I've always assigned my middle and high school aged children the task of cleaning out closets and the pantry. The job involves making three piles - keep, donate, and throw out. I go through the piles with them and discuss why they made the choices they did, talk about the benefits of wise purchasing, and even discuss how much money I wasted buying things we obviously didn't need. They have learned a lot from this and are all now very organized and wise shoppers.
