Zone 6: Kids’ & Guest Bedrooms
It’s time for Zone 6! Click HERE for the video on this zone.
This zone is for our other bedrooms in the house. In Zone 2 we tackled the Master Suite in our house. This month we are focusing on the other bedrooms. For most of us this is a kid’s room and/or guest room.
First, let’s talk about the deep clean.
When you deep clean a bedroom you are going to:
Wipe off all of the surfaces and furniture.
Vacuum your upholstered furniture.
Even though you may do this on a regular basis, take all the bedding off and clean it.
Vacuum and wipe down all baseboards and blinds.
Clean the windows and light fixtures.
Check for any carpet stains.
Now that the room is really clean, let’s talk about decluttering and minimizing.
For a guest room this should be pretty easy. I try to not keep anything in our guest room that a guest would not need. You can find an entire blog post and video I did regarding a guest room HERE.
Kid’s rooms take a little bit more work.
TOYS
What toys do you keep in your child’s room. If you have a play room or another designated toy space, I recommend keeping only the minimal amount of toys in your child’s room.
Purging toys is something I get a lot of questions about. If your child is really young you may need to do this without them. I do encourage you to get your child involved for a few reasons. 1. You are teaching them that removing things that aren’t our favorite is a normal thing we do. 2. This saves you from a crying child looking for the thing you donated in a month.
The first step you want to take is to determine exactly what space you will designate for the toys. I love baskets and bins to contain toys. This give you and your child a defined area. You can let you child know that once this if full, it’s time to donate or sell a few things. If this concept is new to your family it may seem difficult, but I promise it gets easier over time!
I take this time to pull every single toy out and make sure nothing is broken or dirty. I wipe out the shelves and neatly put everything back.
TIP: What you decide to donate needs to go in the trunk of your car IMMEDIATELY and be taken to the donation center that day if possible. Trust me on this. Your kids will find the donation stash and suddenly be in love with all the things that they were letting go. (This is speaking from experience.)
CLOTHING
Here are a few tips for going through you child’s clothing.
Take everything out that doesn’t fit. I warn my kids that this is coming. We have a try-on party and I try to make it fun. Turn on music and see how fast you can go through your clothes. If you wonder if something fits (especially items you have saved from the previous year, try it on!)
Too small? Sell it or donate it. Get it out of the closet!
Too big? Put it in a section of the closet out of the way so it doesn’t get confused with what fits.
Put things in categories. Dress clothes, school clothes, play clothes, outerwear. I keep the clothes that my daughter can wear to play in where they are easy for her to access.
I also have a designated space for the clothes I choose for that week. (This is part of my Weekend Routine.)
Kids generate stuff. It’s just what happens. I try to consistently keep my kids’ rooms as clutter free as possible. I only want the things they really need in here. Clutter is overwhelming to us as adults. Imagine how much more so that is to children. A bedroom needs to be a safe and clean space to sleep in. When we minimize these spaces it makes it easier for them to relax and it’s easier on us because it’s so much simpler to keep clean.
If you have missed any of the other zones you can find them here:
Zone 3 - Stairs, Linen Closet, Laundry Room, Kids’ Bathroom
Zone 4 - Entry, Dining, Library
This routine of going zone by zone in my home is so helpful to keep my house minimized and deep cleaned without overwhelming me. I truly believe this adds margin to our lives.