Ever wonder how to get your whole family engaged in the organizing and decluttering process? This process or decluttering can be daunting. Not to mention, getting the family on the same page has its challenges. Organizing ends up competing with fun, sports, dinner, school and work. Many of these other activities are projects and activities that are either necessary or a preferred way to spend the time. No wonder it is easy to procrastinate on organizing and de-cluttering. Procrastination is easy because usually this involves removing items that may have a personal attachment for the family member that is being asked to remove items.
Here are some suggestions on getting the whole family involved in organizing.
Create Projects
Start by creating a project for your family. A project focused approach can be fun when you create games around the project. As a result, you will find that games will encourage organizing efforts.
The change of seasons is a reason to declutter and remove old items that are not being used or items that are just plain worn out. First, kids can help by cleaning their rooms. A simple task that they may be familiar with anyway. Next, ask them to look around their room to see if any item is worth donating. After they have tackled their room, ask your children to inspect playrooms or activity rooms. They will also look for items that might be worth donating. Some kids are motivated by sales. Another option is to ask if they want to participate in a yard sale together. And any money made on the items the kids sell, they have that money to buy something special.
Staycation to Get Organized
As a family, you may be ready for a staycation. As a result, not leaving home to get the house organized can be effective for the entire family. A staycation is an opportunity to get the whole family involved in cleaning out the garage or basement. During your staycation, you can build daily activities focused on decluttering that involve the entire family. Change of seasons are a great time to review all the toys and sporting equipment around your home. What is being used and what is not? Which items are worth keeping? What toys might need to be repaired? And what needs to go? Ever wonder why you keep that child’s bicycle when your kids are now teenagers? And no one in the family can actually ride this little bike anymore. It might be time to pass it on to someone who can use it now.
Helping Another
What better way of getting the family involved than paying it forward. Give each child a bin labeled charity. This can be a charity of their choosing so that your children feel more involved. If the child knows exactly where their favorite toys and clothes are going, they may be more likely to support the process of decluttering. Taking your kids to the charity organization and asking each child to hand deliver the items will show your children the impact that they are making on others. Got teenagers? What about encouraging a clothing swap? What better way to encourage the sharing or removing of clothing and accessories than getting teenage girls together. You and your daughters can create a fashion show to showcase some of the items that they think might look good on one of their friends.
Reward Systems
Positive motivation is a key motivator for most humans. If your family likes rewards, try creating a simple program around decluttering. For instance, for every item removed from the room or space, the items will count for a point based on a point system you’ve designed. And the number of points accumulated can be used to buy something nice at the end of the project. Or use the pieces as opportunities to sell them. And then, you can teach your family the value of selling previously worn or used items. As a result, the money can be used for a new spring clothing budget. Or maybe you have an upcoming vacation. And in order to have spending money, the family members have to help declutter in order to make room for the upcoming vacation souvenirs.
Organization
By using a board to assign tasks and chores to family members, you will create a sense of family responsibility. This will also give each family member visibility as to what everyone needs to do to help the home and family unit run well. Keeping a posted account of the ways family members can help declutter can drive all family members to support the initiative. And, this board can help with deadlines. When everyone in the home has visible days of action and when tasks need to be completed, this will help manage schedules better. By incorporating the home tasks and chores into the weekly schedule, the family can learn to manage their week’s tasks inclusive of school, work, extracurricular activities and more.
We hope these three simple tips can help get the whole family involved in the process of de-cluttering. Spring is a great time for a fresh start to the year!
