5 Minute Blitz Cleaning

The kids bedrooms have been really bugging me the last few weeks. In the initial weeks following Christmas, I resorted to removing two thirds of the twins toys in an effort to minimise the amount of mess in their rooms. This was successful for a week or two, but somehow the remaining toys have still managed spread themselves across the room from corner to corner.

I had come to the point of being overwhelmed and fed up with the situation, so I set myself a small and totally achieveable challenge to improve the rooms as best as I could in a five minute time frame.  

So out came the kitchen timer and off I set to work on my son's room. Cars, books, teddies and clothes were cleared from the floor and put away, the bed and rug straightened and a range of girls toys we're returned to their proper bedrooms, then voila - time's up and wow! The difference was huge. Obviously not perfect, but certainly in a ready state for vacuuming, a proper clean and a change of duvet cover.

Next it was onto my youngest daughter's room. Straight into it - 5 minutes on the timer and... Oh my gosh - there is a lot more on the floor than the last room - hair clips, jewellery, pens, books, tiny toys  - arghhhhhhh! But pressing on, I get down on my hands and knees and start with the larger toys, clothes and toys that don't belong, I get onto the small stuff and get a lot of it off the floor. I actually work a little past the timer - straighten the rug and pull open the blinds behind the desk, but no straightening the bed or tidying the books but, you know what - not bad, an improvement (and not unnoticed by Miss 3 after pre-school). She was very appreciative that her room was tidy!

Lastly, my eldest daughters room - oh dear! I start the timer and... I stand in the middle of the room and just look at it :-( after about a minute, I notice the fish tank  - it is only half full of water and the fish, I begin to wonder, when was it last fed? The fish was fine but I decided it needed urgent attention, so gave it food and then gave the tank a top up of treated water. 5 minutes gone and no progress on the state of the room :-(

Here is the scale of my problem:

Now, I know - it's not the messiest room ever, it may not look overwhelming to everyone, but it is one of those rooms that has been wearing me down over time. It is the sort of room you can spend hours tidying and then in a few minutes it can be back to the same state as before! It is soul destroying and frustrating and it just makes me want to bury my head in the sand.

So that is where I left my cleaning blitz. I need to restrategise on my plan for this room and how I'm going to get my daughter involved in keeping her room tidy and organised. I don't want to have to face it like this ever again.