Clean Sweep – Staying motivated in the bedroom!
Yesterday was a long day! I have a mother’s helper come once a week and I try to do as much as possible on that day as I can. I worked in the boys room, cleaning, purging and organizing. I have some before and after pictures to show you. They don’t have a fancy room at all, right now I’m trying to keep their rooms pretty simple and low maintenance.
Their room didn’t look this bad the night before! It doesn’t take much for stuff to cover the floor…
I didn’t get a chance to vacuum the floors yet….but everything is cleaned, organized and purged.
Laundry is a constant problem in our house as I know it is in many of your houses, based on the recent Facebook discussion we had! My husband built me laundry organizers a few year back as a Christmas gift. I love them, but in our new house they aren’t that practical to use downstairs where the washer and dryer are. I put one of the stackers in the boys room yesterday and labeled the baskets for which dirty clothes go in them. I’m hoping that will really help on the laundry. Once a basket is full, pull it out, run it downstairs and throw it in the washer!
I had a big tub of recipes and miscellaneous papers sitting in their room on the white shelve. I finally got that all sorted through, organized their bookshelf, and have one box of items to get rid of. Now it’s time to for me to tackle the girl’s bedroom!
Physical Challenge
Children’s bedrooms can be a massive job to undertake! Continue cleaning and purging today, either staying in the room you are at or going on to your next child’s bedroom. Remember that the more you purge, the easier it is to keep the bedroom clean! The less clothes your children have, the easier laundry will be to keep up with. I find it’s less painful to purge items if your children are not in the room. 🙂 I do go ask my older children on certain items if they still want it, keeping in mind their feelings and respecting their sweet little stashes of notes and special drawings. 🙂
Spiritual Challenge
As you physically clean and purge your children’s rooms, be meditating and praying about what spiritual purges need to take place in your children’s lives. What attitudes do they need to work on, and which ones have they learned from you? We are to be vigilant watchdogs when it comes to our children and what they are exposed to. While cleaning make sure the books/music/possible DVD’s you find in their room are acceptable and that they are imparting good messages to your children. Please evaluate even the Christian items in their room. As we grow and mature in our spiritual walk sometimes what was once appropriate is no longer acceptable.
Psalms 101:3 is a good scripture to remember as we do this purge.
“I will set no wicked thing before my eyes….”
A family closet has made a world of difference in my laundry woes. At least the mess is contained to one room now!
great job! I organized my younger boys room yesterday as well so I feel for you! Today I am sorting through all of their clothes.
I gave my 5 boys an incentive that if they could get rid of 300 things then we would get them a new wii game. I took 4 large bags full of stuff to our local Christian Women’s Center. They of rid of nearly all of their toys! I actually got that idea after reading and article that you pinned on Pinterest, Caroline. It has been so freeing! We still have more work to do, but we’re off to a great start!
Thank you for this series it is an incredible encouragement to know that a “supermom”‘s house looks like mine. 🙂
You did a great job! The kid’s rooms are sometimes the hardest, especially if the little ones see you getting rid of stuff. They suddenly find a great attachment to that broken toy that has been under the bed for weeks! Praying for your children while you organize their rooms is an excellent reminder. I think I will go do that today!
If the laundry sorter in their room does not work, I have an idea that has worked like a charm in our house. The laundry sorters are in the laundry room, but our children are now required to bring their dirty laundry down from their rooms every morning, as part of their “clean room” chore, and sort it! No more laundry mess anywhere in the house, not even in the laundry room. 6 children at home, from little up to teenagers. Even the toddlers bring their laundry out and sort it, from 2 years old up. This started when we trained them to clean their room and make their beds every morning. Room can’t be clean if there is dirty laundry anywhere. Just a suggestion if you have a problem with the current system! Hope this helps!
At what age can you get the boys to do their own laundry? That seems like a huge help.
Thanks for the great post! I love the laundry bin idea! With 6 kids, I feel like I’m constantly drowning in laundry. I just talked to my hubby about purging a bunch of their clothing to lighten the load. The idea of praying for my kids while cleaning is a great one!
What a great job you did on that room! And thank you for honestly sharing your “real mess” and “real progress.” 🙂