A mixed-use space can become a mixed-up mess.
If your tweens' bedrooms are so cluttered you can no longer see the floor, or if the kids are routinely late for school because they can't find their homework or clothes, it may be time to help them get organized. Rather than constantly criticize their sloppiness or impose your own decorating agenda while they're off at school, tackling this project together with your tweens is a chance to instill better habits, especially if you're willing to listen to -- and respect -- some of their own ideas.
Space Planning
Regardless of its size, a tween's bedroom is used for many things -- studying, playing, entertaining and snacking -- as much as it is for sleeping. When these uses get blurred, chaos ensues. The first step in the organizational action plan is to redefine those occupational boundaries so that items related to your tween's bedroom activities will consistently be kept in the same place in order to be easily found and accessed when needed. If you have tweens who share a bedroom, space planning should address their respective "private" sides of this domain as well as common areas they can both use for crafts, games and entertaining friends.
Storage
Inexpensive shelving units, footlockers and plastic bins that you can stack or slide under the bed are efficient means of storing similar items together in one place. These include toys, books and magazines, sports equipment, school and craft supplies, and class projects. Consider modular furniture such as cubes that serve a triple function as storage containers, seating and tabletops. If new furniture is in the budget, look for a daybed or bunk bed unit with built-in drawers or shelving. If there's no place to store unsightly items, consider using a portable room divider so the clutter's less obvious.
Recycling
Clutter is often a product of simply holding on for too long to things that have outgrown their usefulness. Encourage your tweens to take honest stock of toys, games, clothes, hobbies and sports equipment they no longer use or need. Discuss whether they should be discarded or given to charity. If your tweens are reluctant to relinquish them just yet, be respectful of their sentimentality. Strike a compromise in which you can box these belongings and move them into the garage for three to six months. If the items are not missed or used during that time, revisit the subject of dispatching them.
Closets
Use over-the-door shoe organizers, fabric or plastic storage boxes, cap racks, drawer organizers and hanging wardrobe compartments to de-clutter your tweens' closets. Segregate clothing items by season or by their function. To keep dirty apparel from being mixed in with clean clothes or left all over the room, add a small hamper or basket that can easily be carried to the laundry.
Tags: your tweens, sports equipment, tween bedroom