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Week 19| 2019: Motivating Your Teen to Organize


As I spent this past Saturday afternoon & evening with our daughter I realized that my organizing skills most definitely have brushed off on her. She has a love for all things pretty & organized like her Mama. It makes my heart so happy!

However, in going through my list of 2019 Blog Topics one that I kept avoiding was “motivating your teen/s to organize.” I kept thinking how in the world do I write about motivating a teen to organize when clearly mine needs no motivation to organize and is constantly re-arranging & organizing her own room.

Motivating Your Teen to Organize

And then the light went off… ask the teen what she does to motivate herself… and so here we have this week’s Blog Post compliments of our fourteen-year-old daughter.

 

Mom/Professional Organizer: What motivates you to clean & organize?

14 yr old daughter: Watching YouTube videos on decluttering & organizing

{So her idea of motivation is to watch others cleaning & organizing which gives her the little extra boost to be like… oh yeah, let’s do this or let’s try that… whatever it takes, right?! Will this be what motivates your teen? Probably not ...}

Mom/Professional Organizer: Once you’re motivated to clean & organize what do you do?

14 year old daughter: Figure out what I want to do, set a plan in my head…

Look around the house for organizing products (bins/baskets/etc) and if there aren’t any – ask parents to purchase some.

Before getting started – map out what’s in the room that needs to be cleaned.

Get cleaning supplies {vacuum, garbage bags, cleaning products} and do the cleaning.

When it comes to organizing – sort things into piles (what it is & how it will fit into the space where it will be stored) – then decide what is going to be kept or purged.

Once everything has been sorted & purged – put everything away.

Mom/Professional Organizer: And this applies to your bedroom as well as your closet?

14 yr old daughter: No, closet organizing is a little different. First, you need to determine how you want the space to look.

Then remove things section by section… not all at once, it gets way too messy & overwhelming.

Sort the items into 3 different piles – Keep, Donate & Purge

And again, put everything back where you are going to keep it.

Mom/Professional Organizer: What are some of your favorite organizing products?

14 yr old daughter: Acrylic Containers {great for makeup storage}

Decorative Boxes

Fabric Bins

Velvet Hangers {makes everything look more put together…}

Sterilite Drawer Towers {come in various sizes, good for extra storage in the closet}

Her final piece of advice was to have coordinating items which gives your space a polished & put together look.

 

Do I think this advice will work in getting her almost 16 year old brother to clean/organize his room? Ummm, probably not. I don’t see him watching decluttering & organization videos on YouTube in his spare time to gain motivation to get to work on his bedroom.

However, I can say that small efforts on MY behalf do help to motivate him to take charge of & clean/organize his room. I am talking BABY steps to motivate him… like they are going to be out of the house before we know it and need to learn how to clean, organize and manage their spaces on their own. Right?!

I will gently offer up washing his bedding which generally spurs him to put the spare sheets on his bed; and once he does that he generally continues on to other tasks. He’ll grab a garbage bag and collect up any trash lying around his room {boys are gross… they leave snotty tissues all over the place, empty water bottles, snack wrappers, etc.}. And again…. I am your MOM, not your servant. He will also put away his clothes which have been sitting in his basket for God only knows how long and whatever else may need to be done. Perhaps he is not always as thorough as his sister but I would say not too bad for a teen. For the most part - I would call that a win in motivating a teen to clean/organize.

Perhaps you are thinking "Yeah, right... my kid would NEVER be motivated to clean and organize their room just by me asking them about washing their bedding." Hell... I get it - most teens could care if there are even sheets/ blankets on their bed.

So we all have to use whatever approach works best for us. ALERT: That does not mean doing it for them! Maybe it's incentivizing to motivate - a little cleaning & organization for a movie or something they've been wanting. Or maybe it's working along side them to help with the process. What's important to remember is that we won't be living with these people forever, it's our job to teach them the importance of maintaining an orderly space and taking care of and respecting their things. Some day there won't be anyone offering them anything to organize their space, nor motivating them to do it.

...Just another little life lesson for them. Happy Organizing! xo Danica

 

Thinking you need to do a teen bedroom reset before this process will come together for you? Let's chat - I offer three hour organization sessions and virtual organization packages that can help you & your teen get that bedroom organized. Contact me today so we can get planning - orderlybydanica@gmail.com or 585.749.3493

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