Make a Move Monday-Simply 10 (The kids' rooms)

Make a Move Monday is here as well as Memorial Day here in the U.S.  For many of us this is the official kick off to summer.  We started off with a 3 day camping trip and the goal of unplugging and enjoying time together.  I am pleased to say that for the most part we accomplished our goals.  (We still had our phones, but no TV or Internet, and we enjoyed the time together as much as we could with an 18 month old!)

I am not a natural born camper, but it is all about attitude.  I enjoy the time without the distractions of TV and Internet.  I appreciate the time that the kids get to catch butterflies, look for deer tracks and read Henry Huggins around a fire.  When packing up to go camping I tried to take only the necessities.  What do we truly need, and what are just extras? It was timely as I am not only asking this for our weekend getaway but also in our daily lives. 

This week my goal was to spend 10 minutes a day decluttering the kids’ rooms and thinking through our current routines that involve those rooms.  The first day I logged in a big, fat 6 minutes.  Day 2 went the wrong direction, and I spent no time in their rooms.  Day 3 surprised me, and I got 20 minutes in before the next thing was bidding for my attention.  Day 4 was a huge step forward, and 45 minutes later I discovered that our youngest has carpet on the floor in her room.  I knew that we would be camping days 5-7 so I gave myself the extra time that day.  The goal was 70 minutes in a week, and I logged 71-a whole extra minute!

I decided not to beat myself up about the giant pile of clothes that I took out of their rooms.  We live with four season climate so we switch clothing needs as well as sizes all the time.  The clothes shuffle is constant, and there is nothing that I can do about it.  I did organize my daughter’s closet into two sides: a “staying home” side and a “going away” side.  This made my husband laugh, but every morning we go around and around about what she can pick out to wear.  Now she can pick out anything on the appropriate side, and I don’t override her choice.  It has been wonderful.   The kids have a small checklist of things that they are supposed to be responsible for doing after breakfast.  I have been lax at enforcing this lately.  This week I gave them a reminder after breakfast, and I had them check each other each morning-so far so good.  They are often harder on each other than I am! 

Simply 10 week one-Success!  The kids’ rooms are much less overwhelming to me, and their routines seem to be running more smoothly.  What a nice way to kick off summer!  Next up on my Simply 10 list: Bathrooms.  I really don’t think that I will need 70 minutes for bathrooms, but I have a lot of camping paraphernalia to put away so I am giving myself an easy one. 

What did everyone else do for Make a Move Monday this week?  Time to link up!  Thanks for stopping by!