Time to take a Walk-About….

In our house we have a saying. A necessary saying because in our house, as is normal for most homes I’m sure, items seem to magically wander from their normal “place of residence” to another area of the house.

 

 

What makes me happy though is that I only have to shout two words to my kids and those items go right back to where they belong.  Those words are “Walk-About”. When the kids hear this they know its time to take a “Walk-About” the house and specifically pick up any stray items that are “out of place”. It could be a stray sock (these we find all over, drives me insane), books, toys, hair elastics, paper, anything. It doesn’t mean clean your room or put all the toys away or any other huge undertaking, it simply means that items are collected from one room and put back into their proper home in another room.

 

Because we have a designated space for everything, the process is quick and painless and only takes a couple of minutes but the results are huge. If you have smaller children setting a timer works well for this too. Saves me from having to constantly pick up after the kids and from always nagging at them too! Eventually, of course, the goal is to get them to just do it on their own (sigh), but for now this is what works for us.

 

Is it time for your family to take a Walk-About?

For more great tips, visit Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer! You will be glad you did :)

This entry was written by Org Junkie and posted on June 20, 2007 at 7:38 am and filed under Organizing Solutions, WFMW. Bookmark the permalink. Follow any comments here with the RSS feed for this post. Post a comment or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

18 Comments

  1. Cheri
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 5:18 am | Permalink
    Oh, I hate those socks laying all over too!

    Love the idea - thanks for sharing!

  2. Haley
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 6:23 am | Permalink
    I like this idea alot! I hope to be back for MPM next week! We will see!

    Haley

  3. Jenny
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 7:10 am | Permalink
    This is a great idea! I’ll have to start introducing the idea to our 2 year old. So far the only things he gets excited about putting away are his socks and his bath toys but it’s a start! :)
  4. ~Betty~ @ On the Journey to Victory
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 12:32 pm | Permalink
    Since I have started becoming organized I love your idea of designated space for everything. It really does help the “walk-about” & clean up so much easier.

    Thanks for sharing!
    ~Betty~

  5. mistihollrah
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 2:31 pm | Permalink
    What an awesome idea! I’m going to have to start using it. I hate waking up to a messy house!
  6. ellen b
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 3:09 pm | Permalink
    Now this for some reason is taking me back to Jane Austen. Let’s take a walk about the room, shall we?
    I love this idea!
  7. toddler
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 4:07 pm | Permalink
    Great idea……..my kids are one and two but it’s never to young to start!!…..I am definately going to try this……keep up sharing the great ideas
  8. Rocks In My Dryer
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 4:58 pm | Permalink
    Oooo…I like that phrase. It’s a lot catchier than “go find stuff that’s out of place and put it up”, which is what I usually say!
  9. Lori - Queen of Dirty Laundry
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 5:27 pm | Permalink
    I usually say, “Go see if there’s anything of yours in the living room,” but your “walk about” is much easier. I love the idea of adding the really small things like ponytail holders, etc.

    This is going in my repertoire today!

  10. Jill
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 5:54 pm | Permalink
    Great idea! Definitely going to implement!
  11. Carey
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 8:30 pm | Permalink
    I really like this idea. Im going to have to give this one a try. Thanks for sharing it.
  12. ~Jennifer
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 8:39 pm | Permalink
    We do something similar, but we call it a “blitz”. I set the timer for 15 or 20 minutes and we all run around and work as fast as we can to clean up the house. I do NOT, however, have a place for everything. Not yet. I’m working on it.
  13. Org Junkie
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 9:46 pm | Permalink
    Hmmm…I like that name, Blitz. That’s exactly what it is!

    Laura

  14. Michelle
    Posted June 20, 2007 at 9:57 pm | Permalink
    This is a really good idea! I’m going to try this with my 4 yr old…he has a problem with picking up anything. A problem he inherits from his Dad. If I do this when they’re both home and make a game out of it, I could really cut down on a lot of frustration! Thanks for the tip. :)
  15. Karen@FamilyBriefs.com
    Posted June 21, 2007 at 1:32 am | Permalink
    I feel so good reading blogs today - seems that everyone is cleaning up and cleaning out! Very motivating!

    I’ve been trying to instill the motto “take it with you” to my kids - before you leave a room, find a “wandering item” and put it away as you go somewhere else in the house. Too complicate - I like your idea MUCH better!

  16. Laura
    Posted June 21, 2007 at 2:50 am | Permalink
    Super idea! Once our daughter starts crawling, she’s going to do a “crawl about.”

    (smirk)

  17. Karen
    Posted June 21, 2007 at 3:17 pm | Permalink
    We do this, too, and I call it “a sweep” — as in “let’s do a sweep”.

    And, yes, what is it about unruly socks that have a life of their own? And Why does that drive me nuts?

  18. Sarah
    Posted November 29, 2007 at 12:19 am | Permalink

    FlyLady calls this a 5 Minute Room Rescue. :-)

2 Trackbacks

  1. By I’m an Organizing Junkie » 10 Tips for a Chaos Free Home and a giveaway!! on April 2, 2008 at 3:51 pm
    [...] Send your kids on a daily Walk-About. [...]
  2. By I’m an Organizing Junkie » One of my tricks for keeping the toys under control…. on May 6, 2008 at 6:21 am
    [...] so far it is working. Do things still go astray every once and awhile? Of course but that is what a walk-about is for [...]

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