NotSoObvious Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 My twins share a very small bedroom with a tiny closet (barely room for dresses, coats, and shoes). They each have a dresser. They have "stuff" everywhere. We have organized spaces for the AG dolls, Legos, and Playmobil that are all still used. But what do I do with all the other stuff? Trinkets, awards, allllll the stuffed animals, things they have made, etc. How do you handle this? I will admit to watching "World's Strictest Parents" and I'm always shocked at how sparse their kids' bedrooms seem. But I can see how it would make keeping it clean and organized so much easier! I have a dd with special needs who would benefit from less stuff, but I also want my girls to have ownership and be able to have things that are important to them, even if I don't understand why. We've tried the "here's your box for stuff" but it just seems to multiply so quickly! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amo_mea_filiis. Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 I got rid of most of the stuffed animals due to allergies. Dd has a small bin of favorites, and ds has a single stuffed animal on his shelf. Awards and stuff get hung or tossed in the bin of stuff to save (kept in my room). Little trinkets go on the dresser. Too many for the space? Some get tossed. Things they made depends what it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 Do you let your kids choose, do you do it, or is it a shared effort? (My dd with special needs will not be able to make the decisions on her own, but I want her to feel like she has autonomy). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pamela H in Texas Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 My kids each have a file for awards and stuff that no longer are posted on their doors (you pass level 4, then your graduation from level 3 certificate moves to the file). In their rooms, they have drawers for undies, socks, shorts, and night clothes. They hang their clothes (which I regularly pare down). They used to have one toy set (zhu zhu pets in girls and car sets in boys) but because we added kiddos, we don't even have that in there anymore. We had shelves of toys in the livingroom, but now I dedicated the diningroom as a playroom (we eat in the eat-in kitchen area). They each have a bed. My daughter does have a paper snowman she made last winter on her door. It was from when she first started using our last name. I assume she'll replace it with some other project eventually. So yes, they have some choices, but I want them to see how neat and orderly things are and go from there, not have so much autonomy that they are overwhelmed by choices kids often make. I guess I believe in balance :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 (I should add that their room is actually very clean, but I'm tired of the cluttered dresser tops, and when they pull out all their little collections from underneath the bed, it takes forever to clean them all up.) Ok. Maybe I'm trying to reassure myself that throwing a bunch of their crap away isn't going to do any emotional damage. :) when they were younger, I would go through their rooms with garbage bags on a regular basis. I've lost my backbone! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest inoubliable Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Eek! I don't think I could get a good night's sleep in a room with so much "stuff". Let's see, in my little guys' room - two twin sized beds. No dressers - they have under bed storage from IKEA for their clothes. There is a nightlight on the wall. Um. There's nothing in the closets. There are two closets in their room, but they're pointless things. Very deep and really just serve to allow cold air in from the unusable attic, or leak our heat out. So we keep them closed and the beds are actually up against the doors so that they cannot be opened, not that the kids have ever bothered to get in there. All of their toys are in one basket. A basket like you'd use for kindling. They tried keeping that upstairs in their room, but they hated finding random toys in their beds at night. Little Lego guys and Knex pieces, stuff like that. So they brought the basket back downstairs and it sits behind our couch. If you looked in their bedroom, you might think it's sparse and not much fun, but honestly they're never in there! They sleep in there and get changed and that's it. They play downstairs. They each have a few little "treasures" - rocks they liked and kept, bird feathers, seashells and little toys out of gumball machines, paper ninja stars, notes from me and their father - they keep these mostly in their messenger bags. I made each kiddo a haversack type messenger bag for Christmas one year. They each found a small cosmetic-bag at the thrift store, and they keep their treasures in there, inside their haversack. DS12 has a room to himself. His room is much the same way. Same exact bed, but in a full size. Same underbed storage - so no dresser. He does have my old secretary desk in there. He uses the top part to put Lego creations on display. He has a small nightstand where he keeps his betta fish. The nightstand has a few small drawers, so he keeps Legos in there - Legos that he doesn't want his little brothers running off with. Same thing with him. He's never in his room, except to sleep and get