What is your best way to remove clutter?

Question

My Daughter is away for the day. She never gets rid of anything even when she does not use it. She has WAY too much "stuff" for the size of her room. I am going to go through her things and get rid of all the "junk" that she does not need or use and give it to charity. That way It will be a lot easier for her to clean her room. The problem is that I have ADD. It is almost impossible for me to "sort things" and "organize things". I get very frustrated because I don't do this well but of course I have to. Does anybody know an easier way for me to go through all the mess and clutter and not get so confused or sidetracked? Please people... Don't answer if you only have mean things to say because this is a serious question. Thanks!

Answer 1

Get some Rubbermaid bins or some shoe boxes. First, stuff that is garbage *(you will probably have alot of it), put aside right away. Stuff that doesn't belong in the room (dishes, etc) put in another bin-- she can return those to the right places later. Next, you could either sort (you said you don't;' like sorting), but you could just group stuff together. Put all the clothes on the bed (she can sort later). Put all makeup/jewelry/accessories on the dresser. Try to get everything off the floor. Once you have them in big categories, you can see what is garbage, which is charity, etc. You can get a head start, and get her to help you when she gets home.

Answer 2

Make her do it, and until she has done it, she can't leave the house. They're her things, and not yours. She will just be very mad at you, and if you give away something she has a bond with, you can never re-establish the friendship you had once. How old is she?

My kids are 7 and 8 and they have the same issue at the house. I will give them a bag for trash, and a bag for unbroken toys to give away and make someone else happy. They do just fine, and they like havin the responsibility and the satisfaction of doing it themselves.

If you go in there and take her stuff, you are un-doing responibility training, and it could turn her into a dependant personality, and she might never be confident that she can do anything on her own because her mom and dad did everything for her, even making the decisions for her, like what she is allowed to call hers, which to me doesn't look like much. Give the girl freedom to make her own choices. You're her mom/dad?, and you should be raising an independant woman, not someone who builds no attachment to anything... why do that if someone is just going to take it away?

Answer 3

I know from experience that when my mom used to clean out or organize my room, it would turn into a HUGE fight because she did it without asking me. I'd say make your daughter do it (but I guess that depends on her age, if she's younger than I'd say 5). Don't let her out of the house until she does it, and make sure she keeps it up every single day so that way it's easier for her in the long run. This might sound harsh, but I was a nanny and one of my kids was 4, and she cleaned up her own room, by herself, and she knew where everything went.

Answer 4

Unless she is very young (preschool), her stuff is HER stuff, and you should just close the door and ignore it. Eventually she'll come around to getting rid of some things, but you will seriously slow down that process by getting involved in any way. If you throw away thing that are hers, you are not respecting her, and she has every right to be very, very angry. Cheer up, some day you will be an empty nester and wish she and all her clutter were back!

Answer 5

I totally understand your request for silencing the rudeness! People love to get on here just to be critical and NEWSFLASH : this is Q & A...scuse me for being sidetracked there, I suffer from ADD myself.

Your daughter should be taking on this project with or without you to be honest and she needs to follow TWO rules.

1.) If you don't use it for more than a year at a time TOSS IT!!!!

2.) EXCEPTION TO RULE # 1: Keepsakes which need to go in the attic or basement and not in her room.

Answer 6

This is what worked with out daughter. You can clean your room this weekend. If you don't clean your room this weekend I will do it and a lot of stuff will be missing. Tell her you expect to see three trashbags (or however many you think will help) of stuff to give away or throw away. If she doesn't do it, then you'll have to do it. Do your best. If something goes that should have stayed, that's her fault. She should have done it herself.

Answer 7

Baby steps! 15 minutes at a time. set a timer and take breaks in between. It's been proven. Anyone can do anything 15 minutes at a time. This works great for housework and decluttering. Here are a few sites that can help. www.flylady.com and www.squalorsurvivors.com

Answer 8

1) Push everything into one huge pile.

2) Sort it into trash and things you are going to keep (charity clothes go in the keep pile for now). I understand you are not good at that but this is easy.

3) Get a couple of trash bags and put all the trash into them and put them outside the room so they dont get in the way of cleaning everything else up.

4)Now you have one pile of things you are keeping. Seperate it into two piles: Clothes and other items.

5) Take the clothes pile and seperate it into two piles so that you have 3 piles all together. One of the clothes piles is clothes you're going to keep and the other clothes you arn't.

6) The pile with clothes you arn't going to keep put them in trash bags as well and label with a marker "Charity". Now put the bags outside the room near but away from the trash bags so you don't mix them up.

7) Now in the room you have two piles. Random things that you will have you're daughter clean up herself are in one pile and the other pile is clothes she will keep. When she comes home she will now see two piles to clean up.

I hope this works for you, I've made it so its easier for you to help her get started on her room. I cleaned my room this way and it took a while to put everything away, but the sorting took no time and just remember to stay focused. Try putting on music while sorting. It keeps you in rythem while not taking you away from what you're originaly doing. Good luck!

Answer 9

First, you should probably wait till your daughter is there. The last thing you need is her freaking out on you and never trusting you again. One of the best sites I have read about decluttering and getting organized is www.flylady.net Try it out.

Answer 10

First, please on't do it while she is away............just ask her to go through and get rid (or store somewhere) 1/2 of what she has. Then let her get it all in order the way she likes. I am like you are and get unorganized.....so I call my daughter once a year and she comes and cleans every drawer, nook and cranny in the house ...........SHE LOVES DOING IT.........PEOPLE ARE EITHER ORGANIZED OR NOT......... don't apologize.