Less Stress and Mess in the Kids’ Room

As I'm going through Joshua Becker's Uncluttered course,  I'm seeing firsthand the benefits of simplifying and removing excess around the house.

Last week we had cleaned out one of the most cluttered, overstuffed rooms in the house – our kids'.

Reaching a Breaking Point

Long story short, cleaning up was stressful for everyone.

Our oldest daughter was overwhelmed by everything and constantly stressed out by the sheer amount of work.

She also hated not being able to find her stuff and getting frustrated that her younger sister was destroying her stuff (cause things were all over the place).

My husband and I were tired of having to stop what we were doing to help her hunt and clean.

We finally sat down and decided that we were going to start from scratch. We needed to take out everything, but the absolute essentials and favorite toys from her room.

We'll keep them in the basement and only pull them out if she asked for them. If she could keep things clean, they could stay upstairs in her room.

Our hope was to find that sweet spot where she had enough to entertain herself (and appreciate), but also be able to clean up quickly and easily.

So last week we took the plunge – we cleaned our kids' room.

Her Reaction? Not What We Expected

I need you to know something about our little girl – she's pretty good with noticing details.

We went to a friend's house and within two minutes she noticed that the dining chairs had changed. Hair cut? She's the first say something.

So when we talked about removing all the excess toys from the girls' room, we were anticipating a huge reaction.

I pictured our oldest walking into her room and instantly realizing that half of her toys were gone.

Despite this fear we knew that cleaning her room was the best move for all of us so we went ahead and did it while she was distracted watching Dr. McStuffins.

I never moved so quickly. Bags were ready so once she was in the living room, it was a dash to fill them up and quietly take them down.

By the time it was over, we had five bags of toys downstairs.

Once the show was over, she went into her room and….

she didn't say a thing about it.

Yeah, the little girl who notices everything didn't miss anything. In fact, she went in and grabbed her doctor's kit so she could see some patients.

And a week later she's only asked once to go downstairs for a specific toy.

Less is More, Even with Kids

I know it's only been a week, but I have a practical appreciation how fewer toys can be good for our kids (and us).

Not only is there less stress in the house, but the free time allows us to read one more bedtime story, which is a HUGE win in my book.

Thoughts on Kids and Clutter

How many of you have simplified your kids stuff? How did it go? Was it better or worse than you expected?