TEENAGERS

Every kid has a different personality with different strengths. Being a teenager only complicates things, but there is hope! My daughter is so messy and never puts anything up even near where it is supposed to go, but she loves when I work with her to get her room all straight again. We tackle her room about 4x/year. The rest of the time I just tell her to clean her room, and most of the time it is never to my satisfaction. That is something that I have had to learn to deal with it.

Teenagers want to be "in control" of their room, and it would be nice if they would just keep it organized on their own. NOT likely! Sometimes MOM just has to step in. Depending on the severity, it may tak an hour, an afternoon, or it can be broken up into sections (closet, floor, dresser, etc.) doing one area/day, BUT IT CAN BE FUN!!!

Here is my idea:

1. Get ready with fun snacks, drinks, and good music.

2. Plan on working with your teen, and consider it a good time to bond, visit and ask questions about school, friends, etc. This can be done once a week, a month, quarterly, or once a year depending on how messy the teen.

3. Evaluate an plan together where things should go. You might even map it out on a piece of paper.

4. Sorting can be done a couple of ways depending on the situation. For a big job sorting should start with KEEP, TOSS, DONATE, SELL categories. If you know you are keeping everything, you may sort according to what the items are, such as shoes, jewelry, school supplies, clothes, etc. Some of these groups can be further broken down into colors, sizes, etc.

Once you have sorted, then you can see the amount of space and what type of container you might need for each category. Then, just put it in it's place! When your teen knows where things go, it's easier to find things and put them back.

Limited on space? If so, storage cubes that stack only take up a small square area on the floor and can divide categories of things.

These are just ideas and suggestions. Each situation and personality really dictates how it's going to go. If all else fails, try bribery. It works, too!

Good luck! I hope this helped a little. : )