Organizing help needed!

[KrisM]

Lol - When school starts in Sept. I'll have a 2yo and a 1yo to contend with, and only 2.5 hours of "school." I should be realistic about how that time will look...

It won't be a lot. You have to consider driving home after taking him to school, and then leaving to get him. For a 2.5 hour school day, I get maybe 2 hours of time. For me, DD is in afternoon preschool this year and DS2 still naps, so I am hopeful for an hour at least of time to myself. When DS1 started PM preschool, DD gave up naps and DS2 was an infant.

[niccig]

I'm sorry you guys are sick!

Nicci always has such good ideas, doesn't she?

I HAD good ideas - I did a lot of that about 3-4 years ago, and then I got ina rut and I am just now in a place where I can pull myself out of the clutter that has accumulated again. I'm ready to move on with other things in my life and tripping over things in my house is getting in my way.

I've got MIL and FIL visiting for 10 days from this Thursday, and althought they're not the type to make comments to me or behind my back, I'm using it as a motivating tool.

Today I did the pantry and 2 kitchen cabinets. DS was playing with his lego and I had to go back and forth a few times, but I was ruthless and quick - Thursday is rapidly approaching. MIL can now find the crackers without 5 mostly empty chip bags falling on her head. On a side note, WHO puts a chip bag with about 10 broken chips back in the pantry...OHHh that would be DH After the grocery shop, I cleaned out the freezer compartment- if I didn't recognize what was in the ziplock freezer bag, it went in the trash. I've been meaning to do this for MONTHS and putting it off. It really didn't take too long as I did one shelf, went to DS, did another shelf, back to DS.

Tomorrow is the toy closet - that will take much longer.

I do think that with smaller homes, you have to not let much come in the door in the first place and then stay on top of putting things away and purging when no longer needed. eg. as soon as DS is out of current summer clothes, I'm going to go through and sort for donation and box for his cousin rather than leaving it until next Summer and doing it then. I know he won't fit these clothes next year as nearly out of them now.

[srhs]

I have a tiny house and a stockpiling/bargain-hunting/super-couponing/buy-ahead um...habit...so I feel your pain. No real practical tips except this... do what you must to get over your attic reservations! It will free your world!!! Especially if you are not currently using it much and can start from scratch loading things up in an organized fashion! You should get a break from brutal temps soon, yay!
I am currently experiencing this with our garage since we can no longer park in it (narrow-1-car) and get both babies out.

[niccig]

Nicci,
The link doesn't work. Can you redo it? I'm curious what you do. I paired the school stuff down a lot, but haven't had time to do anything with it. Right now, it's a project for when school starts in Sept and I have a bit of time in the day.

It's their desktop library file box - a box that can take letter hanging files with a lid. I saw similar ones at Target.
http://www.containerstore.com/shop/o...N=74528&Nao=16

I saw something similar you can buy for memories and it was like an accordian file. I like the desktop file as it's sturdy and can fit on a shelf. The idea is to have a hanging file for each year and slip things in there. I have some of DS's baby things like hat, certificate with footprint etc. And some birthday cards etc. I also have a box for me, mostly it's cards and personal things I want to keep. I'm probably going to need more than one box for DS. It's semi-organized, so better than my old method which was all jumbled together in a shoe box.

I need to buy a new art portfolio for DS, as ours was cardboad and got wet when brought it home - thanks DH for putting it on ground and then starting sprinklers...again It has artwork, and things from school. I got it at an arts supply place.

[niccig]

You won't get a lot of time when in preschool - the driving eats into your time.

I have found that when I'm motivated, I can get a lot done in a short amount of time. And we have to grab the time when we can. I REALLY need to clean out my drawer in the bathroom. DS will have a bath tomorrow night and I can do it then - he's 5, so I don't have to hold him up in the bath. That won't work when you have little ones, but if you can grab a few minutes here and there, it will all add up.

DH is going to be out of town one weekend in Sept, and I've already got that weekend listed as closets in our bedroom. Once DS is alseep, I'll have a few hours each night to purge and put it all back together. I can leave things out on the bed and go sleep in DS's room (bunk bed). I can't pull off Kris's all weekend organizing, but I should be able to get the bedroom done.

Oh, another suggestion if you haven't already done it. I use the back of closet doors. I have over door hanging bags - one in DS's room for things like belts, scarves etc. Our doors are mounted too close to top of doorframe to use the overdoor rack that the bags come with, otherwise I would use it for DS's shoes. I have command adhesive hooks on the back of the door and it's not strong enough to hold all his shoes. But it works great for little bits and pieces. I have a 2nd bag, I plan to use on a hallway closet to put all the electronic gadget leads that we have currently jumbled in a drawer. Idea is for each gadget to have a pocket or a basket on the closet shelf if the item is too bulky to go in the pocket eg. DVD player will be in a basket, but the camera charger can be in a pocket. I haven't done this yet, but it's on the list. I'm also going to label each cord. I hate having to search through a jumbled mess and not knowing if the cords fits the phone/camera/pda/video camera/ipod/ etc. So, I'll label the cords.

