Decluttering Tips and Support

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Dear Reader,

Summer is here, which means kids are home and yelling "I'm BORED!" and "Can I watch TV?" every five minutes.
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Oh wait, is that just at my house? 😂

You may have noticed that when kids are home more, their messes are more...noticeable. And frequent. And there's a LOT of complaining when you ask them to clean their rooms.

So what's a frustrated mom to do?

On the Podcast

In Episode 198, I'm sharing my BEST tips for decluttering your kids' rooms! The degree in which you include them depends on their age, but I've had my kids involved in the process since they were preschoolers.

Here's some of the top tips from the episode!

👦🏼 Step 1: Using the 3 F's, talk to them about how they want their rooms to feel (relaxed, peaceful, fun, etc.), what activities they want to be able to do there (rest, play, read, etc.) and how it's important to be able to have a tidy, organized room to support the things they want to do. Also highlight how a tidy room means that cleaning it up is easy and quick!
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👦🏼 Step 2: Consider taking toys OUT of their rooms (especially loud toys or ones with flashing lights that may not support rest). I have found in nine years of experience that kids' rooms are much easier to tidy when toys are kept in common areas (if possible). It's a tradeoff but one that was well worth it for us.
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👦🏼 Step 3: Use the container concept for each category (books, toys, clothes, artwork) to ensure that there are artificial boundaries set for each and that the kids are involved in making decisions within those boundaries. Play Love, Like, Maybe, No and start filling the boundary with what they love and like first, making decisions about the maybes and no's.

👦🏼 Step 4: If you get pushback about keeping more than the container allows, use an out-of-sight, out-of-mind bin.

👦🏼 Step 5: Encourage kids by having them involved in the donation process, allow them to earn some money from consignment or selling their stuff on Facebook Marketplace, and check out these episodes (depending on their age) to encourage them as well!
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​Bluey- Mr. Monkeyjocks​

​Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood - Clean Up Time​

​Barney - Clean Up​

​Pete the Cat - Sally Comes Clean​

​Peppa Pig - Cleaning the Car​

​Peppa Pig - Tidying Up​

To learn more, listen to Episode 198 or watch it on YouTube here!
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Things I'm Loving Right Now

✨ One of my favorite tools to stay organized and decluttered is Meistertask, specifically templates that I've created for workflows that I can repeat time and time again. If you want to learn more about Meistertask and how it can help you get organized in life and business, check out this playlist.

✨ My decluttering/organizing resource of the week is Chelsi Jo Moore's YouTube channel! I love her podcast Systemize Her Life and I've been enjoying the visuals of her YouTube channel as well. I really liked this video about mom hacks for cooking, cleaning, and laundry. P.S. my YouTube channel isn't as fancy but feel free to check it out here!
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✨ My favorite recipe of the week is slow cooker barbacoa beef tacos (for these summer nights when I refuse to heat up the kitchen).

What are some things you're loving right now? Hit reply and let me know.

On the journey with you,

Emily

P.S. Skipped to the end? No problem! This week on the podcast I talked about how to declutter kids' rooms as part of the Room-by-Room series!

​*Note- affiliate links may be included, which means I get a small commission if you use my link - thanks!​