Cleaning out

The last few days have been busy. Since my children are gone on youth trips, I decided the time had come to do some cleaning out......And once I began, I cannot quit.

My latest venture has been my younger daughter's room. She is almost 15 and a packrat. Admittedly. She would rather have teeth pulled that clean her room. In fact, I don't know if she has ever cleaned her room. She has rearranged the stuff in her room, but cleaning she just doesn't get.

Several years ago we got tired of fighting the battle, and after several warnings we grounded her from her room. Yep. We shut her door and only allowed her to enter to sleep. She couldn't remove anything from her room. It worked for a short period of time.

First I cleaned out her bathroom which adjoins her room. I'd just watched Oprah and the organizational guru. I laid out a sheet in the hall and removed EVERYTHING from the bathroom. It was fairly easy to throw away 90% of the old broken makeup, wrappers from certain personal items, and the like.

I was too optimistic about her room though. To her credit, she had clothes folded neatly in her drawer. Unfortunately, she has clothes everywhere else too. I quicky discovered that it was next to impossible to tell what pieces of paper were keepers, and what needed to be thrown away. I also had no clue about what clothes fit, were liked, and would be worn again. Not to mention the fact that I'm pretty sure she wouldn't appreciate me reading her notes, etc, to see if they are keepers.

So I decided to give her a lesson in cleaning out. I put all of her things that were not in a drawer or hanging in her closet in large trash bags... NINE of them. Ten if you count the shopping trip that had not been unpacked.

I went to Dollar General and bought baskets and bins. When she comes home, we will do it together. We will start with the drawers, then take the bags one by one. We will throw away, give away, and put away. Then, if we are still friends when it is over, we will go get some ice cream.