Jon has a dresser with no clothes in it, a book shelf with very few books on it, storage boxes for his DVDs that are filled with playing cards, string, sticks, old AA batteries (and other unrecognizable items), stuffed animals that are supposed to be in designated crates and a cabinet for his old VHS movies with all the shelves removed.
The shelves are on the floor and his videos are stacked on top of them.
DVDs and videos are piled on the floor like towers, here and there. Stuffed animals lie in wait to attack and the paper paraphernalia he collects is scattered everywhere: old mail, newspapers, ad flyers and catalogs removed from the recycle bin in the garage.
While my motto for home organization is, ‘A place for everything and everything in its place,’ Jon prefers the motto, ‘Everything all over the place.’
His favorite storage area is the floor. Walking through his room is like navigating an obstacle course. One misstep and either you or a teetering pile of…something…can come crashing down.
Even though it’s scary, it is necessary to venture into Jon’s room with the vacuum cleaner.
Since there’s no way to vacuum around his carefully stacked piles, everything has to be picked up. It takes close to an hour to empty the floor of its contents.
The clothes go back in the dresser.
The books go back on the shelf.
The DVDs go back in their storage boxes.
The shelves go back in the cabinet along with the videos.
The mountains of paper are thrown away.
The floor is clean and cleared for proceeding without fear of tripping, attack or injury.
And the room looks wonderfully neat and organized.
Within twenty four hours everything is back on the floor in the exact same place.
I’ve been fighting this silly battle a long time and there’s no winning. Some things just have to be accepted as they are.
So I’ve decided to close Jon’s bedroom door and get on with life.
We’re both so much happier.
This was great ,Diane . It reminds me of when my girls were little and even when they were older and still
at home . When they were little I would tell them get in there and clean your room .When you are done let me know ,I will come in and check . Well it looked pretty good until I looked under the bed . EVERYTHING had been shoved under the bed . As they got older it was ,you have this amount of time to clean up your room .What ever is left on the floor Will Be Thrown Away !! I few times of their stuff being thrown out they got the picture .
I’ve tried so many things with Jon and his room. He just likes everything on the floor. I’ve concluded having his stuff all around him gives him a sense of security and control. If I threw away everything on his floor he wouldn’t have anything left! 🙂