As I mentioned previously my word for the year is "intentional." I continue to look around & through our home to all the areas/spaces that may need a little extra TLC and one of those areas was our son's closet.
Ekkk! You can't even begin to imagine. We moved into our home 13 years ago & his closet wasn't finished when we moved in. Just a big empty closet. I know, I know.... crazy that we haven't done something with it sooner. However, in my defense, he has two dressers and an armoire in his room which provide enough storage for his wardrobe. It's just that his closet looked completely ridiculous when you open the doors. {Especially when you consider that he's now nearly 16}
So despite having enough wardrobe space, it was time to tackle what was lurking behind those closet doors. As a now teenager, he had a solid collection of legos, farm toys, Hess trucks & more clogging up the space. Along with a small storage chest that contained sheets he no longer uses, baby blankets that were made for him and don't forget the karate bag from his preschool years. Ahhh…. so many memories.
While I would LOVE to say I took it upon myself to do this closet makeover, our son was a HUGE help! I had mentioned to him my thoughts about purchasing a free standing organizer and he was all for it. When it was delivered, he took it upon himself to bring the package from the garage to his bedroom. Not only did he get it inside, he then took the initiative to unpack all the parts & pieces.
Unfortunately for him that's where his efforts were halted of course because Mama needed to take before & after photos. Once the before photos were taken, Brennan was right there to help remove everything from the closet. It was then on to the assembly of the free standing organizer and once it was complete, the full on organization session.
We shared plenty of laughs during the process and at one point he asked me how I spend hours organizing with real people as a business because he feels like this job would kind of suck. Out of the mouths of babes... and here I thought we were having such a great time together?!
I admit the project was a bit tedious... as is any organization project. Once the organizer was in place in his closet, he had to decide what he wanted to put in there and what was going to be left in their previous spaces. We also did the dreaded cleaning out of his wardrobe, never a fun task for a teenage boy but he totally survived. And quite honestly was really happy with his closet makeover.
I am asked often how to get kids/teens to help with organization and/or how to motivate them to take on a project... here are a few of my tips:
In our house there is an expectation for a certain level of organization when it comes to their bedrooms, clothing, shoes & jackets. They are expected to have their rooms picked up, clothing put away and dirty clothes in the laundry. Their shoes/jackets are to be put away when they come home. {Motivation in the event that these areas may be lacking... no extracurricular activities, no friends over, phones taken away, etc. all of which generally work to get things done with little complaints.}
In the living room & kitchen everyone is responsible for helping keeping the areas neat/orderly. You are expected to pick up after yourself but you may also be asked to pick up if things are lying around even if you didn't leave them there. We ALL live in this house and we all take care of this house.
The bathroom... I did an entire post on this - they are expected to clean their own! You can read about it here.
New projects... I find that anytime you are adding new things {i.e. furniture, organizers, etc.} it is often enough incentive/motivation for most kids/teens to help out or take on an organization project. {We are constantly reminding our kids they will need these skills once they move out and they seem to buy into that concept!}
** As a side note, we don't give our kids a weekly allowance so on occasion if they are looking to earn money that can be negotiated for a completed project or chores which wouldn't typically be done for compensation.**
What works in your home? We would love to hear your stories at orderlybydanica@gmail.com