Cleaning a bedroom can be a challenge for some kids. Their vision of a clean room usually consists of a bed that’s made and nothing on the floor. Which in our house looked great from far away- once you entered the room you could see piles and piles of toys and books squished under the bed. There would be towers of books and papers on Boo’s desk and nightstand that were placed in such a way that if you so much as sneezed would come tumbling down . And let’s not even talk about the closet.

Clearly we both had a different idea of what a clean room looked like. Boo would get frustrated having me tell her to go back and fix things, and I got frustrated that I would have to make a detailed list of what needed to be done every day. This system just wasn’t working out for us.

Let me introduce you to the Acrostic approach. It is AMAZING. Why? Because my daughter has clear expectations that she can REMEMBER. And I don’t need to print a checklist or make a fancy sign or anything. I just tell her it’s time for a B.E.D.R.O.O.M. clean. And she knows exactly what to do. She does each job while spelling the word bedroom. Might I also add this is a good spelling activity, too! By the time she is finished spelling the word, her room is clean. It’s so nice!

This is our Acrostic BEDROOM cleaning plan. You can totally modify it to meet the needs of your child and the bedroom cleaning battle you might be facing. 🙂

B- Make Bed (easy enough, right?)

E- Everything off the Floor (everything that SHOULDN’T be on the floor- including under the bed- needs to be picked up and put away- like blankets, books, clothes, toys, lip gloss, pokemon cards, legos… you get the picture)

D- Drawers closed (there seems to always be drawers left opened, so we added this as part of the room cleaning plan)

R- Really Clean closet (shoes lined up or in organizer, clothes hung up, etc)

O- Organized Desk (things just get piled up on Boo’s desk! I added this to make sure she gets things put away and that they look nice and tidy.)

O- Organized Toy Bin (while I am not a fan of toys in bedrooms, that’s where they always end up! We got a little toy bin for her room which also happens to collect books and shoes and it needs the occasional organization help)

M- Move the Vacuum!

And voila! Instead of having a room that’s semi-clean with extra stuff thrown under the bed and in the closet, we actually have a clean room. And that brings me joy!