Child's room

Remind your children that 5 or 10 minutes each day will keep their rooms in good shape. If they save all their tidying until a weekend, it will probably take an hour or more, and no kid wants to do that on a Saturday!

Rearange your child's room so that they can help keep them tidy. Make sure the furniture, etc., is appropriate for children - a low desk and dresser with drawers that slide easily, a closed with hangers and hooks they can reach, etc.

Once the room is rearanged, and organized to start, let the child know that the room and the things in it belong to the child. If you keep the responsibility, the child will feel it belongs to you, not them, and they might not want to take care of it.

Once a child reaches about 5 years old, they can do simple chores, like straightening the bed - just remember that your standards might be too high at first, so let them do it as best they can, it will get better.

You should, if possible, make older children's rooms "off-limits" to younger children and adult interferance. Unless the room is a total mess that might infect the rest of the house, the best thing to do is to let them take care of it. You don't need to fight over a few items on the floor or the desk, or a bed that's not made. It will be easier to get them to do other chores around the house, and maybe even straighten up their own room when company comes. Be warned though, most adolescents will probably stuff their junk in the closet to tidy up quickly when asked.

More organization tips

• Lists Setting up a calendar and lists to assist in the organization process.
• Message Center Setting up a central place for messages and important information.
• Are you organized? A quick quiz to find out how organized you are, and how much you can do to make yourself more organized.
• Make your own organizer Making your own organizer to track tasks and dates.
• Telephone tips Ways to save time and frustration with the telephone.
• Errands and appointments Making the most out of errands and appointments.
• Using short periods wisely What to do when you only have a few minutes.
• Mail How to handle mail efficiently.
• Housework Make housework more productive and effective.
• Company Preparing for, and entertaining, company.
• Company Kit Setting up a kit for when company arrives on short notice.
• Each evening Preparing for the following day.
• Simple tidying Life can be easier if you set up areas for situations, tyding up the whole house.
• Laundry Ways to save time and money with the laundry.
• Distributing the Burden You don't have to do it all yourself, you can share the load.
• Delegation How to delegate effectively.
• Child's room Keeping your kid's rooms tidy.
• Storage Where to put things.
• Pack rat How to avoid being a pack rat.
• Messy Closet Cleaning out a messy closet.
• Garage Sale How to have a successful garage sale.
• Moving Sorting through your stuff for a move.
• Prevention Some ideas to prevent cleaning chores.
• Odds and ends How to deal with odds and ends that just kind of show up to clutter a room.
• Organizing Your Home Basics of organization.

Visitor Comments

After reading the short comments on de-cluttering, its really helped me and the family keep upto date so the house is clutter free.

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