More Messy Girl cleaning tips:
Kids Room: Of course I speak most of what I know. My Kids are 3 and 1.5 years old, which means that they don't have a lot to do with keeping their room clean. They have more to do with making it dirty. Which in the past has just meant that their bedroom is messy. But, for the past two or three weeks their room has been clean! Let me share the reasons.
1. I decided to clean their room at night, after they are asleep, with the lights low. At the same time, I decided that there must be SOME kind of answer to the constant dirty of their room. I put the blankets that don't usually get used into a stack in the back corner of the closet. Then I took the basket that had been holding those blankets, and put blankets we actually use in it. I put a bunch of the stuffed animals out of sight, then put the rest in an accessible wicker basket. I must say that I love cleaning while they are asleep. I get stuff done SO MUCH QUICKER!
2. I organized toys into a few boxes. Baby toys box for when we have younger kids over, Stacking toys, ABC blocks, Nativity set. I keep these on the shelf in the closet, along with the kids books. *Hurray* for not having books and toys all over the floor. And *Hurray* for it only taking me five seconds to put any given item away, now that I know exactly where each item goes.
3. I put a lock on the closet door. Enough said.
4. Once the kids are in bed, but before they are asleep, I make sure they have their blankies and stuffed animals. Then I do a once through, picking up everything and putting it in its place. This keeps it from getting out of hand and making me crazy.
Cleaning and Young Kids:
Keep a box and a big bag near by, (maybe laundry room) to catch all the things that your kids have grown out of. The bag is for clothes to give away, the box for stuff you are keeping. This keeps me from having tons of random clothes filling up my clean laundry basket.
When Addi is cleaning up, I usually help her. Occasionally I have her clean up by herself. The rules of the game are as follows: I tell her that all the toys on the living room floor have to be picked up. There is no toy that should be left on the floor. When the timer goes off (time varies depending on mess size) if there are any toys left on the floor I clean them up myself. The toys that I clean up at the end all get banished to the basement for 24 hours. She knows I'm serious, she faces the consequence with out being confused about whats going on. I think its working. I think.
I bought place mats for the kids. I hope to have great stories of how much time they save me, sometime in the near future.
So help me out here ladies! How do you keep your kids room's clean? How do you teach your kids to clean?Labels: baby room, Kids, Messy girl's cleaning tips, Nursery