Spring Cleaning Challenge 2013! Who wants to join me??? Week 1: Kids Rooms

 ***Tuesday Update: I have started in my girls room…first I took all the clothes all over the place and folded and put them away (with the assistance of my girls of course…ended up being mostly a temper tantrum battle with my 9 year old…which is very uncharacteristic of her) I have several items of clothing that I need to deal with now…hold up because I have an awesome way for you to make a little money on those piles of clothes you have now sorted out of the kids drawers!!! (HINT: ThredUp…they will pay you for the clothes….all kids sizes and even adult clothing now…my girlfriend just sent in a bag of her own clothes…nothing special and got $40!!!! I am soooo doing this!)

Ok so I am gonna do something I have never truly done before…I am going to do some “official” Spring Cleaning! I have always worked full time in the past…so Spring Cleaning was only a dream…I would do what I could on the weekends to get bedrooms re-organized and closets cleaned…but never “really” got to go deep and clean like I wanted to!

Now that I am a stay at home mom (kind of…LOL) I am planning on working my way through the whole house and getting it cleaned down deep!!! Starting with my kids bedrooms!!!

Anybody up to joining me in this task? I have a few goals with cleaning down deep (this is what I can gonna call it) that I would like to accomplish…

1. Sort toys…take toys out that are not currently being played with (my rule of thumb is…if I haven’t seen it played with for at least 2-3 weeks than it’s time to go to storage!) I will take those toys out and put them in plastic storage bins and put them either up high in the kids closets or in the garage…I will then look to see what we have in the garage/closets…and if there is anything that seems suitable for the kids current play needs…I will pull out those toys and add them to the toy bins.
   ***This creates a “new” toys effect….the kids feel like they just got a whole bunch of  NEW toys to play with while…and don’t care about the toys I am taking away….plus it eliminates unnecessary clutter!
2. Sort through kids clothes…I think I will start figuring out which clothes are too small and get those out of the drawers…also I want to start taking out some of the winter clothes that are maybe less desirable at this point and pull out some of the last years Spring clothes and see if anything still fits…this way we have clothing for both the sunny days and the cold days!
3. Finally I REALLY want to hang some of the pictures and decor on my kid’s walls…we have lived in Kansas for 1 year (this month) and have yet to hang ANYTHING on the walls in my kids’ rooms!
   ***This includes some of the hooks and racks that I have purchased on clearance over the past few months to help them better put away their backpacks and purses!

So I have shared with you my goals for the day/week! Who is in? Who would like to go do some Spring cleaning with me? Please feel free to share some before and after pictures either on FACEBOOK or email them to me at thebudgetbandit@gmail.com 

Also if you have any further suggestions for awesome organizational or designing tips for kids rooms PLEASE SHARE!!!

Few Organizational Tools I found and love!!! (I have learned in order to clean effectively you need the correct organizational tools!)

Tot Tutors Toy Organizer, Primary Colors, just $49.97 (reg $70.99) FREE 2 day shipping

Quartet Cork Tiles, 12 x 12 Inches, Brown, 8 Pack (108), $9.49 plus FREE 2 day shipping

Sourcing Solutions 2-Piece Folding Storage Bins Set, Blue with Open Handles (several colors available), $8.94 FREE 2 days shipping

ClosetMaid 9-Cube Laminate Organizer, Espresso, $45.00 plus FREE 2 day shipping