Since I solo parent most of the time, and because my kids are a little older (7 and 8), I’ve implemented a lot more house rules in recent months to help maintain my sanity. One rule that has been really successful is the “basket of stuff.” My bedroom is on the first floor and Charlie and Olive’s bedrooms are on the second floor, so they are always bringing their stuff downstairs. They literally cannot see the things they leave strewn about the house, whether it’s books, toys or clothes. Rather than “remind” them to pick up every little thing, I bought two baskets and keep them at the bottom of the stairs. Whenever I find something they haven’t put away, I place it in the Charlie basket or Olive basket. They’re responsible for taking the basket to their bedrooms before bedtime and putting everything away in its proper place.

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Charlie’s basket left contains a lightbox we just bought and 2 books he was reading today. Olive’s basket is chock full of books, toys, hair ties, art supplies… she is always sneaking into my bed every night so there’s always more of her stuff!

Sometimes I won’t remind them to put their baskets away and they will “forget.” Sometimes I’m too busy with wine o’ clock to care about even reminding them. But because it has become such a part of their routine now, it doesn’t take much prodding for them to clear their baskets. If they want to have any special privilege like playing video games or watching a tv show or even playing family board games, their baskets must be cleared. You can threaten to throw away everything that’s not cleared from the basket every evening, but I’m not likely to follow through so I haven’t used that tactic… although it’s certainly one I’ve threatened more than once in the past!

Do you have any simple tricks for getting your kids to clean up their stuff?