My daughter, the 7 year old hoarder

quidsy

I sell anyting of value on ebay then give my DS the money, it's amazing how "unattached" he can become to something he previously claimed was his favorite thing once he knows he'll get paper money out of it. He even gave me his toystory woody doll he'd has for 4 years to sell cause the pully stopped working. Luckily for him nanny had already bought him a new talking one for his bday & I gave him a pound for the old one & dropped it at the charity shop.

pigpen

trailingspouse wrote: »

This is a bit radical, and it takes about a day to do it, but it works -

Empty the whole room - all the drawers, the wardrobe, all the toy boxes, under the bed, everything - out onto the landing. Then piece by piece, pick things up and let your child decide what should happen to it. The choices are - keep, throw, give to charity shop, give to younger cousin (or whoever). Have bin bags ready for action.

I've done this with all my older ones..


I took everything out of their room binning obvious rubbish as I went, broken toys, shoes with holes, scrappy bits of paper etc..


I then boxed up as 'toys' 'clothes' 'paper' 'shoes' 'makeup/toiletries' We went through the boxes together and everything had to be a split second decision.. keep or get rid of.. anything else was not her decision, if she wanted to keep it it went in the loft or in her room depending on whether she wanted to use it or store it..


We got rid of loads and loads of stuff.. I had 3 stacking boxes in the loft and just what she wanted in her room. When she moved out it was easy to pick up and take to her house.


What age is she?? If she is under an age to be sensible about clutter (depends on the child!!) I would go in and gut it and ignore protests.. and all the obvious rubbish wouldn't be in the house more than a few hours.


My 13 y/o just got the brunt of my flinging last weekend.. she messed the room so I filled 2 binbags! When I get time I am doing her heap of crap as above.. she has hoarder tendencies and I'm not accommodating it!!


I am gradually whittling OHs $h!te stash too!!


eta.. ah.. 7 years of age.. I'd not be giving her a choice on what to keep and what to fling.. I'd go in while she was at school and go through it like a whirlwind.. obviously favourite toys and played with stuff could stay but everything else would be gone. Breaking the attachment to collections of $h!te at an early age is necessary.. memories are in your heart and head not in a piece of clutter! I learned the very hard way!

themull1

I tidy rooms when the kids are at school. I find that if you ask them, they never want to get rid of anything.

TinyToes

We have 4 ikea trofast units. I find these amazing for keeping the room tidy but everything is still accessible too. Something like that may help?