Mopping the Ocean

Saturday, October 6. 2007

My daughter and I began a daunting task. We began de-cluttering her room while preparing to overhaul it with my professional organizer.

Current status:

Mackenzie has a fairly small sized bedroom....and tons of stuff. Oh, and ADD. Hmmm…not a good combination, eh? She also goes through about 2-3 outfits per day and is incredibly hard on her clothes- even stain sticks are no match for her messes. Thus, I’ve had to habitually buy way more clothes then most kids normally would need at her age. If they’re not ruined, they get lost. And often. As a matter of fact, I just counted about 6 backpacks we found, because they get lost, get replaced, then get found again. Something like the bad penny story, I guess.

In talking with a friend about clutter and the endless attempts at getting rid of it, it occurred to me that for me, anyway, it’s like mopping the ocean. You get started with the best of intentions, get rid of tons of stuff, but “things” just re-appear.

Deb, who’s courage is admirable, suggested we get rid of all this extra stuff because she could see that there simply wasn’t enough room for it all. In addition, she pointed out that with fewer clothes, there’s less laundry to do and thus, less to put away. Duh. What I was doing was actually counter-productive.

We’re also taking the doors off her built in closets and drawers, so that she’ll be able to SEE where her things are and where they need to be put back. The latter part of that sentence is, perhaps, wishful thinking, but at least she won’t tear up her room each day as she looks for outfits that work.

Stay tuned- this should be interesting. Now, back to my mopping.

Posted by Terry at 15:51 | Comments (3)

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Oh Please keep us updated. I seriously considered hiring a professional Organizer to help with my 12 YO.

A couple of years ago I got rid of the dressers in his room and replaced them with Shelving units - California closet stuff from Target. He could see all of his stuff. He did not like it and asked for the dressers bacj when we move. However, there was a crisis last night when he was unable to find his uniform shorts.

I'd love to hear the tips you garner.

#1 Maggie (Homepage) on 2007-10-08 11:01

Oh, man. Some people tell me to just close the door. Well, long before I knew EYE had ADD, and long before I knew SHE - now 16 - had ADD, I thought about that closed-door thing. And I decided that a young person could keep her room any way she wanted to, IF she had demonstrated, first, the skills of Rendering Order, and of Sustaining Order. Otherwise, it's not an informed choice. And a dereliction of p[arental duty in teching her (yeh, sure) to do it. So far, she is not there yet.

Not only that, but she may say she doesn't mind shoveling through the half-dirty, not-dirty, socks-in-with-tshirts on woven in with pantlegs, but as long as EYE still have to help her, especially at the last minute, then whatever is the setup in there has to woek for ME.

Good ideas, good policies, but I still haven't really done it. She is stubborn. Keeps everything. Messes it up in a few hours. Has clothes way too small she's ATTACHED to, and is too old to forget she had them. Stuffed animals from toddlerhood.

And, she can't decide anything. She says, "Oh, I want a bedside table not with closing doors (yay!( but with one small drawer and 2 shelves. So I spend literally hours (ojay, so I decide slowly, too) hunting down the thing she wants, it's puny for top-of-it space. So I get one wider with 2 drawers on the top.

She hates it. And, ahen, it doesn't fit between her bed and the window frame so it looks really stupid. Now, I don't think it looks more stupid than the total mess everywhwre else... or the old towel I lay across the one she uses now because she kept getting food and stuff on it and it's an antique. So will I be by the time this job is handled.

So. Brain transplant? For her, or for me? And that was just Step One. Next is a clothes tree for all the stuff that is now draped on knobs, lampshades, stuck in corners of drawers. I think it's brilliant.

#2 betsy on 2007-11-01 02:04

Well, it's only been a week or so and things are better. The key has been keeping stuff OUT of the room. So I still am removing stuff that finds its way back in there, with the hopes that she'll see how nice and airy it's become withOUT this junk.

A new photo will be coming.
We've also removed her computer and desk hutch and moved the furniture around so that the room works better. Everything has a home, too.

The things that are out of season have been dehydrated, using Space Bags. We threw out or gave away enough clothes to clad a small country. I was amazed.

I really do think that the key is to make the room as bare as possible. She as a play room, woops- I mean a TEEN room, where much of this stuff has been moved to.

I've not given up hope yet. My expectations aren't so high that I expect perfection (haaaa), but it really does look a LOT better.

Stay tuned.

#3 Terry Matlen (Homepage) on 2007-11-03 12:14

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