With being home a lot during the day, we were having an issue. The issue of the tidy room. I was sick and tired of having to tell multiple times, aka NAG, set timers, threaten, bribe…ANYTHING to get the kids to clean their room. And so yesterday I decided enough was enough. I bagged up 95% of their toys. DONE.

Now I’ve heard of people doing this before. And I have even done it in a very limited way. You know the whole rotating box things or books…you put away a portion of the toys and then after a certain amount of time you switch the toys out. This is a great idea! And I’ve done it successfully with books. So WHY don’t I do it more often???!!! I don’t know. Call it lazy. Or maybe I’m a pack rat. The key that I’ve found for myself is the belief that when I am bagging it up, I’m not getting rid of it. I’m just putting it away for a time. For some reason this mentality makes it MUCH easier for me. This allows me to figure out what things are special, what we miss, and then I can donate the rest. Whew.

This whole thing has me crazy interested in the results. How will the kids do? Will they find enough to entertain themselves? When will they ask to have stuff back? Will it actually lead to us getting rid of a lot of it? Will it lead to me decluttering the rest of the house???!

Here’s the results after the 1st day.
-I did the toy stash/dash at about 8:30am while they were outside playing. NO one even noticed until 4:30. 4:30!!! WHAT?!? This shocked me.
-When they did notice, it was just a “oh mom. Are you organizing?” When learning why their toys left, they hardly even blinked. WHAT?!? Fascinating.
-We are over 24 hours in and still no asking.

I was talking about this with a friend, and she told me all about how she’s done this regularly for years. Oh my stars. I am so late to the party. Do you guys do this? Where have I been? She said she always does it WITH the kids. The first time it was tear filled and terrible for them. Now it is as easy as pie. There’s MAJOR teaching moments in this kind of activity. I’m still in the baby steps of the process, hence me doing it alone, but someday I think this will be a wonderful way to do it.

Oh this is so fun! And freeing. Although maybe not as fun if it is MY stuff. 🙂 But I’m willing to try. Maybe I’ll do the same method. Bag and stash for a couple weeks so I don’t freak out and then go through and donate. Might be time to crack open this book. “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up.” After all, it’s been cluttering my bedside for the last 2 months!