I have a litany: Laundry, dishes, trash, misplaced.

This is how I clean rooms. I look for and deal with each of those things in turn.

There’s almost always a lot more “misplaced” than any of the others, which is why it comes last.

I tried to teach this to my kid. He memorized the litany but rarely applies it to practical use. The game he spent more time playing was “keep or toss”: Do you keep that toy? If not, is it a giveaway or garbage? It felt like we played this game at least once a month when he was a kid. I was hopeful that it might teach him to keep things tidy and organized—or, short of that, to get things tidy and organized in a reasonable amount of time.

Yeah, that didn’t work. He won’t even show me his dorm room on FaceTime these days. I can only pray there’s a little path from his bed to the door that isn’t littered with Legos or broken glass or other hazards to bare feet.

Do you have an approach to cleaning? Share it with me! If you have a suggestion on how my kid can tackle his living areas, I’ll send you a book!