Clean-sweep Your Bedroom!

Want to eliminate the clutter-y chaos in your crib -- and keep it that way? Give your room a good spring-cleaning! Try these tips to get motivated:

Set a Date
Set aside a full day, or even a weekend, to get the job done. Pick a date when you’ll have few distractions and no other commitments. Starting the process and then stopping to go to piano lessons or a movie with friends will leave you too distracted to focus and follow through.

Make It Fun
Get stoked in advance by making a playlist of your favorite high-energy tunes for cleaning day. Wear comfy clothes and pin your hair back, then dance around your room while you get your organizing groove on. For extra motivation, decorate your tools of the trade (bins, boxes, photo albums, and the like). Touches of personal flair will make you want to fill ’em and keep ’em organized!

Start With the Big Stuff
Make the hardest and most time-consuming tasks -- cleaning out the mound of junk under your bed, for example -- your first priority. Getting stuck organizing tiny areas won’t show much progress and will have you feeling too overwhelmed to tackle larger tasks. Once you see how much you’ve already done, it will give you the mojo to power through the smaller stuff.

Get to Organizing
De-cluttering your space is really all about sorting things out. Make piles for all your goods, laundry, put-aways and trash. For stuff you’re keeping around, make sure that even the tiniest items have a designated home to call their own. Pencils need a holder, nail polish needs a bin, magazines need a rack, CDs need a case, and so on.

Dust, Wipe and Sweep
Once all your gear is stowed away in its proper place, break out the cleaning supplies to really make your room shine. Grab a dustrag and swipe your electronics, desk, shelves and dressers. Then, wipe down other surfaces that need some extra elbow grease -- like mirrors, windows and your vanity -- with a furniture polish or glass cleaner. Lastly, vacuum or sweep your floor to pick up leftover dirt and dust.

Make It a Habit
Now that your room is tidy, it’s not too difficult to keep it that way if you hit it a little bit at a time. Write up a schedule to get you into a clean routine. Give each day of the week a to-do: Laundry should be one day, vacuuming another, and organizing another. Spreading out your tasks over time makes them manageable so you’ll actually stick to your plan. Keep it up, and you may never be stuck in a messy room again. Phew ... high-five, girl, on a job well done!

Photo Credit: @iStockphoto.com/Figure8Photos