I sure hope this is normal or I'm in trouble! My 10-year-old daughter's room is so bad I get angry walking past it. No matter how often she is told to clean it (and she does), the next time I walk by it looks like a bomb has exploded in there. Now I can see why my mom finally gave up with me and made the rule my bedroom door had to be shut.
Buy her some bins and baskets and give her the rule that anything on the floor for more than a day goes in a big garbage bag. If she puts things in the bins, at least they will be contained. Threaten her with mice nesting in her piles on the floor (I hope she's horrified by mice like my kids were). And finally, learn to live with it, like I did (my daughter is still like this at the age of 26)!
My kids have huge closets with drawers, bins, baskets, etc.. and their closets are still a total disaster (bedroom floors too). We're constantly having cleanups and "inspections". The place then looks great - for about one day. My game plan now is to stay out of their rooms as much as possible
Looks like my saturday night! LOL. I found plastic storage bins work well. It Doesn't really erase the problem but it sure makes the room look a lot more tidy. :)
have you seen the pictures of my teen's room? This was at the 1/2 way clean point too. I have taught her how to clean her room, in fact it was a weekly task (battle). In fact we are working on it again this weekend.
Umm totally normal. I cringe several times per day at the state of my daughter's room! That looks GOOD in comparison. I go in and clean to my standards, it lasts a few days....I've started the everything goes in a box, and out to the shed. Its amazing how little she misses. Sad huh! If it was important she'd treat it with more respect right? Nope. She just isn't there mentally yet I guess. So the battle of clean your room lives on here.
haha. I raised THREE daughters and I have lived to tell the tale! :o) Only 1 of these daughters rooms/closet looked like this and I finally got to the point where I just kept her door closed! ;)
Last summer I found a link to Flylady.net on a blog...maybe it was you or Swistle? Anyway...it is amazing and has special assignments for kids, too! Love it! How to get control of chaos..it really works!
@Doxie- We've done the kid's fly lady assignments...and then literally 1 day later, it looks like this. I'm going to have to ban her from her own room if I want it to ever stay neat! 'Cause Lord knows I'm not cleaning it for her.
Dude, I was avoiding reading this post because just from the teeny tiny picture on my blog list I could TELL she isnt NEARLY as much of a slob as I am... seriously.... I would eat food off her closet floor its so much cleaner than ANYTHING EVER has been in my room, my dorm or my house. If it will make you feel better I will take a picture of MY closet and email it to you as proof that your child is an awesome goddess of cleanliness but you have to promise to still love me after...
sigh, I was that kid. Shared a room with super tidy kid. Had a mom who was super tidy woman. I did my best but never could figure out how to do the neat and tidy thing.
If it helps, I'm creative and have studied more subjects than most people could stand and loved it all. My library shelves, when I have all the shelves up and the books out, are tidy and I know where it all is, but sadly, I cannot recall where I put STUFF unless the containers are labeled or it is all sitting out where I can SEE it. I love open shelves and clear plastic bins!
I'm not a good housekeeper but have managed to keep bathrooms and kitchen clean enough not to get anyone sick-- is that good enough??
It helped my messiness a lot when I began to categorize my life and if something did not fit a category I found essential, I started getting rid of stuff and storing the other stuff by categories, in plastic bins with lids that latch on, sitting on shelves where I can SEE them.
but the kid has my sympathy because I've never really gotten good at the tidy thing and nobody could have tried harder than my mother!!
Ann, my Lizzy is also the creative one in our family. She doesn't have an 'organized' mind, so organizing stuff just doesn't...make sense to her. She's gotten better. A timer helps. But then two seconds later: BOOM! Stuff-splosion. Poor crazy girl :)
This is how my closet has always looked...so I would say it's normal haha My mom used to threaten to put everything in garbage bags and throw it out, but it never actually happened. My closet is slightly more organized now, but 5 days out of the week it probably looks like that still...good luck!
Ugh, it's actually way neater than Liam's mess. He cleans it, it explodes between 1 and 3 days later, makes us crazy for weeks, he cleans it explodes, rinse and repeat for the last 9.9 years.
I have 2 girls. Older girl's (13) room looks like that. Younger girl's ( 9) is so painfully neat you could perform surgery in there. I worry about that girl :)
My room at home looks like that because my sister and I are completely out of storage space >_>; My room at school (dorm room) is WAY tidier, albeit exponentially smaller. It would be really clean if I actually spent time there, too, instead of having my clean laundry hung all over it, dry but not yet put away...
I sure hope this is normal or I'm in trouble! My 10-year-old daughter's room is so bad I get angry walking past it. No matter how often she is told to clean it (and she does), the next time I walk by it looks like a bomb has exploded in there. Now I can see why my mom finally gave up with me and made the rule my bedroom door had to be shut.
ReplyDeleteHow does it get messy again so fast?!?!?!?! Seriously. It goes against the laws of physics or something...
ReplyDeleteBuy her some bins and baskets and give her the rule that anything on the floor for more than a day goes in a big garbage bag. If she puts things in the bins, at least they will be contained. Threaten her with mice nesting in her piles on the floor (I hope she's horrified by mice like my kids were). And finally, learn to live with it, like I did (my daughter is still like this at the age of 26)!
ReplyDeleteMy kids have huge closets with drawers, bins, baskets, etc.. and their closets are still a total disaster (bedroom floors too). We're constantly having cleanups and "inspections". The place then looks great - for about one day. My game plan now is to stay out of their rooms as much as possible
ReplyDeleteLooks like my saturday night! LOL. I found plastic storage bins work well. It Doesn't really erase the problem but it sure makes the room look a lot more tidy. :)
ReplyDeleteYep, the room was SPOTLESS just yesterday. How does this happen????