changed. It hasn't always been this way. They used to have a ton of toys and books and, honestly, it was just overwhelming. We downsized big time years ago and LOVE how everything is neat and orderly and never cluttered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tess in the Burbs Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Each kid had awards and trinkets out for a bit, and then when it gets to be too much I put them into a special box to keep. Art goes into another tub. Every toy has a place and it gets there that cleaning day or it has to go away. It's only taken a few things given away or tossed out to get the point across that cleaning out the room day is a serious event ;-) Often my kids will toss things when given the choice of boxing it up or tossing it. So I would say twice a year we really go through the rooms. They have too much. Right now I would love the stuffed animals to go away.....I thought ds would agree but he's holding out a bit longer. And since he won't want them much longer I just deal with the cluttery room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 They have very little stuff in the bedroom. The nightstands are empty (including the drawers!) except for lamps, some of the shelves are empty, and the closets only have stuff I'm storing for them, like clothes I found on sale but were too large. They have open shelving for clothing and half of those shelves are bare too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dm379 Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Almost none. They each have a container for whatever toys they have left that's kept in their closets plus 2 shelves, a dresser and a bed. They had a hard time keeping them clean so it's just easier this way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Dd has so much stuff in her room but its larger things like her play kitchen, baby doll bed and play food box, dress up trunk, desk then storage for little things in her nightstand (plastic sterilite drawers) and stuffed critter bin (good lord those things I swear reproduce! No sooner do I get rid of some there is more in the bin) she also has a bookshelf full of books, bed, and dresser with a tv and DVD player on the dresser (so she can watch her movies or shows when there is something good on history channel) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ali in OR Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 A lot. 2 kids in a 10'x12' room, no other playroom or space for toys in the public rooms. They've aged out of a few toys that we've then passed on, but they also still play with every doll, every stuffed animal, etc. It's their room. We shut the door when we don't want to see it! My disabled dd's room has less stuff, but I've set up a corner for me to do some scrapbooking (no other space in the house). We do not live in pristine, uncluttered spaces. I expect to clear out a bit when the kids are in high school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 Eek! I don't think I could get a good night's sleep in a room with so much "stuff". Let's see, in my little guys' room - two twin sized beds. No dressers - they have under bed storage from IKEA for their clothes. There is a nightlight on the wall. Um. There's nothing in the closets. There are two closets in their room, but they're pointless things. Very deep and really just serve to allow cold air in from the unusable attic, or leak our heat out. So we keep them closed and the beds are actually up against the doors so that they cannot be opened, not that the kids have ever bothered to get in there. All of their toys are in one basket. A basket like you'd use for kindling. They tried keeping that upstairs in their room, but they hated finding random toys in their beds at night. Little Lego guys and Knex pieces, stuff like that. So they brought the basket back downstairs and it sits behind our couch. If you looked in their bedroom, you might think it's sparse and not much fun, but honestly they're never in there! They sleep in there and get changed and that's it. They play downstairs. They each have a few little "treasures" - rocks they liked and kept, bird feathers, seashells and little toys out of gumball machines, paper ninja stars, notes from me and their father - they keep these mostly in their messenger bags. I made each kiddo a haversack type messenger bag for Christmas one year. They each found a small cosmetic-bag at the thrift store, and they keep their treasures in there, inside their haversack. DS12 has a room to himself. His room is much the same way. Same exact bed, but in a full size. Same underbed storage - so no dresser. He does have my old secretary desk in there. He uses the top part to put Lego creations on display. He has a small nightstand where he keeps his betta fish. The nightstand has a few small drawers, so he keeps Legos in there - Legos that he doesn't want his little brothers running off with. Same thing with him. He's never in his room, except to sleep and get changed. It hasn't always been this way. They used to have a ton of toys and books and, honestly, it was just overwhelming. We downsized big time years ago and LOVE how everything is neat and orderly and never cluttered. We downsizèd from a big 4 bedroom house to a two bedroom tiny house a year and a half ago. I could NEVER get all of their clothes under their beds and I feel like they don't