By Jaclyn Gross, www.tiptoporganizing.com
 
Jaclyn Gross is the CEO and Founder of Tip Top Organizing, Inc. Her company helps people clear the clutter and get their homes and offices organized, just like on TV. This includes, closets, papers, bedrooms, photos and more! She has appeared on the show Hoarders on A&E and CNN. You can follow Tip Top Organizing, Inc. on Twitter (@TipTopOrganize) and Facebook.
 
Spring cleaning, or any kind of cleaning, is mostly dreaded by kids. You don’t see them jumping up and down, getting excited when they have to clean up. But it does have to be done, so if you can help make it even somewhat enjoyable, then you will score major Auntie points!
 
This is a great learning opportunity to instill certain habits in your nieces and nephews that they will carry on for life. For example, teaching them how to make decisions about what they need to keep and what they need to get rid of, is very important. They are outgrowing things quickly and need to be taught the skill of letting go. Show them how to be charitable by helping them donate their used belongings to people less fortunate. After doing this, they will feel more responsible and accomplished, which helps build confidence and independence. They will then know how to do these things when they are on their own. And they will have their super fabulous Auntie to thank!
 
First, it all begins with the music. Make them a playlist of their favorite songs and artists, or have them play their own. Singing and dancing to their tunes will make it feel more fun for them in a flash. They’ll especially love when their favorite Auntie grabs the hair brush and starts singing along while doing a silly dance move!
 
1. Start with something really easy. Writing utensils, they have a ton of them.
There are pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, colored pencils, just to name a few. They’re thrown around everywhere, in six different drawers, baskets, etc. They know they have tons of yellow highlighters, but it seems that every time they need one, they can’t find it. Here’s an easy solution: go on a fun scavenger hunt to find all of them in the room. Take some cups, mugs, glass jars, or basically anything that has that shape. Then separate them in an organized fashion; one for colored pencils, one for pens, one for highlighters, etc. How simple was that?

2. Move on to their CD/DVD collection.
All of those cases take up so much space. This can be solved by using a CD/DVD binder and putting them all in. You can do one for CDs and another for DVDs, or you can do just one with CDs in the front and DVDs in the back. You can take out the paper on the inside of the cases and put it in the pocket that each CD/DVD will go in, as a placeholder. Savvy Aunties should always teach their nieces and nephews how to take care of our planet, so make sure to recycle the cases!

3. Time to tackle the book collection.
Help them go through each one and decide which they are willing to get rid of. Then organize the rest by subject or series. You know that will look great when you’re all finished!

4. Attack those scary jumbles of cords, wires, chargers, and other miscellaneous things of that nature.
After going through them and keeping only what is still being used, wrap each one up with a rubber band. If there is more than one part to an item, use Ziploc bags to keep them all together. Then place them all in just one area, such as a drawer, box, or basket. Aunties get extra bonus points for helping with this task because it takes a little extra patience!

5. De-clutter their collections.
Over the winter, it seems like toys, especially stuffed animals, seem to accumulate. Go through them and see if they can agree to keep just a certain number, and part with the rest. Do they really need 30 stuffed bears, or can they just keep five? This is a challenging one so give lots of high fives after completing this step!

6. Purge the wardrobe.
Have them try on their clothes to see what they have outgrown or are just ready to get rid of. They are growing quickly and their styles change. Your nieces and nephews will feel great knowing these items will still be getting used by other kids. It will make them feel like they are helping someone, and who doesn’t love that feeling? That’s what you’re doing right now for them! Note: if you’re dealing with hardwood floors, keep the mismatched socks for Step #10!

7. Separate the wardrobe by seasons.
Now that you’ve gone through everything and put the items into an area for donations, take what’s left and divide between winter and summer. Put the winter stuff into space bags. The space bags are great because your nieces and nephews can just squeeze the air out themselves easily with no vacuum. They would really love doing this because they get to sit on them to squish out all the air. It would be even funnier for them to see their Auntie do this!

8. Use the space under their bed.
First, take everything out from under there. Then clean it. Prepare yourself for the giant dust bunnies that will hop out. You can get storage containers that are specifically made for under the bed with the option of having wheels. You can store the winter wardrobe in here. Now they have a system that they can continue to use every time they have to do the switch.

9. Increase the space under the bed with bed risers.
If you want to create even more space under the bed, or if it was too low for any kind of container, use these to add a few more inches. Your nieces and nephews will think you are so smart for that trick! But just make sure they can still get up on the bed okay, otherwise they will have to get a stepstool!

10. Skate to make the hardwood floors sparkle.
If your nieces and nephews have hardwood floors, then this is the perfect way to end the day. Put on the mismatched socks that you found in your wardrobe purge from Step #6, and skate around the floor. Make it a game to see who can pick up the most dust and get their socks the dirtiest. Only really cool Aunties would know about this secret game!
 
No matter what, the goal is to have fun spending time with your nieces and nephews while sharpening their life skills. By doing any of these things with them, you are truly helping them grow. They will just love all the praise and support you are giving them. And of course, all their hard work will earn them a reward for doing such a great job with their spring cleaning. Whether you take them to the movies, out for ice cream, mani/pedi’s, or the museum, they will feel proud of themselves because they know that they earned it.
 
Happy Organizing, Aunties!
 
I encourage you to leave any feedback on any of the tips that you tried. Thank you!

Photo: artur84
Published: May 21, 2013