ReplyDeleteHehe, my room was always a mess growing up. Totally normal, but if I were my mom I think I would have strangled the young TriGirl.
ReplyDeleteThis is so normal. Incredibly, completely 100% normal.
ReplyDeletehave you seen the pictures of my teen's room? This was at the 1/2 way clean point too. I have taught her how to clean her room, in fact it was a weekly task (battle). In fact we are working on it again this weekend.
ReplyDeleteI fail to see the problem. ;)
ReplyDeleteME either. Our bedroom looks worse than this. Ours meaning the middle-aged adults.
ReplyDeleteWell, y'all are pretty great people, so every time I want to run from her room screaming I'll close my eyes and think of you instead ;)
ReplyDeleteYou should see my house. That's actually really good. I've been like that my whole life. It's not something you grow out of.
ReplyDeleteUmm totally normal. I cringe several times per day at the state of my daughter's room! That looks GOOD in comparison. I go in and clean to my standards, it lasts a few days....I've started the everything goes in a box, and out to the shed. Its amazing how little she misses. Sad huh! If it was important she'd treat it with more respect right? Nope. She just isn't there mentally yet I guess. So the battle of clean your room lives on here.
ReplyDeletehaha. I raised THREE daughters and I have lived to tell the tale! :o) Only 1 of these daughters rooms/closet looked like this and I finally got to the point where I just kept her door closed! ;)
ReplyDeleteOh my. At least tell her to get that American Girl doll some clothes on. Those things are *expensive*!
ReplyDeleteGood eye! And yes, I agree...even if I did buy that thing off of Ebay :)
ReplyDeleteLast summer I found a link to Flylady.net on a blog...maybe it was you or Swistle? Anyway...it is amazing and has special assignments for kids, too! Love it! How to get control of chaos..it really works!
ReplyDeleteYou are so much braver than I am. I couldn't bring myself to post photographic evidence of the FLOOR in Lotus' closet.
ReplyDelete@Doxie- We've done the kid's fly lady assignments...and then literally 1 day later, it looks like this. I'm going to have to ban her from her own room if I want it to ever stay neat! 'Cause Lord knows I'm not cleaning it for her.
ReplyDeleteThis ain't nothing! You should have seen my bedroom as a kid. Or my bedroom now. Or my 4 year old daughter's room!
ReplyDeleteHey, there are clothes that are hanging up, not all strewn about the floor, so I think you've got it good!! :)
ReplyDeleteThat's true! Gotta find that silver lining ;)
ReplyDeleteAw, man, when I was a kid, mine was so much worse. SO much worse.
ReplyDeleteDude, I was avoiding reading this post because just from the teeny tiny picture on my blog list I could TELL she isnt NEARLY as much of a slob as I am... seriously.... I would eat food off her closet floor its so much cleaner than ANYTHING EVER has been in my room, my dorm or my house. If it will make you feel better I will take a picture of MY closet and email it to you as proof that your child is an awesome goddess of cleanliness but you have to promise to still love me after...
ReplyDeleteThis is rough. I was a slob when I was younger too. My room was gross, but I grew up to be a good housekeeper. Maybe there is hope for her? ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy closet looked a LOT worse as a child. How about some good old fashioned bribery?
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
Jamie
For Love of Cupcakes
It's normal...I can clean something spotless one day and the next it's destroyed.
ReplyDeleteTotally normal and actually looks like my daughter's room AFTER she's cleaned up!
ReplyDeletesigh, I was that kid. Shared a room with super tidy kid. Had a mom who was super tidy woman. I did my best but never could figure out how to do the neat and tidy thing.
ReplyDeleteIf it helps, I'm creative and have studied more subjects than most people could stand and loved it all. My library shelves, when I have all the shelves up and the books out, are tidy and I know where it all is, but sadly, I cannot recall where I put STUFF unless the containers are labeled or it is all sitting out where I can SEE it. I love open shelves and clear plastic bins!
I'm not a good housekeeper but have managed to keep bathrooms and kitchen clean enough not to get anyone sick-- is that good enough??
It helped my messiness a lot when I began to categorize my life and if something did not fit a category I found essential, I started getting rid of stuff and storing the other stuff by categories, in plastic bins with lids that latch on, sitting on shelves where I can SEE them.
but the kid has my sympathy because I've never really gotten good at the tidy thing and nobody could have tried harder than my mother!!
Ann, my Lizzy is also the creative one in our family. She doesn't have an 'organized' mind, so organizing stuff just doesn't...make sense to her. She's gotten better. A timer helps. But then two seconds later: BOOM! Stuff-splosion. Poor crazy girl :)
ReplyDeleteSteph, send me your photo stat!
This is how my closet has always looked...so I would say it's normal haha My mom used to threaten to put everything in garbage bags and throw it out, but it never actually happened. My closet is slightly more organized now, but 5 days out of the week it probably looks like that still...good luck!
ReplyDeleteUgh, it's actually way neater than Liam's mess. He cleans it, it explodes between 1 and 3 days later, makes us crazy for weeks, he cleans it explodes, rinse and repeat for the last 9.9 years.
ReplyDeleteI hope that it is normal because my son is the same way. It drives me insane!
ReplyDeleteI have 2 girls. Older girl's (13) room looks like that. Younger girl's ( 9) is so painfully neat you could perform surgery in there. I worry about that girl :)
ReplyDeleteMy room at home looks like that because my sister and I are completely out of storage space >_>; My room at school (dorm room) is WAY tidier, albeit exponentially smaller. It would be really clean if I actually spent time there, too, instead of having my clean laundry hung all over it, dry but not yet put away...
ReplyDelete