Here is a scenario that’s happened multiple times in our household over the last couple years. It may sound familiar to you.

We parents nag the kids about cleaning their rooms about 10 times (seems like a dozen).

You have even offered cash for the task. Meanwhile, important family things like nail clippers, the lid to a sports bottle, a dog leash, one of my slippers and my hairbrush have disappeared into the dark hole.

You know they are in there because you have checked all the other zones in the house.

Finally, you say, “I’ll help you clean your room.”

You slowly open the door and a new problem arises; it is so overwhelming, you don’t know where to start either.

I tell them, your great-grandmother (whom our youngest never met) would always say: “Make it do; Use it up; Wear it out; Do without.”

Their grandmother (my mom) often repeated the same survival tips.

They are especially helpful in these hard economic times.

I have a book, “Organizing from the Inside Out For Teens” by Jessi Morgenstern-Colon and her mother, nationally recognized organizing guru Julie Morgenstern.

Their tips may help all of us parents and our kids with the process of evaluating and limiting what you hang on to.

The tools you need are three boxes and a trash bag. The large, strong trash bag will be for the stuff you are throwing away. The three boxes are for things to give away, things that need repair and things that belong elsewhere - such as Mom’s stuff and those overdue library books.

After everything is sorted into those three boxes, then you use Morgenstern’s S.P.A.C.E. formula to find just that, SPACE.

The “S” stands for sort. Do this by grouping similar items.

The “P” represents purge. If you didn’t throw something out in that big trash bag the first time, you may discover now that it is missing pieces or that you no longer need it.

The “A” is for assign a home. This will also help you later.

The “C” is for containerize. Our daughter loves this part. Use boxes, bins and baskets to keep like items easy to find quickly.

The “E” represents the word equalize. This is a great way to look at maintaining your system and keeping things from getting out of control again.

It is also a good idea to look at this system every semester or at the end of every grading period.

Hey kids, you have a three-day weekend coming up. That would be a great time to start.