Decluttering (especially children's stuff)

Judith_W

Just had a look at the photos and actually this is not half as bad as I was expecting, certainly fairly normal for little girls her age I would expect. I reckon a small amount of clearing out together then a one in one out policy might be a good idea.

Owain_Moneysaver

JodyBPM wrote: »

OK, lots of good suggestions.

I'm wondering if I'm over-reacting now - this is DDs room,
http://i859.photobucket.com/albums/ab155/JodyBPM/Messy%20house/IMAG0409.jpg
It's not so much that she's untidy, more cluttered. I have to collect up stuff from off the windowsill/desk etc at least once a week and try to get her to put it all away - every inch of space is piled high...

Um, that's tidy!!!

As she gets older she will be able to reach higher so you can build the storage units up and have shelves on the walls. A mid sleeper will give more space under the bed.

She leaves home when she's 18 or the junk reaches the ceiling, whichever is the sooner.

londonsurrey

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

She leaves home when she's 18 or the junk reaches the ceiling, whichever is the sooner.

Surely that's a bit arbitrary? If the junk went THROUGH the ceiling, then I could understand.

Kaz2904

Jody, I feel your pain! My DD is an absolute nightmare for hoarding and her stuff overwhelms the house. Unfortunately, so is her Dad and her Brother. So I live with 3 people who won't get rid of anything :eek:. I have an absolute nightmare getting any of them to part with anything but it has to be done.
I don't have too many problems with DS, I clear his room and get rid of loads of stuff. He comes home sees how tidy it is and is really happy. Then DH comes home and starts asking where everything is and DS gets upset. DH then goes mad because I've got rid of everything and upset DS.
When I do DD's, I used to use this method but got sick of it. Now, I make her stay in the room with me. It usually ends up being an entire day (9am-10pm) of decluttering with me getting my hair off with her. She doesn't want anything thrown away and I don't want any clutter left. After about 1/2 an hour I start sneezing constantly too as I'm allergic to dust and this makes me even more cross.
After the stressful day, she finds that she ca actually use her bedroom and likes being in there but oh my word, it's stressful getting it clear.

I think DH's family think that the more stuff you own, the more loved you are. Something like that. Drives me mental!

Owain_Moneysaver

What is it with people who are obsessed with tidy?

It's a normal, natural human instinct to acquire and nest-build. A cluttered cave is a comfy cave.

I blame tv programmes showing 'show home' style living -- it's a show home for telly, it isn't normal!!!

You will always at some point say "I really wish I'd kept that". Shiny surfaces are no substitute for treasured possessions. (And for some reason small children do treasure complete tat.)

Owain_Moneysaver

I should add I will declutter the sofa next year as I am expecting visitors and at the moment there isn't anywhere for them to sit.

Birdie85

I'm a hoarder although I wish I wasn't! It's just so hard to throw things out! I'm much better than I was since I moved from a 4 bedroomed house (my parents') to a 2 bed flat! I still don't quite know how I end up with so much stuff everywhere, I'm now in the habit of regularly going through drawers and cupboards etc and binning/donating 2 or 3 black bin bags of junk at a time yet more creeps in somehow.

When I was younger Christmas Eve or a day or 2 before we'd have to have a good clearout because 'Father Christmas won't leave anything new if he sees how much you've already got' and it always did the trick!

I think that you should make the clearing out of your DD's room a nice activity rather than just barging in with a bin liner like my Mum used to! How about buying some cheap scrapbooks and sitting down with your DD and her magazines and pictures etc, go through everything and cut out whatever she wants to keep and pop it in the scrapbook. That way she gets to keep the really important stuff (to her at least) but a massive pile of papers is reduced to a couple of books, she also gets to enjoy a nice crafty activity with you.

For all of the platic tat, put a shelf up and say that whatever fits on the shelf can be kept on display and everything else should be donated to charity. Even better if you can get one of those display shelf thingies for nick-nacks with partitions so it makes *20* (or however many) spaces so there's a definite limit to how many she can have on display then she can't sqeeze as many as she possible can on one little shelf!

Now, if anyone has any suggestions for stopping my DH from 'tidying' our clutter by just throwing it into any available cupboard/drawer then I'll be very grateful!

YORKSHIRELASS

I feel for you Jody. My family are the same. Clutter around the house is a nightmare because not only does it look untidy it makes it hard to clean because first you have to move things. My husband doesnt seem to see clutter in the same way that I do.

I have a 13 year old son who has always been a bit of a hoarder. I remember when he was little he used to love making things at school. You know the kind of thing where they stick a couple of toilet rolls on a shoe box and paint it? We ended up with a huge pile of them in the corner of his room and one day when he was at school I went in and threw some of them out. He cried heartbroken when he came home and I felt dreadful.

He will spend ages "tidying" his bedroom which actually just means moving things around. Rarely does he throw anything out. He also likes things on display so every cupboard, shelf, desk, windowsill is covered in "stuff" which drives me mad. Earlier this year he agreed that I could have a sort out in his bedroom and throw some stuff out which I did but gradually he has returned his room to how it was. Its hard to criticise him because he does tidy and dust his room, its just his version of tidy is not the same as mine. I have realised now that I have to accept that he likes his room to be a certain way and I am just going to have to live with it. I have enough to do looking after the rest of the house.

We have a serious lack of storage space too and this doesnt help. Our bedroom is currently piled up with Christmas presents and I will be so glad when they have gone!

MarilynMonroe_2

Did you watch that show last night about the Hoarder?

I thought of this thread for some reason!! I don't think your dd is one her way to being like him :O xx