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Never tell a child, "Go clean your room!" What?! Yes, that's right. Telling a child to "Go clean your room" is like telling an adult, "Go clean the garage or the basement!" It is overwhelming.
Five Steps to a Clean Bedroom
1) Make the bed first.Since this is the largest surface, the room is now 50-70% clean!
2) Put everything "away" on the floor.
Start at the doorway and move everything (besides obvious trash) from the floor to the bed.
3) Clean up the rest by three categories:
- Clothes: put in hamper, or away in drawers and closet.
- Papers and books: organize papers in notebooks or a file, and books on shelves.
- Toys or favorite collections: place on open shelves.
4) Add one extra cleaning area per week after the above three steps:
- Desktop
- Dresser top
- Nightstand
- Closet
5) Empty the wastebasket often.
Organizing expert Emily Barnes says, "Children don't do what you expect, but what you inspect." So check on any cleaning they do.
I am a firm believer that "If you work orderly, you will think orderly." What a great academic help orderly habits at home can be for kids!
Excerpted and adapted with permission from speaker and author Marcia Ramsland's, "Ages and Stages of Getting Children Organized" booklet available at www.OrganizingPro.com.
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Marcia Ramsland is well known as "The Organizing Pro" for her practical skills and tips to manage busy lives. As a national speaker, author and consultant since 1985, Marcia delights her audiences from New York to California with tips and secrets to organize their time, home, paperwork and life. Her tips have been in Woman’s Day and other national magazines, radio interviews and TV. She can be reached through her Web site 
