Literally just took a shovel to my son's stuff.

[Mermaid02]

I've had it. He doesnt' pick up ANYTHING EVER and I can't sort through all this crap. I went out, got the shovel- took the cover off the trash can and started scooping! I am 5 weeks post op so I had to sit and rest... but I'm about to go back at it. It's mostly trash anyway. Our neighbor gave him a
box of hockey cards..... they are ALL OVER! We dont' even watch hockey!!!

I've said I was going to do it and now I'm doing it!

 

[minkydog]

No flames from me, I've done the same thing. How old is your son?

 

[kinntj]

I was tempted to do this to my DD too. Her room was such a mess and she's such a packrat. One day I picked it up and simplified her stuff. Put her writing stuff in one place, trading cards in a shoe box and her toys where they belong.

Once I got it clean, I told her that her stuff needed to be put back where it belongs or she can forget about her DS or TV. That seems to work now. It's all picked up before bedtime.

I feel for you and it does get tiring seeing that.

 

[happygirl]

I've had it. He doesnt' pick up ANYTHING EVER and I can't sort through all this crap. I went out, got the shovel- took the cover off the trash can and started scooping! I am 5 weeks post op so I had to sit and rest... but I'm about to go back at it. It's mostly trash anyway. Our neighbor gave him a
box of hockey cards..... they are ALL OVER! We dont' even watch hockey!!!

I've said I was going to do it and now I'm doing it!

I have had to threaten my kids will throwing stuff away before they will pick up there stuff.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

Good for you! My Mom always threatened this when I was a teenager but I never thought anyone followed through! Just take it easy on yourself though, you don't need a shoveling-your-kid's-crap injury .

 

[MiniGirl]

I don't blame you, but please, please, please take it easy. You only have 1 chance to heal and don't want to over do it.

 

[cheermom1]

I did it once when they kids were a little younger only I didn't throw their stuff away i hid it and made them think I did LOL and once they started keeping their rooms clean and doing more around the house their things started to magically appear ....

They never did figure it out

 

[Mermaid02]

He's almost 13.

 

[liamsaunt]

My mother did this to my sister and I when we were about 8 and 10, I think. We deserved it, we were slobs and the playroom was a disaster!! After that (and we did sneak into the trash can to get out any favorite things), we kept the playroom clean for a while. But then we got messy again. You know what she did? She opened the back door and threw everything out into the yard! She told us we had one hour to neatly put back whatever we could, and everything else was going in the trash. AND she made us go to the doors of any neighbors that stuff like Monopoly money blew into and apologize for littering their yards!

I am a very neat person now.

Don't hurt yourself, though. Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.

 

[cheermom1]

My mother did this to my sister and I when we were about 8 and 10, I think. We deserved it, we were slobs and the playroom was a disaster!! After that (and we did sneak into the trash can to get out any favorite things), we kept the playroom clean for a while. But then we got messy again. You know what she did? She opened the back door and threw everything out into the yard! She told us we had one hour to neatly put back whatever we could, and everything else was going in the trash. AND she made us go to the doors of any neighbors that stuff like Monopoly money blew into and apologize for littering their yards!

I am a very neat person now.

Don't hurt yourself, though. Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery.

that is a good one...

I see you are a very neat person now yep that might do it..

 

[puffkin]

I just did it with DS and he is only 3 (almost 4). He was throwing the hugest fits about cleaning up so everything went in a trash bag. After he went to bed I went through it and picked out the good toys, but I did junk a lot or put a lot in the yard sale pile (hidden). Then, his toys slowly started reappearing as his behaviour improved. This was right after Christmas. Now I just need to go get a trashbag when he starts to fight me about cleaning up and he does a pretty good job

 

[Mermaid02]

Three trash bags so far...............

 

[HeatherC]

I am going to be the voice of dissent here. I don't think you should throw his stuff away. The room may be clean, but he will remember this for a long and it may not be the way you want him remembering his childhood. Doing something like this can have a lasting impact on your relationship with your son.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a neat freak myself. But I have made the decision with my kids that it is "their" room and if they want it to be a disaster, then they can. Their rooms will be neat when they are gone. The rest of the house they do have to keep neat though. And I do make them "clean" their rooms on the weekend. Depending on the week, sometimes the rooms are better than others.

 

[Mermaid02]

I am going to be the voice of dissent here. I don't think you should throw his stuff away. The room may be clean, but he will remember this for a long and it may not be the way you want him remembering his childhood. Doing something like this can have a lasting impact on your relationship with your son.

