7 Ways To Get Your Kids Involved With Spring Cleaning

Happy first day of spring, everyone! This time of year always gets me so excited because I live for nice days and warmer weather. Although, spring is playing some nasty tricks on us this year because they're calling for another nor'easter around here. Like seriously, get it together. The weather has to get nicer at some point, right? 

It's no surprise over here that I am not the most tidy or organized person out there. I am making some great progress though and it's amazing how implementing some small changes can really make a big difference. 

When I think of spring cleaning, I don't always jump to the typical mindset of cleaning every nook and cranny. I've shared before about 5 ways to spring clean your blog and 5 ways to spring clean more than just your home. This year, I decided to break away from sharing five things and got ambitious with sharing seven (I'm such a rebel) ways to get your kids involved with spring cleaning more than just their toys. 

1. ORGANIZATION: decorative storage bins have been so helpful for us, especially in their play room. Even with all of our bins around, I still get asked at least once a day where one of their toys are. Somehow Moms are just supposed to magically know where everything is, right? After A had a meltdown because he couldn't find one of his beloved Paw Patrol toys, we deiced to have a designated bin for all of those specific toys so he can keep better track of them. We've also done this now with their stuffy friends and superheroes.

2. SETTING GOALS: setting goals has been a big thing in our house. We utilize an app or start charts that the boys can works towards earning things so it was the perfect time to put some goals in place for the spring.

3. MAKE CLEANING FUN: what I've learned with kids is if you make something fun or turn it into a game you are more likely to capture their attention and have them participate. They enjoy seeing who can match the most socks, using the garbage bin as a bucket and throwing things in there like a basket ball.

4. ADDING IN AN INCENTIVE: who doesn't love a little incentive for doing some extra help. My boys have really been into finding change lately so this has been a motivator for them to want pick things up. You know, in case they find some extra "monies". We may or may not leave a few coins laying around so they really think they are finding things.

5. OUTSIDE ORGANIZATION: our back door is right off of our kitchen and where majority of their outdoor toys are. Just like how they ask me where something is in the house, they'll ask about their things outside too. We use an old wash tub for them to put majority of their things in but being organized outside can also be as important as being organized inside.

6. BEING KIND: we also talked to the boys about ways they can be kind to others at school or when we are out at places. We asked them what they thought they could do and A said, he could play with someone new and share his toys, and little nugget wants me to pack extra smoothies and stickers for his best friends everyday. We're still working on him coming up with some other ideas.

7. GIVING COMPLIMENTS: The boys new thing has been coming to Eric and I and saying that one of them is lying about something or being mean to each other. Instead of allowing them to continue complaining about things (of course we also hear their thoughts and let them work it out) but we also follow up with having them give each other a compliment or say something nice about each other.

5 Ways To Spring Clean Your Blog

I thought about doing a post that included all of the fun things we're looking forward to doing this spring, and then I figured I will probably be sharing our adventures in individual posts instead. Then I thought about writing a post on how I can spring clean my life in general, and then I realized I already wrote a post on 5 ways to spring clean more than just your home. 

Digging into my archives got me thinking about this little space of mine and how it has really transformed in the past three years. It's actually completely different from when I first started and turned into more than I ever thought it would. I've learned so much over the past few years and still have an incredible ways to go. The blogging world is always changing and what worked three years ago might not be the it thing now. 

That's not to say we all have to jump on the same band wagon. I still appreciate blogs that are true to themselves and have an authentic feel. I wanted to share a few changes that have recently helped me and allowed me to feel a little more confident in my blogging journey.

1. BLOG DESIGN: When you're first starting out as a blogger and not really sure with how this whole blogging world works, the last thing I wanted to do was pay someone over $100 for a blog design and didn't even have readers to connect with yet. That was probably the wrong approach because the standard blog designs are so so and don't really have a...hmm what's the word I'm looking for? Professional feel, maybe.

If you aren't into spending a lot of money to specifically have someone design a layout for you, there are tons of options on Etsy that are really affordable and easy to install yourself. I always hated how my home page looked disorganized and I knew I wanted a change. I've seen such an increase in visitors and I can't help but think that has something to do with it.

2. DECLUTTER YOUR SIDEBAR: Confusing sidebars that are busy and have irrelevant information can be distracting and might even cause people to jump off your page. Decide how you want your site to appear and figure out the most important information you want to relay. When I first started blogging paying other bloggers to sponsor your site or swapping buttons on each others sidebars was a huge thing. Now, not so much. If you have a bunch of blogging networks or membership badges it might be better to design a featured page to free up some space.

3. CLEAR FOLLOW BUTTONS: This is very important for capturing an audience and giving them an option of where they can follow you. My main go to for bloggers are through Bloglovin or Instagram. If you don't have options for where I can follow you it makes it harder for me to find you again and visit your space. I have mine located on several areas of my page because having the opportunity to connect with you is one of my favorite parts of blogging.

4. QUALITY IMAGES: I'm sure we've probably all heard this before and I'm not telling you to run out and go buy an expensive DSLR, but we all enjoy pretty pictures that just add to our posts...so I'll just let that sit right there. I purchased a very standard DSLR camera and have several lenses that I work with. I've learned a lot by trial and error and I'm still learning all the time. I still don't always get a lot of the shots I have in my mind...why do things always go so much better in my mind?!

I'm also not saying that once you get a DSLR your pictures will magically become amazing. If you really think about it, your camera only does about 10% of the work and it's the person behind the camera that makes up the other 90%. You still have to know what you're doing with your camera in order to get some great shots. There are a lot of cell phones that take amazing pictures now but I am so used to having my camera that I don't think I will ever give it up. It's also about knowing the appropriate times of when and where to use your pictures. For example, majority of my posts I try to provide high quality images, especially if I'm working on a sponsored post or collaborations, but if it's one of my Friday favorites posts that's a little more relaxed—I'll throw in some pics from my phone.

5. REPURPOSE OLD CONTENT: A lot of us have great content that we've shared but maybe our following wasn't as big or for some reason that post just didn't take off, or maybe it was a great post that became very popular for you—share it again. Do a roundup of some of your favorite posts or find a post that's similar to one you are working on (hint hint, see what I did at the beginning of my post).

It's also a great time to update some of those images that might not have great quality but you still have great content. Let's just face facts, having pinnable images helps in your blog growth. This is also a great time to update and make sure your SEO (search engine optimization) is being utilized properly.

Is there anything you would change about your blog or plan on doing any spring cleaning?