CLEAN YOUR ROOM

“Clean your room.” Ahh, those words often go unheeded. Perhaps a different phrase would make the task more appealing.

Our three children have all been living on their own for years, yet I still find myself asking them to please clean out the clothes and paperwork in their childhood bedrooms. Now that I’ve been blogging about purging and doing projects in other parts of the house, it’s time to clamp down. See On to Purging Costume Jewelry, dated April 8, 2025, and Sorting Piles, dated January 28, 2025, at sharonmarkcohen.com.

When a contractor came to inspect our house for necessary repairs, I apologized before he walked into the master bedroom. I told him the story about requiring the bed to be made every morning. See Is Your Bed Made? dated June 1, 2021, at sharonmarkcohen.com.

I explained to the contractor that, knowing he was supposed to arrive at 4:00 p.m., I darted out to get to my dental appointment and have a crown put on my tooth. The contractor’s wife called just before I left the house, however, and upped the appointment to 2:00, leaving me no time to run up and make the bed. He just laughed. I can only imagine what he’s seen in his years of walking through people’s homes.

With our children living out of state, especially two married with children, it’s harder and harder to get them to clean out even one dresser drawer when they visit. While their rooms thankfully never looked as untidy as the one in the picture, some toys, books, and clothes are outdated and should be donated. Although I don’t want to make those decisions, it may soon come to that.

Truthfully, I believe this is pretty much a universal problem. Did your children clean out their rooms before they left home? (Did you clean out yours?) Maybe they want to feel “at home” when they visit. I wonder what treasures are hidden.

Presto! Just like that! Our grandchildren, Solly and Dizzy, are here from Ohio, spending the week with us in New Jersey, and they wanted a flute. Searching through their daddy’s desk drawers in his childhood bedroom this morning, they were as happy as larks when they found his recorder instrument he played when he was their age. We immediately used it in our marching parade around the house.

Next, they discovered more yo-yos from their daddy’s collection. Perhaps it’s fortunate that not everything was emptied, but, surely, some items could stand to be purged.

The children had loads of fun experimenting with making a tornado using two empty Coke bottles and some tape. How much “stuff” do we need in the drawers?