It’s time for our second challenge of the year! I thought it might be fun this year to start off with some challenges to help us all get organized, and make managing our homes just a wee bit easier! I used to do these regularly with a group of friends of mine and the camaraderie and accountability really helped. Each Tuesday I’ll post different assignments in our challenges and I hope you will join us! (Need to catch up? See previous posts in this series HERE).
ASSIGNMENT 11: Kids’ Rooms
Hopefully by now, the kids’ rooms aren’t the scary thing they started out to be. I know days and weeks and months could be devoted to dealing with kids’ rooms, so we won’t really go there. Let’s just work on a basic “we’re about to move” purge/organizational job for now.
And yes, you’ll need to do this for each child’s room. My girls share right now, so it’s easy for me. Hopefully you will be able to get your kids’ rooms all done in one week. Feel free to draft your kids in to help. Heck, they made the mess, right?
What I’ve learned in my many moves, is that for kids, having their own stuff is KEY for helping them to adjust to a move. That is why we always take their blanket and their pillow with us in their suitcase. Their sheets and toys (as many as we can fit) go into our “quick” shipment (too complicated to explain). And any larger, or heavier items will come later. We also let each of the girls pack a backpack with as much as it will carry. Often this is what we use to entertain them on the plane/car, but it must also keep them satisfied until our “quick” shipment shows up (usually a week later).
Since you’ve already purged and cleaned out the toys that part of the move won’t be so hard. But I just want to mention it here, because during a move it’s important to find out what a kid needs to make things feel like home. FAST. Trust me. If your kid isn’t handling a move well, no one else will, either.
So let’s review the steps you used in the Master Bedroom:
You will need that laundry basket and more garbage bags.
Step 1: Get that laundry basket and pull out any items that belong in the room that you are working in. Then, go through the room and find ALL the items that do not belong in that room and put them in the basket and get them out of that room. The only time you actually go put things truly away is when you need to go back to a room you’ve already completed. Otherwise, just toss it in, and know that you will get to it later.
Step 2: Purge. Get rid of everything that can possibly be gotten rid of. If the Master Bedroom is a vortex for junk, then kids’ rooms are where garbage hides to escape the executioner. So be sure to get under the beds, in the closet, drawers, bookshelves and every little crevice. You never know what you’ll find dying or growing mold in a dark corner.
And this is a good time to go through kids’ clothes and figure out what is out of season and what is too small. Make sure all of that stuff makes it down to your consignment or donate piles. And if it’s too stained or torn up to actually get sold? Throw it away now. What’s the point of holding on to it?
If you are holding clothes to pass along to a younger sibling, have a plastic bin sitting right there and put the clothes automatically in. I label these “(younger child’s name)- TOO BIG” on the bin. Genius right?
Ideas For You:
I used to have another bin in progress inside their closet that said “TOO SMALL” so all I have to do is pull that bin out when it’s time for consignment sales. As soon as I would see them try to put on an outfit that no longer fit, I would take it and put it in that bin, making sure the bin is on a high shelf where they couldn’t reach.
Now, however, we use a plastic garbage bag, and when we do the seasonal clothes changeover, the “TOO SMALL” bag goes immediately to be donated. Just so much easier.
We have already covered toys in an earlier assignment. So the only thing I usually have to deal with besides icky hiding things and clothes, is books. See if there are books you need to pass to a younger child’s room, or if there are baby books, etc, that you have completely outgrown. You either need to put them away for posterity or find them a new home. It is SOOOOOO hard for me to give books away; I have such an attachment to them! It’s great to find a friend with a new baby that will appreciate them as much as we did. In the past I would get an adorable little reusable little tote and stuff it full of baby board books, and “gift” them. Leaving me plenty of room to go get more books!
Step 3: Organize. This step is sometimes a simple “put things back where they go” but more likely, this is a “put things back to where they ought to have been in the first place.” For me, this will mean, putting clothes back on hangers like they should have been, and making sure there are clean sheets on the bed. (Anytime I remember to do this, is a good thing.)
Step 4: Sort. Again, at this step, it’s time to sort the kids’ stuff for our “move.” I do need to sort out anything else of theirs that needs to come with us in our suitcases, which books I would like when we first arrive in our “quick” shipment, etc. Having those stations ready to go is a good thing by this point.
You might want to go ahead and start looking at what clothes you already have for next season and make a list of what you’re going to need to stock up on. And check their shoes! Goodness knows, I will go do a clothes run, and realize two days later the girls have outgrown all of their shoes.
Once you’ve completed the first kid’s room, move right on to the next. Keep rolling along, you want to make a big big dent very quickly.
Next up will be all remaining closets and storage spaces of your house!
Feel free to post in the comments, or link up! I’d love it!
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