Making Your Home a Haven Monday: Pick a Drawer!
Today's project is to clean out and organize a drawer or dresser. Set a goal, set the timer, and get busy!I'll be tackling Kathrynne's dresser--which is in dire need of attention. (Has anyone noticed how many areas in my home need some serious attention of late? I think I fell off the deep-cleaning bandwagon in a bad way the last year. I suppose I could give the excuse of having a baby, but procrastination is really probably a more accurate reason.)
I've received a lot of questions regarding organizing children's clothing and toys in the last year and, if anyone's noticed, I've never answered them. I hate to disappoint you all, but the truth is, I have no great ideas or system.
My only "system"--if such a word can be used so loosely--has been to, um, make sure I can close the dresser drawers. So long as the clothes and toys could be stuffed in and the drawers could close, I shut the drawers and let them be. Great system, dontcha think?!
As time has gone on, this "system" (or, ahem, lack thereof!) is becoming more and more of an issue since we have to dig through stuff to try and find anything we need. Which takes extra time and effort. Which is frustrating. And which often means we don't find what we're looking for because it's buried somewhere in one of the four drawers.
In short, it's just not working and I've been determined to tackle this area for a few months. But alas, my procrastination problem has reared its ugly head and day after day passes without tackling the drawers.
Armed with the 45-minute clean closet success of last week, I'm more motivated than ever to turn these overflowing, system-less drawers into something representing much more order. And yes, if you all will promise to be as gracious to me as you were last week, I'll post before and after pictures again.
By the way, if anyone has great ideas for organizing children's clothing and toys in their rooms, I'd love to hear about it. Post about it on your blog and leave your link below, or leave a tip in the comments section. I'm pretty good at keeping clutter at bay, but I'm not so good at organizing the necessary items, so send any helpful tips my way--I could use them!
To update you all on progress in other areas of our home:
1) The laundry pile has stayed out of our room all this week! I've been doing 1-2 loads per day and making myself fold and put them away before I can go to bed each night. Thanks so much for the encouragement, ideas, and motivation; I'm really hoping this new system sticks.
2) The cleaned-out closet has stayed immaculate this week. I can't express how nice it is to open up the door and see an organize closet peering back at me!
Graphic from AllPosters.com
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Join in the fun! Post about your drawer reorganization or organization ideas for drawers and dressers on your blog (or anything else related to making your home a haven) and then come back here and leave your link below so we can all be inspired and motivated.
Labels: Making Your Home a Haven
posted by Crystal Paine at 9:33 PM
20 Comments:
Hi Crystal!
My hubby and I both thrive on organization, and we've found something that makes our lives a little easier! When I fold and put away my daughter's clothes, I quickly separate them into outfits and pile them accordingly into one of her drawers. Not only does this make things tidy, but it makes dressing our little one a snap (especially for my less fashion conscious husband!). As well, it makes it easy to identify those articles that are never worn because they don't really match, and it helps keep us in check so our little girl doesn't end up with 20 different outfits for a given size. Hope this helps!
Kari:)
About the toys: I've learned that the best way is to create a place that she can see what she has and know exactly where things get put up. We use plastic carts with clear drawers for little toys. Each drawer has a label (baby dolls, ponies, stuff, etc) I put the labels on long before she could read...it helped anyway, she began to "know" the word before she could read it. Also, when company came to play, things got put back where they belong.
Yes, we have a "stuff" drawer. This is for odds & ends that don't have enough in a group to have a whole drawer.
Her big toys are on a wire shelf unit, again in order to see what she has and put it all up easily. The stuffed animals are in a laundry basket. Easy cleanup! My daughter is six and she can clean up her own room easily because everything has a place. Enjoy! MRDM
I bit the bullet before my second was born and invested in some storage furniture from IKEA (the Trofast system) which has helped a ton in keeping my boy's clothes organized in my son's small bedroom! I also organize a lot of clothes in hanging organizers in his closet. They are clear vinyl, so easy to find things. And I think I got them for around $7 each, so a very cheap way to do it!
I also store outgrown clothes for hand me downs in the future. For these I just purchased huge rubbermaid tough storage containers and fill them according to size and label them. Then they get stacked in our garage and brought back in when a new size is needed.
