How to Quickly Tidy a Messy Bedroom
Kids Bedroom
Most parents will be familiar with an untidy children’s bedroom. The older they get, the messier it gets. Kids will spend time in their rooms playing games, watching DVD’s and eating snacks. The result being DVD’s all over the floor and dirty plates with dried on food under the bed.
When friends or siblings hang out in your child’s room, the mess increases!
Teach Your Child to be Responsible
It’s not always easy to make your child aware of the mess they have made. To them, their stuff is just where they like it to be. Move it, and they go crazy!
This is certainly the case with my (almost) 10 year old autistic son. He likes things to be in order. But his idea of ‘order’ is not the same as mine.
So I need to teach him to be responsible for his belongings, as after all, it is his room.
Ensuring the room is relatively tidy for the majority of the time will automatically cut cleaning time, so this is the first step.
Have a Chart
Kids need to be reminded, so by having a wall chart will help them to remember to tidy up after themselves.
You child will need to learn to hang up or fold their clothes, or put them in the laundry basket if they are dirty.
Any cups and plates they take to their room must be cleared away.
Books should go back on the shelves, DVD’s and computer games back in the cases and other games back in the box.
At the end of the week you can reward your child with pocket money, stickers for the chart or a treat of their choice (such as going to the cinema). If they fail to keep on top of it and their room becomes untidy again, they will miss out at the end of that week.
It’s always nice to show that you are aware of when they are being helpful, but never take rewards away from a child. Positive praise will give them a good incentive.
Tidy the Room
When the room is untidy it can be difficult to know where to begin!
Go in with your duster, vacuum cleaner, a bag for rubbish and a bag for the charity shop.
Start at one side of the room and work across.
If your child has shelves keep the books together, DVD’s together and games together.
Put games and discs back in their boxes ready to be put away. Dust the shelves before putting things back. Anything which is broken, missing or is never used should go in the rubbish or recycling bag. Or if you or your child wants a little extra money, sell unwanted items on ebay!
Work across the room, dusting shelves and surfaces before putting things back. Tidy the wardrobe and under the bed by throwing away old toys and stacking things up neatly.
Use pencil holders so that you child can find what they need when they do homework.
Storage Boxes
Storage boxes are great to tidy up toys, games and school work. Store them neatly in the corner of the room, in the bottom of the cupboard or under the bed.
You can buy plastic storage boxes from discount stores or stationary shops. Some will stack up to save space in a small room.
You can also use other boxes to keep things in. Shoe boxes, hat boxes or old Lego boxes come in handy.
Let your child decorate them with stickers or their name to personalise them.
Room tidies which hang from the ceiling are also great for smaller rooms.
Drawers
Drawers are good to keep things tucked away. Use sets of drawers for clothing, and for arts and crafts or games.
Plastic drawers which are similar to storage boxes can be slim and make use of space.
Multi-Task
When you are tidying the room, dust around so you do not need to go back. As soon as you have tidied and cleaned the whole room, the dust should have settled. You can then vacuum all around.
Strip the bed and vacuum the mattress. Vacuum under the bed and behind drawers.
Keep the window open to give the room a good airing, and re-make the bed with clean bedding.
Will you use a reward chart for your child?
Get Your Child Involved
If your child sees how much work goes into cleaning, they should appreciate their tidy room more.
To save more time, involve them in the process.
As you work on one side of the room, your child can work on the other. Ask them to put their games in the right places and pile up what they no longer play with.
While you are vacuuming, your child can be tiding their clothes in the wardrobe but hanging things up. Anything which is too small can go in the charity bag.
When the room is clean, the chart system can begin. After a few weeks of getting into the habit of hanging up their clothes and putting DVD’s back into the correct box, they should rely less on being reminded!
Get some tips for paying chores for kids, by CassyLu1981
