Making space for Christmas

Recently, my youngest daughter came to me saying, "Mom, you know what I'd like for Christmas? I'd like you to help me clean up my room."

Julia "cleans up" her room on a semi-regular basis, but it often takes her an entire day because she gets caught up in the stuff on her desk and ends up doing art projects or reading forgotten books or playing with little toys she hasn't seen in a while. I was the same way when I was young... but my room wasn't as big, and I don't think I had quite so much stuff.

Usually I leave Julia to fend for herself when it comes to tidying her space. But today is the day WE are going to dejunk, clutter-bust, and clean Julia's room. Here's what we'll need to do it:

1. a garbage bag
2. a bag for recyclable materials
3. a charity box (Julia doesn't mind giving stuff to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul because she knows other children might like the things she's outgrown)
4. a box for items Julia is unwilling to part with, and
5. a box for items which she isn't sure how to categorize.

It then becomes a fairly simple matter to decide where items belong. The only trick is to get the work done rather than playing, reading, or doing arts and crafts for someone's Christmas gift! When the room is clean, we toss the garbage, put the recycling out in our blue bag, take the charity box to SSVP, put away the items Julia is keeping, and the stuff that is in the last box gets put on a shelf in the basement for a year. If Julia "needs" anything from that box, she can retrieve it, and in a year's time, we'll give whatever is in it away.

Since reading Mark A. Burch's little book, De-Junking: A Tool for Clutter-Busting (2007, Simplicity Practice and Resource Centre, ISBN 978-0-9784528-3-4) -- see the sidebar -- this is how I go about cleaning house when I'm in serious dejunking mode. It's a simple plan, and it increases everyone's free time and space. Julia is happier when her desk is clear and she has space to work, and I'm happier when I don't have to nag her about her mess. Part of Christmas preparation is making sure there's "room at the inn," and now's the time to do it!