Cleaning your room
I know the whole persona of “I am a teen, I am going to have a messy room like the rest of the world,” may seem cool, but in reality it only creates chaos in your life. How many times do you go looking for that outfit or that thing and can’t seem to find it? It is best to learn how to keep a room that is clean and orderly.
This week you will be learning how to declutter, organize, and clean your room.
Declutter
You will need the following for this task:
- a box for donating
- a trash bag for garbage
- a basket for items that go elsewhere in the home
- a wet rag for wiping out the insides of things
Almost everyone owns too many things, unless you are a minimalist. But even a minimalist can acquire too much and will need to weed out every once in a while. Before you begin you will need a clean workspace to work at in your bedroom. I recommend using your bed as your work zone.
Start with an article of furniture like a night stand. Begin by emptying out all of the drawers and shelves and putting the items onto your bed. Next, start looking through and grabbing the trash items and throwing them away. Don’t keep things that are broken, or of no value. If you find things that go in other areas of the home like paper clips, books, or items you borrowed, put them in the basket to go elsewhere. Look at your items and decide if you no longer have use for them. A good way to tell is if you haven’t done anything with it for over a year. After you have sorted through your pile, wipe out the inside of your drawer to remove any dust or dirt. You can then begin by organizing and placing your items back inside.
You are going to move in a clockwise pattern as you work your way around your room decluttering and organizing. If your bed is next, start by removing everything that is underneath it. Do the same process that you did for cleaning out the nightstand.
Let’s start on your dresser. Remove all items off the top of your dresser. Put miscellaneous hair ties back in the bathroom. Find a place for your makeup, in a bathroom, or in a container all neat together. Go through and throw out old makeup. If your nail polish is chunky—pitch it. Most makeup only lasts about a year. Anything after that, it is time to go.
If you have any hair brushes, remove hair out of the bristles and throw it into the trash. You should once a month soak these in a sink filled with hot, soapy water. You can rinse them with some rubbing alcohol to sterilize them. Let them sit out and dry before using again.
If you don’t have to have an item out, put it away. You want to have things looking neat and clean. When the top of your dresser is clean, begin by going through your drawers.
Take each drawer and dump it on your bed. Go through all of your clothing, throw out any ripped, stained or too small items. If you have some that need repairs, set them in a separate pile. Make a note to repair them. If you haven’t worn the item in a year, donate it. Keep only what you like to wear and feel comfortable in. Wipe out the insides of your drawers before putting items back into them. Fold each item and place them back in the drawers neatly.
For bookshelves take all of the items off. Go through the books and decide which ones you want to keep and which ones to donate. Wipe off the shelves and place all the books back on the shelves. Put them back in some sort of order. Sort them according to the types of books. If you have school books, put those together. Fiction books, put them together. Place them all vertical on the shelf. This creates a taller, more organized looking shelf. Any CD’s or DVD’s go through and decide if you want to keep them out. If you have them on your music player and don’t need them out, put them away in a box under your bed or in the closet.
You have probably moved around most of your room, keep going until it is done and then we move on to the biggest, probably the messiest—-your closet!
Take everything out of your closet. Use your rag and wipe out the inside corners and any shelves to remove cobwebs and dust. If you have carpet, vacuum the corners and cracks.
Now go through the clothing. Throw out old, ripped, and stained clothing. Anything that is too small, put it in the donate box. If you have any that needs repairing, put it in the pile to be mended. Then start sorting the different types of clothing that you have in piles. Put all your t-shirts, your long sleeve shirts, any button up shirts, and any dresses, into separate piles. This will help you to have some order in your closet. It will also help you to see if you have one too many of something J Put them back in your closet. Put the items that you don’t frequently use towards the back. This can be dress coats, nicer dresses for special occasions, or out of season clothing. Then put your clothing in a pattern. I like to do tank style shirts, t shirts, long sleeve shirts, dress shirts, and dresses, in that order. I also take it one step further and within my t-shirts, I sort them according to color. This helps give you an organized look to your wardrobe. It will also help you determine which types of items that you need when you do have to go shopping for clothing.
If you keep your shoes in your closet, depending upon how many of shoes you own, you can either neatly set them out on the bottom or purchase a shoe rack. These are fairly inexpensive at the store and holds many pairs of shoes.
Use the top of your closet to hold seasonal items such as gloves, hats, scarves, etc. You can get inexpensive boxes or baskets to hold these items.
Depending upon how cluttered your room is, this may take you a few hours or a few days. Just keep at it. Go through all of your room, and don’t stop until you are finished. The key to being a daughter of devotion, is being devoted to complete your tasks. Organization is an important character trait to have as you go about your life. Whether you will be working outside of the home or if you will be working in the home. Organization is key to complete success.