For toys, that's an ongoing battle in our family room. I just finished up organizing all the toys and small things my sons play with into small clear rubbermaid/sterilite type containers. Right now I have them stuck in a closet, but my long term plan is to add some more shelves to our laundry room and store our toys in there. I try to only have a few toys out and rotate them, so storing them when they're not "out" is a big issue. We have 3 sets of grandparents and my kids get WAY too many toys as gifts. I feel like I'm constantly picking through and donating to Goodwill!
One thing that has worked for us was buying one of the hanging clothes organizers for the closet... the kind with one section for each day of the week, and shoe slots at the bottom. I can sort five days of outfits in there, including socks and underwear. It helps keep the drawers organized because because there is less in them ;), and it helps keep the kids organized because they can just grab and outfit and dress themselves (the younger one with some help).
As for toys... storage bins, maybe? I like the drawer kind. You could even tape a picture of the contents along with the word which would help when little ones are helping to clean up.
sadly, both my ideas involve buying things, BUT they last and last and I expect will keep us organized for YEARS to come!
good luck!
Although it doesn't promote order;) I have recently reversed the arrangement of my 4 yr olds dresser drawers. He now has underwear and socks in the bottom drawer, pajamas and long woollen winter underwear in the next drawer, polo-neck t-shirts and sweatshirts next, then trousers- and the top drawer contains his warm woollen jumpers and his best outfit for church or parties. This enables him to work independently from the inside out as he goes up! He has a much greater success rate at getting everything on in the correct order now than when the drawers were arranged to suit me putting away the laundry! FWIT! Gill.
For the toys...well, we bought a house that has a basement family room and it is the Play Room. So, that isn't much of a tip...sorry!
But the clothes (this is what works for me)I keep a medium size rubbermaid (type) of tote in the childs closet. When every I start to notice that something is getting too small or is "off-season" I simply put it in the tub rather than the drawer. Then when that tub is full it gets labeled (boy/girl and size(s) ) and taken to storage.
I also put any new clothes that I find on "great" sales for the next season up on the closet shelf so they are accessible for when needed.
It isn't a very involved thing and helps me remember to keep only the size(s) we need out. Plus, then dh doesn't accidently put something on the children that I've been meaning to take care of, hhehehehehe!
Now that we are having our second boy I've found the system very easy to go back and find things I need to pull out for baby. I'll leave the tub in the closet again and just rotate to the next one when needed.
I wrote about this last week on my "Tricks of the Trade Tuesday" post in with laundry tips. My method involves paring each child's clothing down to a maximum of 7 items per set (7 dress shirts, 7 t shirts, 7 sweaters, etc per season). Each child under 5 only has ONE drawer of clothes, and one drawer for pyjama's/ underclothes/socks. The older kids one shelf for farm clothes, one shelf for good clothes, and half of a small closet for dress clothes.
Secondly, I fold and keep their clothes in sets so there is never a need to rummage through drawers or shelves looking for a match. They go to the farm or good pile, depending, grab the top set (yes, must be TOP set, no rummaging allowed...) and get dressed. When I put clothes away, I tuck newly washed clothes under clothes still in drawer so that all clothes get equal wear.
Also, staying organized in the laundry department (a load a day) means put-away and organization is a simple daily chore, that doesn't pile up and overwhelm.
HTH.
Nichole
Crystal~
Thanks for posting this every week. It keeps me motivated to tackled a small project every Monday.
Blessings~
We have a sock box where all lonely socks go. Once every other week my daughters play match and see if any mates have surfaced. I'm going to do a dresser a day this week.
Here is what has worked for us since our boys were one year old.
Toys go in a labeled clear plastic bin on a shelf in closet. When they were little I had seven bins and rotated them everyday and occasionally mixed them up or added a new toy. Everyday something different. (Lifesaver in the winter months). At the end of the day everyone helped get the toys into the bin and put away. Still works to this day 9 years later. On the responsibility chart we call it EOD Tidy Up.
Clothes are organized in their closet from the tip of their nose to the tips of their toes.
Clothes that are too big are in labeled (so I know at a glance what I have for next season) clear plastic bins on the top shelf. New shoes are also up there since I try to get them on clearance.
Long Sleeved Shirts and dress pants are hanging under the shelf.
Undershirts, underpants, sweatpants, and socks are in that order top to bottom in labeled clear plastic drawers (so I can tell if we are running low) under the hanging items.