have a lot of clothes as it is. I'm constantly weeding through it and i have to do laundry every three or four days or they run out of clothes. When their sizes were smaller, everything fit, but now their clothes are almost as big as mine! Their room is maybe 10 x10. Our bunk beds are from IKEA too, but they are older. I wonder if they have under the bed drawers that would fit. They are in their room a lot. Every day for quiet time and then they enjoy playing together in there. If they aren't in there, they are outside. We don't have anywhere else for them to play, really. I can vacuum my whole house from one outlet!! ;) So, if it's not in their room, it's not anywhere else. We do have an unfinished basement, so that is where their art supplies and dress up are stored, and there is plenty of room for "keep forever boxes" (so far they each have two). Hmm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
violamama Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Not only do my boys share a bedroom, but we live in a townhouse. It's three bedrooms, but one of the rooms is my music studio and they are not usually allowed in there unless they're practicing. Most of our life happens in the living/dining/kitchen space and then they like to play a lot in their room. We have several Ikea storage things, but I definitely hear you on the surfaces being an issue. I think my kids are younger than yours, but we are consciously teaching them to keep the tops of their small dresser or small ikea step-shaped shelf unit clean. -I'm making them this for Christmas and they will be allowed to keep their own lego stuff from each day on it (AND IT ALONE!- oops, there I go shouting again). http://thatsmyletter.blogspot.com/2012/05/l-is-for-lego-tray.html My plan is to make them a tray exactly the size of one of the shelf-unit steps, so they look tidy even with legos on them and they can easily bring them up and down the stairs. -Another space-saving thing we made is a display for all their art work, ribbons, bead necklaces, church projects, etc. It's a big thrift-store frame I spray painted with brushed nickel, and then I took twine and draped it back and forth across the opening, stapling along the back. Add to that a package of dollar store clips and that's where we keep all their favorite flat stuff. You could make two small ones for each girl to have in the room to display hangable treasures. -Ikea laundry bin for stuffed animals. True confession: they actually each have one of these in their beds. They are allowed to have one stuffed animal out to sleep with, but the rest have to be put away in the bin, which has a lid. Otherwise, they were sleeping in a sea of animals and it was frankly grossing me out. I would love to make them a cute sling/hammock for the animals, but they sleep in a loft-bed bunk type thing and it just wouldn't work for us. Plus, they can fill the bin themselves and I don't have to worry about them climbing in a hammock or pulling it down. Other than the planned lego tray, I try to keep everything covered up in their room to make it tidy looking. I find that I can sneak in quite a bit of storage, and as long as I cover it (little fabric curtains stapled to the inside of a shelf, for example) it looks neat enough. But what I really want to post is: There's a show called "World's Strictest Parents"??!!! How did I not know about this... <running off to google that ASAP> Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest inoubliable Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 We downsizèd from a big 4 bedroom house to a two bedroom tiny house a year and a half ago. I could NEVER get all of their clothes under their beds and I feel like they don't have a lot of clothes as it is. I'm constantly weeding through it and i have to do laundry every three or four days or they run out of clothes. When their sizes were smaller, everything fit, but now their clothes are almost as big as mine! Their room is maybe 10 x10. Our bunk beds are from IKEA too, but they are older. I wonder if they have under the bed drawers that would fit. They are in their room a lot. Every day for quiet time and then they enjoy playing together in there. If they aren't in there, they are outside. We don't have anywhere else for them to play, really. I can vacuum my whole house from one outlet!! ;) So, if it's not in their room, it's not anywhere else. We do have an unfinished basement, so that is where their art supplies and dress up are stored, and there is plenty of room for "keep forever boxes" (so far they each have two). Hmm... We are very much a minimalist family - so I'm sure it seems extreme to some. My own family just doesn't get it. Their houses are BURSTING with knicknacks and books and just stuff. They were horrified when I hauled over 3000 books to Goodwill a couple of summers ago. Our house is only 900 sq ft, so we have to be sure we don't have much stuff. Luckily it's not an issue for us; we really just don't do well with lots of stuff. My kids do go in their room to read. I guess I should have mentioned that. They have giant floor pillows that I made for them. They pull those out from under the couch and set up in different places in the house to read. Sometimes they end up in their bedrooms. DS12 sometimes hangs out on his bed to build Lego creations away from his brothers. They don't spend enough time in there, though, that