Kids room is always a mess!!!

MrsLK

Hi everyone...

Am hoping for some tips to get kids to keep their room tidy... I have left it for a week to see if they will do anything and I honestly can no longer see the floor!!! They are both girls age 6 and 9 so I dont think I am expecting too much!! I know every now and again their little brother (nearly 2) goes in and makes a mess but I always clear up after him (unless he's been encouraged by his sisters in the first place lol).

I have tried stickers/pocket money etc. I really dont know what else to try and its beyond depressing everytime I walk in!!

Any tips/suggestions would be appreciated and put to good use.

I'd like to add that in all other areas they are fantastic, well behaved and pretty much angels lol!

Thanks

L
x

kj*daisy

My DDs room is like that - she plays in it loads, but is messy. I just leave it now, and do a big tidy very now and again. So no answers, but I know how frustrating it is, DDs room looks lovely when it's tidy but I refuse to tidy it everyday and I don't want the row with her to do it everyday either. She helps when we do the big tidy!

Cat501

My girls' room was like that when they were younger, I think it's especially bad when they have a lot of "bitty" toys - lego, jigsaws, Barbies with tiny tea-sets and stuff! I did the same as kj*daisy - shut the door and ignored it most of the time, until the occasional big blitz which would take a couple of days if done properly!

I think if you have a couple of firm rules - no plates/cups/food/litter left in the room, and that they put their washing in a basket, the rest isn't so important unless it really gets you down

sjprmc01

I'm lucky in that I have a huge walk in cupboard in the livingroom so most of the toys live in there on an Ikes unit that has pull out boxes in so I keep all of a certain type of toy together. The only things that live in their rooms are soft toys and some dolls.

However their rooms are still constantly a tip as they own too much stuff. I do need to weed through it and I am making slit progress in getting rid of things but truth be told its more likely the mess has been made by me

I don't think there is a room in my house that doesn't have a floor pile of 'stuff' in it. However my cupboards and wardrobes are tidy, go figure!

rachbc

Picking up is part of the bedtime routine in our house - I carry any toys that are down stairs up when dd goes up to get ready for bed, we put everything away then she gets in her pjs - it takes 10 mins max everynight - much easier that waiting til it gets so bad it takes hours. Having enough storage and a home for everything makes it an easy job but we still get a whinge occassionally esp if she is tired but she still has to do it!! Her desk and window sill do tend to get cluttered during the week with bits bought back from school, stuff shes made etc but she sorts those out as part of the weekend house tidy - when her bed gets changed and floor hoovered.

My bug bear is clean clothes on the floor - she chages about 3 times a day and roots through draws pulling stuff out looking for what she wants - drives me nuts and if I spot that during the day she is called away from whatever she is doing to sort it - hoping that she realises eventually its easier to sort it at the time than miss out on something she wants to do to come back and sort it later!!

heavenleigh

Give the kids away......only way you will ever have a tidy home!

I have 4 who are academically brilliant and have the manners of saints when not at home......

Here you would think they were brought up in a pigsty!

Again....give them away!

PasturesNew

Is there actually plenty of room for everything? I never had room for my things, so my room was always a mess because it couldn't be tidied.

PasturesNew

heavenleigh wrote: »

Give the kids away......only way you will ever have a tidy home!

...give them away!

This is probably the best advice most parents could receive.

delain

My lot tidy theirs before they come down on weekend mornings. It's been a long road, but we're getting there!

In the next month they're having a new bunk bed and wardrobes etc so I will use that as a reason for a clearout

MrsLK

Thanks for all the response

I do think half of the problem is way too much stuff and not enough space/storage... so i'm going to be a mean mummy and have a really good clearout whilst they are with their Dad this weekend and see if I can at least cut down on the amount of stuff they have!

I definitely need to put the puzzles somewhere else as my son thinks its great to empty all the pieces from all the puzzles onto the floor!! It takes ages to sort them back into the correct boxes so I think a high shelf is in order for those lol!

Thanks again for your responses, I will report back after the giant clearout this weekend

L
x

YORKSHIRELASS

I was like you when mine were that age they simply had too much stuff. I got mine to do a car boot sale but they have got to be old enough to be prepared to part with things for money and yours are maybe a bit little for that yet.

Another thing I did was box up some things that they didnt play with very often and put them in a cupboard or in the loft so you can rotate things around a bit. I bet when you sit down and look at the toys they have half of them dont get used. If you can persuade them to just put them away somewhere its better than trying to persuade them to get rid of them completely.

Its the old adage of a place for everything and everything in its place!

I have never had great success getting my two to tidy their clothes. My eldest is 13 and he will get up on a morning and put clean clothes on rather than unravel the crumpled heap on the floor to see if its still wearable. I once let him carry on with this until he had nothing decent that was clean to wear. The trouble was we were going out for the day when we reached this point and I had to take him out looking like a ragged orphan!

Good luck!