I also have these from the container store mounted to back of 2 closet doors - I had to screw these in again because I can't use an over the door hook, or it can go on a wall http://www.containerstore.com/shop/e...009292&N=73671 I have one in the closet where the vacuum cleaner goes and the bottom basket holds the vaccum cleaner accessories. Baskets above are for scarves, hats etc. We have a closet in our family room that I've turned into the toy closet. My Dad put shelves in it, and then I put one of these on the back of the door, and the baskets hold art supplies like colouring books, crayons markers, glue etc. The top basket is for permanent markers or messy things. I'm lucky that DS knows to not touch that top basket and he's never tried to climb the baskets to reach it...but that could be a problem for some kids.

[WatchingThemGrow]

I like those library storage boxes for hanging files! Currently using a file box with a handle on the top of the lid, but it looks SO temporary. We don't have room for a filing cabinet anywhere.

The insides of our closet doors are all spoken for already - broom/mop, 3M hooks for fleeces, kid bath towels, robes/hoodies.

I scored some white 3 shelf bookcases on CL for $5 each, so one went into the boys' closet for kid books since their bookcase is filled with baskets for pj's, swimwear, etc. I'm hoping to transition it one shelf over to toy sets for DS1 to use when he stops napping. He'll be able to take a set or two into my room or the laundry room for some quiet play/rest time on the bed or futon.

DH asked how he could help, so I've got a few pages of "what goes where" info for when we are both here, well, and able to work. funny how that time never just shows up. Maybe I should put it on the calendar.

Two of the CL shelves are going into my room - one for books for us, like bible study stuff, parenting books, hobby (guitar, spanish, lawn care) etc type items. The other will have projects that need to be done, with a list of what they are taped to the top of the shelf.

I tried getting items tried on/stashed in the car faster, but it isn't working. Some are return by mail type things, so they actually need to stay inside the house to get postage stuck on, return slips inside, etc.

We're getting there, slowly... I got a box of those plastic shoe boxes from Costco also. They were really good for organizing our medicine/soap/toothbrush supply shelf and our office in a cabinet projects, so I figured they will be good for toy things also.

What kinds of 3-5yo toys fit well in plastic shoeboxes? I'm thinking Polly Pocket should automatically go in them, maybe small Playmobil sets? Hot Wheels type cars?

[KrisM]

I was just checking for an update and must have missed this yesterday. I thought of you while I cleaned my bathroom drawers and shelves while the kids played upstairs this morning .

Personally, I don't like the shoeboxes for the kids stuff. I don't like boxes that don't have lids attached . I like the boxes you can buy for scrapbooking that are about 14x14x3 and have a handle. I have Matchbox, K'nex, dress up dolls, etc in those and they can carry them to wear they want to play.

I do like the shoeboxes for adult things because I remember to put the lids on . I have them in the linen closet for toothbrushes/paste, batteries by size, razors, first aid, etc.

I was talking to DH about DS1's room last night. He's 6 and is really starting to play in his room a lot now. He has an Expedit in there, which is great. His dressers are in the closet and I want to get rid of them (very old and don't really work well) and put a closet organizer in instead. Also, I thought about tearing out the carpet and putting in Pergo. It seems like most of his toys are hampered by carpet and are too big for the train table (Lego, Rokenbok, marble runs). I wish I knew what I know about the kids now before we moved into this house and I could have started differently!

[niccig]

What kinds of 3-5yo toys fit well in plastic shoeboxes? I'm thinking Polly Pocket should automatically go in them, maybe small Playmobil sets? Hot Wheels type cars?

I have bigger boxes, about 2 shoe boxes size. DS has so many matchbox cars that they take up one of those. DS can deal with the lids as he's 5.5 years old. He has stepped on some lids and cracked the handle, but they still fit on.

Organizing is slow going. I got a lot done these last few days - mostly purging too get rid of things we don't need anymore. I need to go back over a few areas and put things into baskets/plastic bins to keep them contained. That should be an easier task as all the extra items have gone.

I will admit I grabbed a garbage bag and just put in extra toys/stuffed animals and put it under DS's bed. ILs were coming and I didn't have time to sort through those items for trash/donation/keep. So, in a bag and under DS's bed hopefully just until they leave and not in several months :

It is much easier to be able to open the toy closet/pantry/bathroom cabinet and quickly find what I want as all the extra crappola is gone. That's a nice feeling, and I hope once the ILs go, I keep up this motivation.

[WatchingThemGrow]

just updating - big day of organizing ahead. DH is taking two big kids to Lowes for craft time, and he has enlisted himself for naptime. Getting there.

Love the scrapbook boxes, had hoped to use them for something. How do you store them, Kris?

Nicci, have you seen the library storage files elsewhere? We will be near a Container Store in Dec, but not until then.

For DS1 (nearly 3) I need to create a play area somewhere else in the house as DS2 will be sleeping in their room at naptime. Good to know I may need to consider a hard floor surface. I was considering the mudroom which has FLOR in it. Ok, gotta go for now - a HUGE yardsale is happening down the road (limiting the junk, of course), then I'm getting busy for the day... Thanks, y'all!

[KrisM]

We have wire cubes that fit the scrapbook boxes perfectly. The wire cubes aren't super sturdy - I have to recreated them maybe twice a year. But, they fit into odd spots better. I have a 2x3 in between 2 book shelves in the playroom and I left the top open so taller things can go there. I can fit 4 of the scrapbook boxes in a cube opening. Another good thing about the scrapbook box is that there is alot of surface area, so less dumping seems to happen .

Have a great day and I hope you get a ton done!