it would make sense to have a bunch of stuff in there for them to do. There's a show called "World's Strictest Parents"??!!! How did I not know about this... I somehow missed this, and now I very much want to find this! LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NotSoObvious Posted December 12, 2012 Author Share Posted December 12, 2012 We are very much a minimalist family - so I'm sure it seems extreme to some. My own family just doesn't get it. Their houses are BURSTING with knicknacks and books and just stuff. They were horrified when I hauled over 3000 books to Goodwill a couple of summers ago. Our house is only 900 sq ft, so we have to be sure we don't have much stuff. Luckily it's not an issue for us; we really just don't do well with lots of stuff. My kids do go in their room to read. I guess I should have mentioned that. They have giant floor pillows that I made for them. They pull those out from under the couch and set up in different places in the house to read. Sometimes they end up in their bedrooms. DS12 sometimes hangs out on his bed to build Lego creations away from his brothers. They don't spend enough time in there, though, that it would make sense to have a bunch of stuff in there for them to do. I somehow missed this, and now I very much want to find this! LOL. You are my hero with the lack of stuff! I'm not ready to give up more books yet. I thought we had gotten rid of a lot when we moved, but I have boxes in the basement and really no idea what is in them! The show is dumb, but totally addicting. I TiVo it and then fast forward to the part where they talk about the family. (They send two wild teenagers to live with a strict family for ONE week and they magically learn respect.) I do think it is interesting to see what works for other families... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ScoutTN Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 Less than last week! I culled toys. :hurray: :hurray: :hurray: We too have problems with all their little treasures and small rooms. The clutter doesn't bother them but it drives me crazy. It isn't terrible, but I don't think either of mine got my "neat" gene! Mine have a small dresser each, a bookcase (2 shelves books, 2 toys) and two baskets on the floor. DD's are books and DS' are toys. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 I am very torn about this. I would like my kids' rooms to have WAY less stuff, but I can't see going "heartless" and chucking all or most of their stuffed animals, books, trophies and artwork. Trophies - is there anything more pointless to keep? But what can I really do? I did pack up some of my oldest's trophies to store in the basement, but this was easy now that she is at an age where she doesn't care about a gymnastics trophy she earned when she was 5. But even she treasures her stuffed animals and her books. They are dear possessions to her. I've reconciled that it won't kill me if that clutter sticks around for a few more years at this point. But if I was starting over with a baby now, I would know one thing I would not buy any of - stuffed animals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gentlemommy Posted December 12, 2012 Share Posted December 12, 2012 My dd's (7 and 4) share a room right now. It's about to change, but currently they have- Two twin beds One Expedit 8 square bookshelf from Ikea, right between their beds. It's vertical, so they each have 4 cubbies next to their bed. In one of those cubbies they have a basket. That is for trinkets, paper, rocks, leaves, ect. Every week, we go through the baskets. On another shelf, they have a jewelry box that daddy gave them. It holds their jewelry, make up, ect. On the third shelf they keep one baby doll, they each have one. The last one is random glass/breakable things they keep away from their sister lol. That's it. Their clothes are in a shared dresser kept in my closet. Their shoes are on a shelf in the garage. They do have dresses, jeans, and sweaters hanging in their own closet. The toddler has her own room, but will soon be sharing with her big sister. For now, she has- A toddler bed An 8 cubby Expedit shelf, horizontally. It holds books (2 cubbies), blocks, cars/trucks, potato head basket, random baby toys basket, stacking toy, and doctor kit. Basically one toy/item for each cubby. A play kitchen A baby cradle for her dolls. Her dresser is in her closet. Pretty soon, we will be changing their rooms around, so dd1(7) will have the room with two twin beds, and dd2(4) and dd3(2), will share the other room. We are getting a bunked for that room. Dd3 will continue to use her toddler bed, because we are going to be foster parents, so when we have guest children, dd1 will move into the bunk and all three will share the room temporarily. Once we get the bunk bed, that room will have- Twin over full bunk bed (dd2 will be sleeping up on top, no one on the bottom until we have guest kids) Toddler bed for dd3 Play kitchen Baby cradle Ikea shelf will move into the closet, horizontally Dresser will move into my closet The other room will stay the same, except I'll put the girls shared dresser from my closet into that rooms closet. We really don't have too many toys...I like to be able to completely clean up in less than ten minutes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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