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Get Organized
Keeping a Teen's Room CleanQuestion: I think my teenage daughter is becoming quite a packrat and her room is a pig sty. She has tons of old school papers, clothing she no longer wears and magazines piled up in her room. I know teens hate to clean up for themselves, but there's got to be a way to make her room more manageable.Beatrice Answer: Most teenage girls are very successful at building packrat nests, but you can still limit the extent of their clutter. I do have a few ideas that should work for both of you... From now on, she's in charge -- of the clutter and the cleanup. Help her create a filing system for her papers, then archive those that are no longer referenced. Encourage her to file and purge on a regular basis, say once a month. Next, tackle the sentimental clutter. Find the biggest cork bulletin board you can and hang it on the wall for her to fill to her heart's delight, or buy a large magnetic white board that can also serve as a bulletin board with colorful magnets. She may even want to purchase neon dry erase markers for controlled graffiti and magnetic ABC's for creative messages. Plan and then shop for colorful storage containers together-- this not only keeps her in the loop for the organizational process, but helps her maintain the new system after it's created. Neon plastic magazine holders, or decorative wicker will corral papers, jewelry, hair accessories, and all the doo-dads your packrat can collect in her private domain. Lastly, delegate the room-cleaning duties to your young collector-- I know this is hard to do, but try not to clean her room for her. If she's old enough to create the mess, she's old enough to pick it up. Dusting, vacuuming, making beds, and other housekeeping duties will either be done by her, or not at all. You're not really going on strike (which usually doesn't work), but leaving it up to her-- the choice is entirely hers to make.
Good luck,
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