My Swiffer Was Not Up to the Job

I’m on Weekend #3 of the Great Bedroom Decluttering. I can think of about 1 million other things I would rather be doing than coughing up a lung on the accumulated dust in my girls’ bedrooms.

It was brought to my attention that our upstairs is a disaster area. I’m not sure how I have tolerated the piles of clothes, random gift bags, gum wrappers — thankfully not gum, and other flotsam and jetsam on the floors of my girls’ rooms for this long. My son is in the clear since he has very few toys and will make his bed each day with a gentle reminder.

My girls?!?! With my girls a gentle reminder is not even heard. A loud reminder might be heard, but not acted upon. I usually resort to yelling to get them to clean their rooms.

I walk past their rooms each day and get angry at the mess. I need to admit to myself that it is no good yelling at the preteen and the teen as I have allowed their untidiness to go unchecked for far too long. With other rooms in the house, I let clutter pile up. Not. Any. More.

Here’s what Musings from Me did:

– I typed up a list of bedroom chores for each girls divided by area — Bed, Closet, Desk, Floor, etc. I taped the list to the back of their door.

– The preteen’s issue is TOO many clothes. Her clothes are on her bed, on the floor, on her desk chair, under her bed, and sometimes in her wardrobe on the floor and on hangers. 

– I had her try on all of her jeans and shorts. She found that 1/4 of the pairs did not fit — I made a pile for consignment and another for AmVets. About 1/4 of the pairs were reclaimed by the teen — both girls wear the same size much to the teen’s chagrin. The teen has a habit of dumping clothes she does not like in the preteen’s room — the preteen was not happy with her sister. I put away 1/4 of the pairs — I told her I will keep them in the basement until she can handle having more clothes in her closet. The remaining pairs now fit in her drawer.

– I did the same with the preteen’s shirts, sweaters, and underwear.

– The teen’s issue is STUFF! She has books, notebooks, makeup, clothes, stuffed animals, projects, school textbooks and binders — all over her room. She’s a teen so there are times when she changes her outfit several times and leaves clean clothes commingled on the floor with dirty clothes. 

– I rem0ved all stuffed animals from her closet and room. I was gagging on the dust by the time I dislodged all of the creatures — I’m not sure how my allergy prone daughter has tolerated her room for so long. I think she might actually be breathing easier. I told her she could have as many back as would fit in a small laundry hamper. I keep one laundry hamper in my bedroom for all our family.

– I removed all the stuff from her closet and under her bed. I had her divide her stuff in to three piles: Keep, Give Away, and Toss. She tossed out a sizeable amount. Her keep pile will be divided between the drawers of her desk and a small Rubbermaid box.

– I moved the preteen and the teen’s beds so that the beds are along the wall. I found when the beds were in the middle of the floor too much stuff was hidden on the side of the bed I couldn’t see. Not anymore! My girls now have so much mroe room with the bed against the wall. 

Time will tell if the Great Bedroom Declutter results in the preteen and the teen mending their ways. I know one thing for sure — I will do my best to remind my daughters that our new motto for bedrooms is “One thing in, One thing out!”