My weekend purge and organization challenge - the photos

[KrisM]

Wow, that's impressive! You're inspiring me to do something about all our piles of stuff, except ours are mostly paper and kiddie art. We've moved often enough that the level of clutter is reasonable but still could use more work.

Want to share some tips and tricks - lessons learned - to help the rest of us who are now inspired by you to declutter?

Thanks for sharing the pics!

Paper, I am fairly on top of. I have my office space in the kitchen and it's easy to file, etc whenever because it's right there. The desk has enough drawers that each kid has one for their stuff. Some of it is school papers. When the drawer is nearly full, we go through it together. I am making the kids make the decisions on what to keep so that they're better than I am down the road.

Right now, all of this past year's school art work is in a bin waiting for me . I am going to organize it into 3-ring binders. I have the binders and the page protectors and just need to get it done. Something like this: http://reluctantentertainer.com/2010...ized-and-easy/

I started the whole organization project about 18 months ago and I love the Organizing Junkie blog. She has a lot of realistic tips and likes to shop at the Dollar Store, so many ideas are very doable. Last summer, I organized my kitchen cabinets and they still look good now! But it's because I made them work for us and not some other person.

You can do it! It just takes time.

[KrisM]

That look so great. You can tell me, do you go into the rooms to just soak in the organized zen-ness of the rooms? I did that with our garage last week...it felt so good to easily find things...

Going in the bedroom last night for bed was just awesome. It felt much more relaxing and like the room was twice as big! Loved it.

[KrisM]

Kudos!
Organizing is so hard! We just moved and I'm opening boxes and thinking "what? , why did I buy this--and why did I bother to move it!)

I too have issues with the kids' outgrown clothes. What has been working for me is to promptly hang the items to sell (ours must get hung and tagged anyway) in one section of the closet and one plastic bin below it for "donate". So I make the choice right away to sell or donate, and when the donate fills up I take it, regardless of the season just to get it out of my way. I can do a quick scan as I tag for stains...but I have to do less ironing and most of the items will make the cut.
With my oldest son's clothes, I keep a bin in the bottom of his closet for hand-me-downs. When something seems to be getting to small I put it in there. The bin gets labeled with the season and size (so maybe summer 5-6) and then goes onto a shelf in the garage.

We have different sales, it seems. I get a 10'x10' space that I can use. I generally have 2 banquet tables, a garment rack, and a shelving unit. I make short piles of clothes sorted by size. No more than 4 items to a pile so people can go through them. I don't tag much - I make a sign saying all clothes $1, unless marked. I am responsible for selling all my stuff and only pay a $20 fee to have space there.

I do need to get a bin working for DS1's outgrown stuff that I'll keep for DS2. Maybe I just need one bin somewhere that all outgrown stuff goes into, rather than just tossing it in a pile .

[MoJo]

Wow, that's impressive! You're inspiring. . . .

Want to share some tips and tricks - lessons learned - to help the rest of us who are now inspired by you to declutter?

Thanks for sharing the pics!

I have more than one room that looks like your first before pictures!

[essnce629]

Right now, all of this past year's school art work is in a bin waiting for me . I am going to organize it into 3-ring binders. I have the binders and the page protectors and just need to get it done. Something like this: http://reluctantentertainer.com/2010...ized-and-easy/

This is awesome, thanks for posting! I'm going to totally do this with DS1's art/school work. I have it all in an under the bed storage box right now!

I already do a similar binder/page protector system for all my recipes, take-out menus, and owner's manuals/warrenties.

[essnce629]

Last summer, I organized my kitchen cabinets and they still look good now! But it's because I made them work for us and not some other person.

Ooo, can you post pics of the insides of your cabinets?

I put a few bins in my pantry to keep similar items together and organized and it definately helped, but it's getting a little messy again and I need some more bins I think.

[mamicka]

Kris, you are an inspiration. Great job!

[KrisM]

Ooo, can you post pics of the insides of your cabinets?

I put a few bins in my pantry to keep similar items together and organized and it definately helped, but it's getting a little messy again and I need some more bins I think.

Sure!
The top shelf is too tall for me to reach and quicly became a disaster, so I found baskets that fit. In it are take n toss cups, sippy cups, and lids. I pull the whole basket down to reach them.


Again, more baskets - one has things like chocolate chips in it, and another has cake decorating supplies (sprinkles, candles)


This one holds a variety of things. On the bottom right is the school lunch section, above that is hair stuff for DD and a bin for Box Tops, on top is random bags of candy, gum. On the bottom left are labels for the freezer, can cozies, and bandaids (I have a 3 tier for bandaids - girl, boy, all - and dump the boxes right in), middle left is a cookie press, electric knife and pasta maker, and on top is cookie cutters in a basket.

The baskets in the cabinets have helped a TON!

Also, on top, I found decorative baskets that fit and in them are extra school supplies, extra craft things, and very specific crafts that need adult supervision to use. It made that upper space useful.

My bottom cabinets are more typical - appliances, etc.

[SunCB]

The family room:

Where did you get the bookcase? TY!

[Momof3Labs]

Good job, Kris!!!

I keep a big rubbermaid bin in the boys' room, and DS1's clothes get tossed in when they are too small. When the bin is full, it gets labeled with size and season and taken to the basement, and another bin takes its place. Now that the boys are sharing a room, I also have two bins for each of them in their closet with off-season clothes that still fit. DS1's bins have blue lids, and DS2's bins have purple lids; both are see-through so that I know what's in them. When I buy something for the coming season, it goes in those bins, which helps me keep tabs on what we have for them and what we need. Which reminds me, need to pull up the boys size 5-6 winter bin to go through for DS2...

I've found that coats and such are best kept all together in one bin, rather than with the size bins.

When DS2 and the girls outgrow clothes, the ones that I am selling (most of them these days) go into a pile in the basement for our twice-yearly consignment sale. I also have to hang things for the sale, so I'm working on that now, and then need to make all the tags. It's a huge pile this year (due to our recent cleaning efforts) so I'm not sure I will get through the whole thing in 2 weeks (sale is on Aug 28) but there is always another sale in 6 months!