The girls are getting older and I REALLY need to find a way to organize their stuff.. I have spent the last week painting their room and trying to redecorate it.. FINALLY got it done today.. I had to work around the unorganized mess that they consider clean.. YIKES!!! We moved their beds and HOLY COW all the crap that was under there was INSANE! I'm feeling a little bit like I've been in a hoarder house right now.. I threw away a LOT of stuff.. The closet is PACKED with stuffed animals,american girl dolls, and just STUFF.. I don't know where to put it all!!! We went through their clothes a few weeks ago and got rid of 5 HUGE trashbags full.. Now to go through all these toys.. Most of which are junk.. I'm feeling a little bit guilty because I chunked a TON of books.. But I just wanted them GONE! I am excited that the room is painted and has new curtains and bedding, but it's a LOOOOONG ways from being finished.. How do you organize your older kids rooms??? I honestly don't normally clean my kids rooms, that's THEIR space and THEY have to clean it, BUT I do want to help them find a way to keep their things accessible and neat at the same time.. Money is a BIG issue so that makes it hard.. We kinda work with what we have.. Other than the pet net that their stuffed friends are SUPPOSED to be in, we don't have a neat place for anything else.. It just gets shoved where ever they feel like putting it. And that makes for a MESSY room.. And Messy rooms lead to no company.. No company makes for some very unhappy young ladies..
Doing the exact same thing on a shoe string budget....Going vertical with everything possible. Double rods in the closets. Behind the doors, 2 or 3 sets of hooks..the ones with like 5 on one piece...stacked, starting just down from the ceiling for coats/robes, etc.. that aren't in use, next set down is for current jackets, etc..in use, the 3rd set isn't far from the floor & holds purses, hats, etc... Shelves above the doors & windows, across the windows if applicable for games, books, movies,.. long ribbons hanging from door hinges for hair accessories, hang TV's on wall, desk/vanity that is mounted to wall that they can let down to use, fold up when not in use, easily homemade. Or 4 file crates stacked 2 on their side & tied together to form 2 sets of shelves then take a board(laminate from Lowes) & lay on top(chair in the middle of the 2 sets of file crates) for homemade desk that will later be user friendly for other things. 'fruit' baskets hanging from ceiling for random accessories. storage boxes that slide under beds,.. Chalk board paint on closet door(my teens love this) with a door knob hanging basket for chalk storage. Many kinds of organizers to choose from to hang on back side of doors.. try to make everything multifunctional for instance, a footstool should be one that allows for storage inside. Don't forget about the tops of furniture like armoirs for storing things that aren't used frequently.
Encourage your children to do 15 minutes tidying in their rooms every day. If they can't do it by themselves, then you do it with them. It's difficult to store things when you have too much stuff. Ask your children what they don't want any more and get rid of it. They will most probably be glad of the extra space. Children grow out of toys fast and what was once a favorite toy can quickly become clutter, the American Girl dolls, for instance. Stuffed animals, I bet they only want one or two. Give your children a box each and ask them to put in it what they don't want. If they fill the box, give them another one the next day. Get rid of stuff regularly until everything they have they can say they love and truly want. And you can do it at the same time with stuff in the rest of the house. But little and often is the key.
