Tackle It Tuesday--"Never Know What You're Going to Find"

I finally gave in and helped my oldest daughter clean her room, which she shares with her baby sister. However, the only items in the room belonging to the baby are the crib and its contents. All her clothes are actually in a walk-in linen closet in the hall, and the toys are in the bonus room. The room resembled the aisles of Old Navy at the end of the shopping day. Ok--to be fair--it was much worse than that (the picture shown is not even close to how it looked yesterday--this photo I took in April when I was first thinking about tackling her room--I obviously put it off for awhile!). It was more like a cross between an Old Navy, a Roadhouse restaurant, a science fair, a county fair, a forest floor, and the beach. I removed four stuffed grocery bags full of garbage, and a crate full of her brother's things. It took me 6 hours yesterday just to sort through the piles. I still have the I-don't-know-how-many hours it will take today to find a home for the items we've kept, label containers, vacuum, dust, and clean windows.

The following is a list of some of the more interesting items I found in her 'collection', along with the usual items you'd expect in a girls' room: the pile of her clothes and acessories, doll clothes and acessories, books, puzzle pieces, game pieces, crayons, markers, pencil, pens, papers, color books, jewelry, hair acessories, Barbies, and hundreds of other small toys and objects.

candy wrappers

junk mail
coupons
restaurant menus
Mommy's jewelry

Valentines

credit cards
Dixie cups
unwrapped tampons
(1) doll with make up all over her face
(5) American Girl catalogs
(2) spoons
(1) half eaten, moldy cheese stick still in the wrapper
(1) bottle cap
(1) Clif bar wrapper
(1) cherry pit with the stem still attached
(3) baseball cards
(1) moldy sippy cup
Cheerios
raisins
doll hair
sand & seashells
sticks
rocks
grass
feathers
dried flower petals

I am determined this time. I am going to watch her like a hawk. Every day she packs bags of little toys and items to carry with her downstairs, outside, in the car, or wherever she goes. Then, somehow those items never return to the right place in her room. I am going to insist that she keep all items in their 'home' or absolutely no playtime until she's done. It is going to have to be a daily routine--several times daily--that she has to tidy up, or else it won't be long before this happens again.

Got a kid's room that trumps that? Anyone have good tips about how to train your child to keep her room neat and clean? I've got to go--I'm not being a very good hawk right now!