Success Sundays!

Day 33 of 100

Today's success story is different than previous ones, as it is written by me about my 10 year old son, Timothy. I am so proud of the amazing decluttering he did yesterday. You know how sometimes, suddenly, you realize that all you have been saying and modeling has actually been heard. Not only heard, but understood and advice taken! Awwww...a golden moment for any parent!

Yesterday, Timothy spent the majority of his free time doing a major declutter of his room! He yielded a huge, over flowing garbage bag of trash, 9 baseball hats, about 50 books, and tons of toys he has outgrown. This is not to mention all the clothing that we have been weeding out as well. His room looks amazing and he is very pleased with himself! It took me back several times, when I would ask about an item and he would hesitate, then think and reply, "Throw it away, it will just clutter up my room!" Music to my ears!

I share this success to encourage all of you who have written in about children and how to motivate/encourage them in decluttering their spaces. I write this because this was no easy task for Timothy nor did I expect him to do such an amazing job!

It all started last week, when he was telling me about these "really cool", mechanical pencils that he saw and really wanted. I responded, "I tell you what, when you totally declutter your room, I'll bring you to the office store and you can pick out any mechanical pencils you want". So, Friday evening, I casually said, "Do you want to do your decluttering tomorrow, because I have time and can help you?" He responded that, sure we could do that. So Saturday morning, after breakfast, we got to work!

This morning, as I told him again how proud I was of his efforts and that every time I passed his room, it made me smile, he said, "It's kind of funny, I did all that for some pencils. But really, I was tired of you talking about me decluttering every day and wanted to just get it done, all at once!"

So all my modeling, especially these last 34 days and incessant conversations about freeing your self of excess, worked. It sunk in or perhaps it annoyed, but whatever the case it worked! So keep the faith, all you parents. Keep modeling good decluttering behaviors, have conversaitons about why you are decluttering and if you hear about something they are wanting, perhaps, a little bribery is in order.....

Are you modeling good decluttering behaviors for your children and discussing on a regular basis the importance of letting go?

p.s. Benjamin has decided he wants to paint his room pale gray to coordinate with "The Beetles" theme he wants in his room. Guess, what I said, " I tell you what...."


After our 100 Decluttering Challenge is over, we are going to focus on motivating/encouraging others. I want all of your input on what has worked well for you and your family!