Originally Posted by
BellaBoo
You are nicer then I was about the kids stuff being left out! At age 6, if the items were left out after bedtime it went in the donate box in the garage. They had to retrieve it before the box was taken to the thrift store or lose it for good. Books, shoes, games, didn't matter it was tossed in the box before I went to bed. After age 7 I never had to pick up after my kids again. They could toss it in their room but it had to be out of the living area.
When I was a kid, it was just thrown in the wood stove if it was found. It didn't matter when it was. If it was found on the floor and I wasn't playing with it at the time, it was burned. I'm thinking this will catch the kids' attention. They're not going to want to do the chores I set out for them to do, so we'll see. Last night 4 items went into the box. Within an hour, they were all out again. The kids didn't want to see their belongings disappear. The other advantage to having a colored tote, rather than a clear one, is that the kids also don't have any idea what's in the tote!
They just know that something of theirs is in there and they don't want it to be. So it all gets cleaned back up. For the most part, most of their stuff stays in their rooms or toy room, but on occasion, the toy room has an overspill into the hallway and I want to clear that up with this project.