Do your kids help you declutter their rooms?

When you clean out your kids room and throw things away… do you involve your kids or just go by what you dont see them use anymore? I want to clean out their rooms before school starts and as nice as it would be for them to help i know they will want to keep everything lol

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I ask them to go through first. Then I come through and make the hard calls lol.

I involve mine. At first shed want to keep everything and eventually got the idea that she doesn’t use everything she has. For example, if I leave a toy in one spot in a drawer and by the next time it comes to cleaning drawers usually a couple months I show her it’s in the same spot as before and she says her self she doesn’t play with it.

I involve them
Never know how much something may mean to them even though they don’t play with it anymore

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My kids are 5, 6 & 8. Wego through everything together. They have a keep, donate & toss pile. I don’t get rid of any of their things even if it’s broken without letting them decide first. A little piece of something may go to something else or a broken toy may have some kinda meaning to them. They have a lot of stuff but it’s all neatly put away. We do big purges before holidays & bdays & tiny ones like once a month. They even pack up stuff on their own saying they don’t want it any more for me to donate it.

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If they wanted to keep things, they did. They learned real fast, :joy::joy::joy::joy:

I go for broken things first then delve into keep and toss piles with mine once a month. If we didn’t it’d be a madhouse here #familyofsix

My kids are now in College but when they were little we’d go through it together then I’d go through again myself and hide the garbage bag of stuff I cleaned out. If they asked for something in particular within a month I’d tell them I’d look for it. If not it was all tossed or donated depending on what it was. They also had to donate to kids in need the amount of stuff they had on their Christmas list…… ie- 5 items on their list 5 things they already had had to go.

Of course they learn cleaning and decluttering from the adults in their lives. Broken things that can’t be repaired are trashed/recycled, toys that are for babies and their in like 3rd grade get put into a keepsake box, if they have incomplete sets that make the thing unusable (like games) and you can’t replace the pieces then trash it. We go through everything in the kiddos rooms and do a deep clean. We also work with our kids to have good storage systems in place.

Mine are 3 and 1. Mine don’t have toys in their rooms just in the play rooms so this may be slightly different but I just cleaned their toy room and threw away like 4 bags of toys they don’t play with anymore. I involved my 3 year old in a very very small amount of it. I’m not trying to argue every little McDonald’s toy I threw away. :joy: As far as things in their rooms I go through their clothes as they grow out of things and store what’s nice enough for the next kid and toss what’s not. No discussion there either. I guess it would depend on how old your kids are but if they’re not willing to get rid of things that are broken/junk/missing pieces I’d do it without them. Lol.

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I do it when they’re outside. They have never noticed a missing toy because I only throw away things I know they don’t play with

My daughter (6) helps go through her things. She actually gets rid of more than I would.

I involve mine as well

I do it when they aren’t home. I know what they play with and what they don’t being a stay at home mom

I used to get a box for each child they had to fill a box to get rid of, gave them a week to do it. If they did not fill it I would and they would have fewer toys left if I did the work.

I have a 5 year old daughter & every 6 months or so, we go through her room & get rid of stuff together including clothes. She decides what she wants & doesn’t want. I think it’s important for the kids to be involved in the process.

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I explain to my daughter that I haven’t seen her use something for a while and that maybe another kid that would use it more would like it. She’s so much more willing to give things up if she knows it’s helping someone else and not just for nothing.

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They help or I do it solo

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My kids are a little older now but I’ve been doing since they were little so they know the drill. Every couple months once the rooms start getting crowded I tell them to get two bags 1 for trash and 1 for toys that are still good but they don’t use. They can only keep what can fit in the bins/counter etc. and it all needs to be organized. I just let them go at it. You’ll be surprised at how good these kids can organize to be able to keep what they want.

I let them help. First, I remind them that we are donating their things so that another child can enjoy them.

Nope. If you’re cleaning out your kids bedroom, you’re gonna wanna drop them off to grandma for the day. If they go through everything with you, you won’t be getting rid of anything because that toy that they haven’t touched in 6 months, will be their prized possession and you can’t get rid of it. Same with broken crayons, markers missing caps (that don’t even work).

I get rid of my kids for the day and then tackle the room. I do it twice a year. Making sure I bag up everything they don’t use and donating or tossing everything before they get home.

I tell have her go through it and pick a certain number toys to donate! She love to donate so she does this willingly.

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I do it with my 4yr old. They are his stuff after all.:woman_shrugging:t2:

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I wait until mine aren’t home. 6 bags for donations and 4 trash​:rofl::see_no_evil:

I do it without my 3.5 year olds help. She’s usually home when I do it, but she’s more harm than help. :rofl:

So if your going through their toys and stuff and getting rid of things it’s teaching them it’s not really theirs

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I send em to grandmas or aunties. And then I throw the stuff away xD

It’s their belongings. How would you feel if your husband went thru your stuff “for you”?

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I give mine two hours to pick up what they want to keep then I go in with the broom and metal dust pan and sweep it all into a pile and into the trash can it goes

I put a box out in the toy room. As they find toys they don’t want any more they put them in the box. Around Christmas I either sell or give away.

Another tactic I’ve done is tell them to clean up their toys. When they’re at school I go in with trash bags. If it’s not put away it’s thrown away.

I think that depends on their age. My mom started us at 4 and we cried… I wish she had kept it up yearly because it really would’ve taught us not to be hoarders. My brother struggles badly with keeping everything and I struggle with keeping a clean house now. It’s harder to learn organization and cleanliness as an adult… there’s more stuff on your plate so developing habits is more of a struggle. My kid is 2 and I involve her in all of the cleaning and decluttering I can because I don’t want her to turn out like me.

I feel like it’s important for them whatever age to be part of the process. I have ages 10 6 and 3 and every about 6 months we go through stuff and I say depending on what items are going through a number of how many things you can keep… and I remind them that as we go through if they can simply make a pile of what they need want to keep and then after that they can go through their keep pile to make sure that it’s within their number :upside_down_face:

From young ages, my kids helped me. I would donate their things to either individuals that needed or would want them, or to organizations that give to others. I would simply tell them they have so much more than they need or even used, explain that some didn’t have much of anything and ask them to pick out things they would love to see another child enjoy. At times they would even give up a thing or two they really liked, bc they wanted another kid to like it as much as them. Mine are now 13 & 11 and both are so kind and giving all the time, and even at Christmas they never fail to make sure we are helping someone in need!

3 year old grandson & my daughter live at my house & holy moly this kid has toys :rofl:

We do an “initial sweep” of pointless toys (kids meals, dollar tree, ect) & get rid of all broken or duplicate toys. Duplicates go in donation box, broken goes to Trash.

Then we go thru toys with him to see what he’s done playing with. He puts it in the donation box & then we give it to kids in need in our local area & he gets to go get an ice cream for doing a nice thing for others.

Always involve mine. I have a 16 yr old and 10 yr old. I try to do it every couple of months. Completely floor to ceiling cleaning. I am not working my self to death for something they created.

No i do it by myself, but my kids are 6 and 2 so EVERYTHING is special and needs to be kept :rofl::rofl:

If it’s outgrown or no longer used we donate it. My kids have way too much stuff anyway and it’s just stuff! Sentimental things we keep.