Don't get me wrong, I'm a neat freak myself. But I have made the decision with my kids that it is "their" room and if they want it to be a disaster, then they can. Their rooms will be neat when they are gone. The rest of the house they do have to keep neat though. And I do make them "clean" their rooms on the weekend. Depending on the week, sometimes the rooms are better than others.

You're assuming it's his bedroom........... nope, it's the sunporch! His room is a whole other story......

 

[NYPDwife]

I did it once when they kids were a little younger only I didn't throw their stuff away i hid it and made them think I did LOL and once they started keeping their rooms clean and doing more around the house their things started to magically appear ....

They never did figure it out

I did the same thing to my son. His room is small and he loves to build Legos so it's a mess!! He doesn't have anyplace to put his creations so they are literally covering the floor. It's like a mine field!! At one point, I got so fed up, I threw everything in a bag and hid it in the attic, but right now, I know it's not his fault. DH & I are going to be turning his bed into a loft bed so we can build shelves under it for all of his Lego creations. If at that point he doesn't keep it clean, I WILL be bagging it again and this time throwing it out.

 

[kristilew]

Good for you! In our house, if it's on the floor for more than a day, it must be trash.

Last year, I got sick of the way DD was treating her clothes. She'd get them off the floor to avoid having them thrown away, but they'd be in piles on the bathroom counter, or shoved onto closet shelves. The final straw was an expensive party dress got ruined from being left on a wet bathroom counter for days after she had changed her mind about wearing it.

While she was at school, I took away every single item of clothing she owned. What she wore to school that day is what she wore for the next two weeks. I made her stand in the laundry room wrapped in a towel every other night while she washed and dried her one outfit. After two weeks of taking care of that one outfit, she got one more outfit back. At the end of three weeks, she wrote me a detailed plan for how she was going to take care of her clothes from then on, and she got the rest back.

It's been almost 18 months and she's kept everything perfectly ever since. I just put the laundry basket of clean clothes in her room, and boy are they put away neatly and quickly! And nothing left crumpled or piled anymore

 

[cheermom1]

Good for you! In our house, if it's on the floor for more than a day, it must be trash.

Last year, I got sick of the way DD was treating her clothes. She'd get them off the floor to avoid having them thrown away, but they'd be in piles on the bathroom counter, or shoved onto closet shelves. The final straw was an expensive party dress got ruined from being left on a wet bathroom counter for days after she had changed her mind about wearing it.

While she was at school, I took away every single item of clothing she owned. What she wore to school that day is what she wore for the next two weeks. I made her stand in the laundry room wrapped in a towel every other night while she washed and dried her one outfit. After two weeks of taking care of that one outfit, she got one more outfit back. At the end of three weeks, she wrote me a detailed plan for how she was going to take care of her clothes from then on, and she got the rest back.

It's been almost 18 months and she's kept everything perfectly ever since. I just put the laundry basket of clean clothes in her room, and boy are they put away neatly and quickly! And nothing left crumpled or piled anymore

I would have loved to see the look on her face when she realized she had no clothes...sometimes you have to drastic b4 they will get it in their little heads ...

 

[Mermaid02]

Good for you! In our house, if it's on the floor for more than a day, it must be trash.

Last year, I got sick of the way DD was treating her clothes. She'd get them off the floor to avoid having them thrown away, but they'd be in piles on the bathroom counter, or shoved onto closet shelves. The final straw was an expensive party dress got ruined from being left on a wet bathroom counter for days after she had changed her mind about wearing it.

While she was at school, I took away every single item of clothing she owned. What she wore to school that day is what she wore for the next two weeks. I made her stand in the laundry room wrapped in a towel every other night while she washed and dried her one outfit. After two weeks of taking care of that one outfit, she got one more outfit back. At the end of three weeks, she wrote me a detailed plan for how she was going to take care of her clothes from then on, and she got the rest back.

It's been almost 18 months and she's kept everything perfectly ever since. I just put the laundry basket of clean clothes in her room, and boy are they put away neatly and quickly! And nothing left crumpled or piled anymore

You are HARDCORE! Holy Moly!

 

[HeatherC]

Mermaid02: See what happens when I "assumed". Yep..made a you know what of myself!! LOL!!

Sunporch! I'd be dumping the stuff too!!!

 

[Mermaid02]

Mermaid02: See what happens when I "assumed". Yep..made a you know what of myself!! LOL!!

Sunporch! I'd be dumping the stuff too!!!

I can see why you would think that.... how many kids trash a sunporch! When his mess infringes on the rest of us.... it's time!