Trash Bag Cleaning

Toys, toys & more toys! If you go into your child's room what do you see? Can you see the floor? Do they have a toy box that is over flowing? Do you cringe at thinking of looking under the bed? Or do you just avoid going in there?

You are not alone! I remember one time when I first started feeling over run by my child's toys. My oldest was about 2 or so. Our small living room looked more like a toy store. One Halloween a child peeked in and said, "Wow! How many kids you have?" I felt embarrassed telling her that I had just one child! But I didn't feel as bad when I'd go over to another mom's home finding they had plastic bins full of toys too!

Our home now has 3 children and I've been at my wits end trying to control the toys that keep finding their way into our home. Our basement is already filled to the brim with junk we don't use & MOST OF IT IS TOYS!

I have devoted the month of December to de-cluttering our home. I have felt like I am fighting a useless battle with our messy house. I once told my husband that I felt like I was shoveling snow in a blizzard.

I first got the idea of this "Trash bag" cleaning method from a TV show. A man was helping a pack rat clean out her junk room. He said to see all of your junk you must first EMPTY OUT THE ROOM COMPLETELY. So he took everything out & put it on the driveway. Now there is no way I would do that. So I came up with my own method that would work with my family.

I first planned to tackle my son's room. He is 6 and has way too many toys. His room is pretty small. It is not even a bedroom but more like an office so the room has no closet.

The first step was to clean up the living room. This was where we'd bring all the stuff once his room was empty. Next I grabbed a box of trash bags and then I gave each of my children one. We went to my son's room and we packed trash bag after trash bag of EVERYTHING in his room. Once a trash bag was full we'd put it in the living room then start another bag. All that was left in there was his bed, his empty toy box, his dresser and shelf. It looked like we had just moved in. My little boy was impressed at how clean his room was and told me that it looked bigger too!

Next we all gathered in the clean living room and went through each trash bag. We sorted through each bag. We emptied each bag into other marked trash bags like this:

1 bag for trash

1 bag for toys no longer needed or wanted

1 PILE for toys to go back into his room

1 laundry basket for clothes

This took a good few hours and it was a lot of work. We'd fill up a lot of bags with just trash. We tossed away broken toys, parts of toys that we knew were lost forever & so on. He saw a lot of toys he called baby toys and said he didn't need them anymore.

As he saw toys that he did want to keep we'd put them in a pile of their own. We pick the sofa for that. As the pile of toys to keep grew larger he'd change his mind at times saying he didn't want the toy after all. Plus I reminded him that he'd have to find a place for the toys he wanted to keep too.

I was AMAZED at all the toys he didn't want. He put back maybe 20 toys or so back in his room. It was amazing! When we were done this little 6yr old boy who in the past refused to clean his room put all his toys away all by himself! He couldn't wait to show his daddy when he came home how nice his room looked.

I used this method with each of my children. There rooms are now are so much cleaner.

Now at first my 11yr old balked at the idea of us going into her room and touching stuff. I made a point that I would respect and honor her things that she had organized and neatly put away. She had a few shelves of books she didn't want messed up which I didn't touch. I also suggested she put away some things she didn't want touched or "looked" at. This helped relax her and show her that I respected her privacy. I'd also ask before I started picking up some things and throwing away stuff.

Now our problem is what to do with all the toys my children don't want! My husband has made a few phone calls to the Department of Children Services here in our town and told them we have tons of gently used toys to give away. So we are hoping to donate all the toys for children in need.

I plan to try to use this method on the rest of the house. The bathroom, kitchen, our "homeschooling, craft and game" closet plus the master bedroom. I am sure that will a lot of work.

Why this works for us: The main thing I like about the "empty out the room" idea of organizing is it shows you all the "junk" you had in the room. Simply looking around the a cluttered room you'll see a pile here, a pile there, this stuff is to put away later, that stuff doesn't work but I might need it and so on. You don't see the room as a whole.

But when I had my little boys room splattered ALL OVER the living room WOW. Let me say it was a kick in the pants and I was thinking "How in the world did all that fit in his room!" Of course, my dear husband who is not a clutter freak like I am would have replied "We couldn't even walk all the way into his room yet alone see the floor!"

I like the idea also of bagging everything up at one time. When I use to clean a room out I'd be jumping around and running through the house. I'd be putting away clothes, throwing away trash; wait this belongs in this room so why is it in here & so on. When you toss everything into bag after bag you quickly get the whole room empty and SEE THE RESULT! You have a clean room! You want to keep it that way too! So you are less likely to bring all the junk back into the room only to mess it up again.

Confession time: I'm a messy person by nature. I like collecting stuff and I'm lazy. I've tried so many times to get my house clean and keep it that way. The fact that I have a chronic illness doesn't help me either. So I depend on my kids to help me out too. This method worked for us now at this moment. It may not work in a few months and we may be back where we started drowning in junk. I hope not and I hope you find this helpful. If not don't give up you're not alone!