Small kids room always a mess!!?

Question

My daughters room is always a mess! She has tons of stuff and a fairly small room. I have given toys away, tried to organize, but at the end of the week it is a mess again. I know she is 7 and rooms are usually messy anyways, but I also am not a very good organizer. Any organizing tips or ideas would greatly be appreciated.

She has tons of barbies and dress up clothes. Maybe adding more shelves?? The barbies are in a big rubbermaid tub right now, but it is a pain to figure out what is in there half the time.

Please Help!

Answer 1

The biggest thing you're doing wrong is using a big tub for everything.
My son's room suddenly has stayed much cleaner using this method:
I built shelves with 12x12" openings, and then found 12x12" fabric boxes to fit in each shelf. (it doesn't matter what size, just make sure they're around that size)
I organized the toys so that ones that were alike went into each box (ie. balls together, cars together, etc). He's only allowed to get out 2 boxes at a time. If he wants more toys out, he has to put away the other ones first.
This works for several reasons:
-If he only wants a specific toy, he doesn't have to dump out a bunch of other toys to get to it.
-the toys are all out of sight when they're put away because the boxes aren't see through. "Out of sight out of mind" applies here because he doesn't see all the toys, he doesn't always want to get them all out.
-the smaller boxes break cleaning down into a smaller, less overwhelming task for a child.
-if you get color coordinating boxes or baskets, it looks quite nice and inviting. An extra incentive for the child to keep it clean.
Hope this helps, good luck!

Answer 2

She's seven? She's a child. That's how children behave. It is not the end of the world. Love her and cherish her; you won't have her long. And along the way, uncritically and calmly help her pick up her room about once a week. Don't let her whine or run off to get out of it, but don't turn it into a torture session either. As she grows older, she'll not need all those barbies, so suggest to her that some other little girl who does not have as many people to love her might really appreciate them. Then help her sort them and select most of them to donate to the Salvation Army. You'll both feel good about that. Someday you will stand in her empty room shedding tears because you miss the way it was when she was still little and living with mommy. Then, if you're very lucky, you'll wipe away those tears to embrace your grandchild!

Answer 3

I have 6 and 4 year old girls sharing a room and they have the exact same problem.

When the room is small, shelves tend to not help. They take up so much more space along the walls than you think they do that it takes that much shorter a period of time for the kids to destroy the room because there is a very small amount of floor space. (I tried it for a while with my girls and it drove me nuts). I only have two shelves in the room now, one for shoes and one for books.

To make more space, you could buy one of those beds that is designed like a bunkbed, but has a desk and shelves underneath instead of another bed. This is great storage space. I plan on doing this for my girls when we have some extra money.
http://www.childrenskidsfurniture.com/bed-desk-combinations.htm

You can also use the floor space in the closet for drawer bins from wal-mart. They're short, but will fit a lot and fit under the clothes if you don't have shoes there.
http://www.sterilite.com/Category.html?Section=Storage&ProductCategory=45

Also, if she has a long or walk-in closet, you can use a hanging-rack to double up the hanging space and put a shelf in the other half of the closet.

Look at the window in her room. Often you can use window sills like a shelf for small book, toys and collections (my girls like to use it store pretty rocks and shells they have found).

If you own the house or don't have to worry about holes in the wall, you can use shelves that attach to the wall instead of full book shelves. That maintains the floor space, but gives you extra space for knick-knacks. You could also try a toy net for stuffed animals.

The main way I deal with it is to have several rubbermaid buckets, a different kind of toy goes in each. One is for baby dolls, one for barbies, one for dress-up, etc.

Then, each night, after baths, before bed, they have to pick-up everything off the floor to earn some popcorn before bed. As long as they pick-up everything off the floor daily, it tends to stay under control. But if I miss a single day, it's a disaster.

Hope that helps!

Answer 4

My daughter was the same way. Small room, too much stuff and no where to put it all. I built bed for her. Bunk bed high, but with shelves underneath, instead of another bed. Then let her organize all her dolls, stuffed animals and that on the shelves.

Be careful of any free standing shelves in a child's room. They can tip over and cause some serious injuries. Attach them to the wall so they can't tip over.

Answer 5

My daughter also has tons of barbies. What we did was purchase a bin system from walmart. there are 16 bins and they sit in a rack. each rack is for something ie: shoes, dolls, shirts, dresses for the barbies. This way she can take the bin off the rack use it and put it back. She can look in and see what is there and doesn't have to dig through it all. IF she doesn't have room for a bin rack, try an over the door see through shoe holder. It will be a little taller and harder to get in but she can organize it all and see what is in each holder. I use these in the kitchen for spices and packs of things such as kool aid and they work great!

Answer 6

When my oldest son was young he constantly had toys all over the place, so I did this. I took all of his toys away minus say about 5, and he played with those and at then end of the week, he could go to the toy tub that we had in garage and he could exchange any of his 5 for new ones in the tub. For him eventhough it was his old toys it always seemed new to him, like going to the toy store. I also had him every night before bed, pick up his clothes on floor and straighten it up.

Answer 7

Too many toys...give more away or put some away out of her reach and then rotate them. Also a seven year old is old enough to pick up after herself. Make it a requirement each night before bed.

Answer 8

this is what we did. I took my child who is near the same age to a childrens home and let her have a good long look around, then we went home and cleaned her room together and decided to keep only what could fit in one storage box under the bed and one little pull out cart The remainder we took to the childrens home and left there for them to use or sell..

Answer 9

MAKE HER CLEAN IT UP!!! Teach her to be responsible for it herself. You are not her maid, you are not her friend, you are her PARENT. Act like it. If she refuses to keep it clean take away ALL the toys. Make her understand that there are consequences for living like a slob. Make it an opportunity to teach her a life lesson. If you can't control a 7 year old, god help you when she is 17.