"Clean Your Room!"

The eternal battle between parents and children, cleaning their room. Ryan's dad would get a huge black garbage sack and just gather everything in it, put it in the garage and if the boys wanted something they would have to dig it out. Will Smith said on David Letterman that he told his kids it's his house and he is just letting them live in it, therefore they have to keep it clean. At the end of the day we can threaten, yell, beg and plead but what works at getting the kids to keep their rooms clean? I have no idea! I haven't figured it out yet, but I do have some tips that help my kids keep their room mostly clean, mostly organized, and me, mostly sane.
1. Have a place for everything. Books, Barbies, Lego's, underwear, PJ's, art, etc. all need their own place.
2. Give your children responsibilities based on age and ability. My seven year old has a hard time understanding why she does more to keep their shared room clean than her four year old sister.
2a. I read somewhere that children who share a room get along much better if they have have places to call their own. My girls have their own drawers, shelves, and bulletin boards. So if the four year old chooses to dump out all her drawers (it's been known to happen) then I know whose responsibility it is to clean it up. Although there has been a time where I highly suspected her older sister did it just to get her in trouble, but that's a whole different blog...
3. Accept that their level of clean is different than yours. The way I make my sons bed is very different than the way he makes it.
4. Communicate with them how often and how well it needs to be done. If we are entertaining I'll step in and make sure their rooms look fantastic, but day to day their rooms might not get really cleaned up. I'm okay with that, unless you can't walk into it without injury, have you ever stepped on a Lego in your bare feet- Ouch!
5. Once a week (Saturday is a special day...)their rooms need to be cleaned up really well, dusted, vacuumed, sheets changed etc.
Good luck! And if you have found the solution please share!