Teens and Messy Rooms

Oh the mountain of STUFF.  Stuff, stuff, stuff... thank goodness for doors and I can just close it off and not see it, but that doesn't really solve the issue.  Teens and Messy rooms.

We have always have had messy rooms... and over the years things like toy bins, storage carts, and other organizational tools have helped, but now it just seems the mess is just papers and other miscellaneous items that can't really be stored away in toy bins, storage carts, shoe boxes, etc.

Seeing we are young teens we are in that in between stage of toys and no toys. I want them, yet I don't, some of the items have been sitting in the bins and have a dust on them a mile high because we simply do not play with them like we use too, but we aren't quite ready to get rid of them --- because well some rainy day I might be board and decided to blow of the dust and actually play with them. It's weird stage.

Looking back at my own childhood I'm not even exactly sure when I got rid of the toys.... I know by the time I moved out -- I didn't have toys in my room anymore, but I really don't remember when I got rid of them. When I decided I really didn't want toys -- I remember getting movies, video games, and things of that nature as a teen along with clothing and I know toys weren't really on the list and I just don't remember when I got rid of the toys in my room.  I know I had them, I know I played with toys, I just don't remember when my personal space was purge of them.

So, I really don't know when my kids will feel the need to purge their own personal space from the toys either.  I don't know if we are there with them being 13/14. I don't know if I went to them and say how do you feel about that if they will be ready or feel pressure to do it.

I want them to be "kids" for as long as they want. I want them to feel secure and happy and I don't want to pressure them to get rid of things they simply are not ready for; it's a weird place to be.



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If your kids are older like mine when did they get rid of the toys? When did you get rid of the toys? How do you help your teen keep a cleaner room? Or are you like me: just close the door?

Keeping Papers, Records, and other things.

How to keep homeschool papers? I want to keep my kids' papers. How do you store them?

My advice. scan them! If it's paper scan it. save it on the computer, use file folders, and make sure you have a back up.  What if it's something that can not be scanned like a marshmallow sculpture? Take a picture, save it to the computer, and have a back up. Simple!  Best part: It takes up no more space than what your computer does. And if you back it up or save it to a cloud service you can access it anywhere.

You can also share with family.  Sharing on a blog is one good way to share things with family and have a back up.

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something.

Out With The Old-In With The New

I enjoy Christmas at my relatives because I don't have the stress of making room in my small but modest house. Although the toys are enough to drive me bonkers. I would be so much happier if my relatives would each just do one nice gift vs. many gifts. Mainly because we have a small house and the kids are left with twice a year deciding what MUST go and what CAN stay!

You see each child has a toy (bin) shelf in their room. The only toys they are allowed to have are the ones that can "fit" in their bins.

I insist that the toys be grouped by like things. So they just can't have a mess of stuff. Now there might be a few things that are naturally too big for these bins and that is okay. I do make allowances for some things like that, but even then there is a limit.

This is the reason we don't allow them to open things while at our relatives' houses. You see in order to get the item the kids have to make room for it in their room's by getting rid of OTHER stuff. If they don't want to get rid of anything then they can't get anything "new". 

My son as gotten rid of one 13 gallon garbage bag of stuff and has only "earn" 1 new toy.  My daughter has gotten rid of half of 13 gallon garbage bag of stuff and has only "earn" 1 toy. They have a TONS more toys and will have to get rid of a lot more things to make room.  I have a feeling that when they are done they both would have gotten rid of 3-4 garbage bag EACH!!

We do a similar thing in the summer. In the summer they will get rid 1-2 garbage bags EACH. The main difference between Christmas and summer in the summer time there is less stuff and it's POST birthdays. So kid's do have a bit of an overflow of toys for a few months.

What's sad about the whole process is the only time my kids get new toys is on their birthdays and at Christmas.  So often the stuff they got at their birthdays are gone by Christmas and the stuff they got at Christmas are gone by the summer.

In other words the toys here will only stay for 6 months!! This is because often the kids rather keep the newer stuff then the older stuff. This is really the reason we only get them 1 toy each (and often wish other would do the same), because in 6 months we know it's going o be gone because it broke or because the kids got rid of it to make room for their new stuff.

So what do you do? Do you make your kids get rid of their old stuff regularly?