for helping him clean it! He likes things clean and neat, polar opposite of his older brother!

Adding to what you wrote is that it is very frustrating to buy them the tools to organize and keep everything in its place, to no avail. The IKEA Trofast system is great for little kids but for older ones I haven’t found anything similar.

 

[123ducklings]

I have a 5yo and a baby, their shared room is very small. Not enough room for toys in it. It's pretty much just for sleeping. There is a play area in the living room. Since it's in a shared space it all gets cleaned up before bed daily. The 5yo is pretty good about cleaning up, he knows if I have to do it it gets "cleaned up" into a trash bag. When we house clean we all do it together, he's my "apprentice". His favorite things are the spin mop and scrubbing the toilets/scrubbing in general. He does not like the vacuum, too loud.

This is where I’m at too — younger kids, most of their toys and mess is in common areas rather than bedrooms.

I just accept that things get cluttered during the day and then before dinnertime we all tidy up. As long as everything has a “home” and can be put away when it’s time I’ve had to compromise (especially during COVID) for my own sanity. Food in bedrooms is a big NO for me, but the biggest culprit in our house is actually my husband. No teens at this point, so ask me in a few years how well I’m able to hold the line on that one

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

This is where I’m at too — younger kids, most of their toys and mess is in common areas rather than bedrooms.

I just accept that things get cluttered during the day and then before dinnertime we all tidy up. As long as everything has a “home” and can be put away when it’s time I’ve had to compromise (especially during COVID) for my own sanity. Food in bedrooms is a big NO for me, but the biggest culprit in our house is actually my husband. No teens at this point, so ask me in a few years how well I’m able to hold the line on that one

SAME on the husband! I've been known to chuck and empty soda can at him after finding it in our room!