Tips for using the school summer holidays to declutter and get children enthusiastic to do it?!

[TooStressyForMyOwnGood]

I have the 6 weeks summer holidays mostly off with my two DDs aged 5 and 7. The house really needs decluttering and it is mostly kids’ stuff that needs sorting. It’s not a total mess but could be so much better and everywhere I look there is STUFF.

I’m on the Flylady thread on here which is fab and have looked into Kondo. Trouble is, my DC say every piece of tat item is useful or sparks joy .

Has anyone got any tips or successfully got kids on board with decluttering? Or do I need to wait until they are asleep and do t on my own?!

Watching with interest as mine are older but I still haven’t persuaded them to part with half of their tat

Need to get my kids into this too

I’m not on my own then .

My son has happy memories of piling all the toys in one huge pile and pulling out the favourites.

My DCs have Ikea shelves with fitted storage boxes. These get filled with all sorts of tat. I sometimes say 'if you can tell me what's in that box you can keep it'. If they can't, it gets tossed.

Are you on Facebook? There’s a group called minimalist mom with good advice on this.

My top tip is to sell the old stuff (or say you’re selling it if you can’t be bothered) then use the money for an experience or treat they really want.

Good ideas, thanks all. pixiedust, I need to try that but fear they will choose them all as favourites!

Honestly, I have also

-Ditched thing without them realising
-Got them to do car boot sale type things and they can keep the money
-Actually bought their toys off them for hard cash myself and then taken them to the charity shop
-Asked if they have anything that would like
-any other bloody thing I think will work

One child is a chucked and loves nothing more than having a good sort out.

The other is a keeper and would live in squalor and keep old sweet wrappers if I let her. She does actually have a problem and there's not an easy way of dealing with it.

Moral: I don't know if there is actually a right approach.

You’re probably right about that .