4 Steps to Clean Your Kid’s Bedrooms

Yes, I know my pictures are crazy! I’m having a moment today with technology and children. Nothing is on my side and I can’t keep working on this while my kid’s need me. Plus I might throw my computer and phone across the room…. ARG!!!

I am now on month 3 of my year-ish of organizing/simplifying/decluttering my house. I can not say enough good things about this process so far. In February I did my master bathroom. Then in March Eddy and I did the playroom. And in April we did the kid’s bedrooms.

And guess what guys?! It’s only April 10th! There is still so much left in this month. Maybe I’ll get another smaller project done… woohoo!

For my other projects the steps have basically been the same. Empty out the room, clean everything, go through all the stuff (aka crap we have collected), and put things back in an organized manner.

My kid’s bedrooms was no exception. I am finding that process to be very thorough. It is forcing me to literally go through EVERYTHING! This, my friends, is the KEY to this process.

If you leave one cupboard or dresser drawer untouched then you are not going to go through all the stuff you have. The random stuff I am finding is crazy! It is also a bit (or a lot) annoying that I just didn’t get rid of it before.

So, today I wanted to take you through what I did to make my kid’s bedrooms so. much. better. Ready?

Step 1: Empty the Entire Bedroom

Since I knew this was going to be a big project we choose to do it on a week that we would mostly all be home. It was spring break for our son and Eddy’s good week (meaning he only worked all day Wednesday and Thursday).

After breakfast on Tuesday morning it was go time. I might have been the only excited one. My kiddos definitely were not wanting to do this. However, once we started they were having a bit of fun, even if they didn’t admit it.

We focused on the big kid’s bedroom first. I gave them both a box and a tub. Their clothes got dumped into their tub. Then their “junk” drawer got emptied into the box.

We kept making trips into my bedroom with their clothes, toys, books, junk, and everything in between. By the time their room was empty my room was a disaster.

Why on earth did I put it all in my room? Good question. 🙂 It’s right across the hall from their bedroom, literally 4 steps. This made it easy and quick to empty their room. But, most importantly I didn’t want all that stuff out and about forever. We were more motivated to get their room completed quicker because half of it was in our room.

Step 2: Clean, Clean, Clean

Once we had a totally empty room, curtains and all, we got busy cleaning. I turned on some music and handed my kids a washcloth and the cleaner. After the bottle was nearly empty…I realized that washcloths were not doing it.

In came the kitchen sponge. You know, the kind with the rough green side and the soft other side. This worked much better. We still have some parts that we need to try with a magic eraser, when I remember to get one at the store.

Eddy vacuumed the carpet and closet, the kids cleaned the walls, it was magical! 🙂

Step 3: Go Through Everything

This is a very important step. You can not simply put everything back in your clean space. You need to go through EVERYTHING. We had a box for recycle, a bag to donate, and a bag for garbage.

My big kids and I pulled all their toys and books back into their empty room. As we sat on the floor next to their piles of stuff we went through each piece of paper, book, and toy.

We did the same thing with their clothes the following day during quiet time. I sat one on one with each of them. We went through alllll of the clothes that were in their drawers. I also pulled down their “too big” box of clothes that was in their closet.

Any clothes they did not want or did not fit we put in a tub. All of their clothes that they wanted to keep we folded very neatly. At first my son was rolling his eyes and protested folding his clothes this way. By the time we were done and his clothes were neatly in his new dresser we was happy about it.

• 

They decided where it would go. If I’m being honest, they mostly decided where everything went. I made some of the decisions. I just can’t keep some of the junk. Anyone else with me?

Step 4: Put Things Back in an Organized Way

I almost wrote put everything back… Oh heck no! We are not putting everything back my friends! Just the things you want to keep.

We already went through everything and had a bunch of stuff we did not want. So, with the things you want to keep, put them back in your clean space.

We have been trying to do most of our monthly projects as inexpensive as possible. But I knew I wanted to buy dresser drawer organizers. They make your drawer SO NICE! It was worth spending about $40.

I was like a little girl in a candy shop. Okay, okay! I was my adult self in a candy shop, it was just organizational things instead.

We bought the big kids a dresser and bunk bed from Ikea. They had some pretty inexpensive drawer organizers. I bought three different ones. I was able to use them for all four kids with a few extra ones for my dresser. Score! That $40 went far.

Because we used the drawer organizers and folded the clothes very similar to the Marie Kondo method we only used two drawers per kiddo. The bottom drawer for E and L holds a few special blankets and more stuffed animals.

Now is the time to take all the garbage out to the trash and the recycle out to the recycle bin. Some people like to take all of other stuff they plan on donating or selling out of the house right then. For me, I plan to sell what we can and donate a whole bunch. While I’m working on that it lives in our garage.

And that is pretty much it. Haha! It got a whole lot messier before it got any better. For a week my bedroom was a mess. Piles and boxes went from the bed to the floor and pack in play and then back.

It was worth it! I can put up with having to transfer boxes in my room for less then a week. Because now my kid’s bedrooms are AMAZING!!!

Once the whole house is dejunked and organized then we will get around to decorating. This will help keep me motivated, I’m so excited to get to that part as well.

Let me know what room or space you are working on. Happy house simplifying!

Xoxo, Steph