The rooms they will be working in of course have to have a thorough power cleaning!!

 The kids closet is one of the places set to be maintained (because it is in our lease that we are not allowed to 'fix' anything on our own!) The doors are broken and the bar that you hang things on fell off. I cringe thinking about anybody coming in here..at all! It is so nasty! It literally looks like every bin in the closet has thrown up all over the floor. Things are piled everywhere!

 I believe it is because, when I say clean up and get things off the damn floor, clearly it means stuff things wherever they can that is not technically on the floor. So, you know, the top of the dresser is over flowing with my little ponies, Littlest Pet Shops, Monster High dolls, and all their teeny tiny accessories and clothes are stuffed into cubby holes, toy boxes..well you get the idea (or you have seen it yourself).

 I decided to wait until the afternoon, when the girls' interest in being outside is waning because they're too hot/bored/wanting to play inside when I want to work. They have already started pooling the floor with their crap anyway, so I start pulling stuff out of the closet to start organizing.

"What are you doing, Mom?" my ten year old asks quizzically, blanching at the smile I give her as I reply, "I figure since you are in here and already seemingly eager, we're going to clean out your closet to get ready for the maintenance man to come to fix your closet. Either you help me or I do it myself. I will be bringing my big black friend ( it is a huge black glad garbage bag, what did you think? ;oP ) if that is the case. It is your choice" I said with a wink.

They both let out a wailing groan as if I have just delivered a death sentence.

Once we really started tho, the girls began discovering toys they hadn't seen in awhile! Friends they were sure were lost or thrown away. It was better than Christmas ;)There were a few moments of distraction because of these newly found old friends, but they didn't last long, just picking up my big black friend motivates them to finish the job. It really helps when organizing that all the girls have their own personal Rubbermaid storage binds which made sorting easy!

 2 hours and 3 garbage bags (1 for garbage, 1 for storage, and 1 for donations) later, I feel fairly confident that I can let anybody come in without fear (mostly) of judgement :)