Dd1 (9) has a bedroom to herself, containing a chest of drawers, and enormous double-depth built-in cupboard and a desk with nine (9!) drawers. Despite this all the surfaces and most of the floors are constantly strewn with how can I put this? crap, to the extent that it's impossible to clean properly, all the drawers are overflowing, the cupboard's a jumble, etc. etc. You know the kind of thing.
Dh has taken the kids to his parents for a week, and while changing the sheets on dd1's bed I noticed a strange smell. Tracked it down to (a) a large babymilk tin filled with very green and furry conkers lurking in the cupboard and (b) a plastic bag containing packed lunch leftovers including some mouldy tomatoes stuffed in a desk drawer.
The red mist has now cleared, and I have assembled three carrier bags full of what I consider to be rubbish, consisting mainly of:
old sticker books from three years ago
bits of half-completed homework from last year
little shiny notebooks with half the pages ripped out
bits of felt with evidence of moth infestation
umpteen three-inch lengths of scoobydoo (that plastic weaving stuff that is the current craze)
a hundred or so shiny sweetie wrappers
empty bubble bath bottles from two Christmases ago
a dozen or so dried-up conkers
a large-pile of half-finished drawings
pages cut out of magazines ages ago and never looked at again
little bits of weaving from her Knitting Nancy
You get the picture. Now most of this she would probably agree to throw away eventually, but it would require half a day of negotiations. Shall I just bin it now and face the fall-out when she gets back? She has been repeatedly warned that I'd eventually snap and go through her room like a dose of salts if she didn't do something about it herself.
Your votes, please, ladies!