Short Sleeved Shirts and Shorts are double hanging to the side. I got a hanging extension pole from Target for the shorts.
Seasonal Coats/Jackets and Shoes/Boots are checked in at the door in the utility room (or garage if they are really dirty).
Dirty clothes and wet clothes from outside are put in tall "flexible" laundry baskets with handles that they can carry or smaller kids can drag downstairs (safer than going down the stairs with a big huge plastic basket that hides their feet). They take turns each day hauling the laundry down and bringing it up.
Since we are on the Dave Ramsey "Live Like No One Else" Plan we have decided to downsize and have not bought any bedroom dressers. Everything is in the closet. That means nothing to dust, collect junk, and vacuum around in their room. They each have a nightstand with a drawer for their Bible, journal, special books and other "treasures". This also makes it easy for them to help clean on Saturdays.
Hope that helps. Someday I'll have a blog to post pictures.
I wish I had some great words of encouragement, but I struggle here too! We acctually don't have a dresser in the kids room. There just isn't the floor space with a bookshelf (That holds toys. It makes it very easy to see their toys and put them away!) a bunk bed and a crib!! But in the closet I hang almost all their clothes, and we have three 3-drawer rubbermaid type drawers, one set for each child. They hold the undies/socks, play clothes and pajamas. My older children can get dressed by themselves and help put away clothes easily with this system. It also gives us space to hang new clothes that I bought "out of season". We have two shelves in the closet too. That hold blankets and diaper/wipes. Surprisingly it is working so far. But I am always up for more suggestions to make three kids fit in one room/closet a bit more effeciently!
I too put outfits away in the drawer, so there is no rumaging around to find a set. I have a 4 drawer dresser and the top is for diapers, next is outfits and the bottom is PJS and a few odd and ends like sweaters or dress shoes. Dress clothes get hung up. For my son I fold the clothes so that instead of stacks that will get rummaged through, they are in rows, like when you open a file drawer and see all the files, lined up, that is how I do his drawers ( and my husband) and it keeps them the cleanest.
For toys, the less available the better. I put most out of reach until they can clean up well after themselves and just take down one at a time. Just one basket out and clean up is a breeze. The older ones know to keep them cleaned up, because if they can't maintain what they have, then they have too much!
The way I labeled their toy bins was this: I took one of their toys, say a Lincoln Log, put it on my copier and copied a picture of it. Then, I made a label for their toy bin. This has really helped a lot. Also, their toy bins are actually baskets. Having handles, means that they can take the toys where they want to play, then clean them up and take them back.
have no wonderful words of wisdom, but I do have a link for you to check out :) Not my own blog, but one that I enjoy.
http://planningwithkids.com/2008/02/21/reorganising-the-childrens-drawers-and-wardrobes/
Baskets!! We love baskets at our house. We got some of those nice lined ones from CVS a few weeks ago...and paid for them with ECBs, of course! We have a block basket, a car basket, a baby basket, etc. The children know exactly where everything goes and it makes for an easier time during toy cleanup too!
I use the plastic shoeboxes to organize small toys in my sister's room. I labeled them with a sharpie, so she has: "band instruments," "vibrating toys" (she's autistic and loves toys that vibrate), "blocks" and so forth. We also have pink plastic totes that I put her larger toys in, like stuffed animals. And don't forget about under the bed space! My mom used to always get cardboard under the bed boxes for my Barbies...I could even fix up the boxes as a kind of room for my Barbie dolls too. Another great way to store Barbies is by putting them in the slots of a plastic shoebag on the back of the door!
The best thing that I have found to keep my girls (I have 4 of them) clothes organized is to fold them in outfits. Folding the clothes first then putting the shirt in the folded pants. And I only keep about 9 outfits (not including dress clothes which are hung up) in there dressers. This makes it super easy to pick something to wear for the day out since everything is already matched:)
I use small baskets in drawers to keep them organized. Check my post today, it is about my 12 yr old absolutely incredible daughter! She is the middle of 5 girls.
blessings, Penny Raine
http://www.pennyraine.com/blog
Thank you Crystal for sharing your messy moments! Over on my blog I was inspired to do the same.
Monday's seem to be the messiest day of the week at our home. We clean on Saturdays, then on Sunday's I guess you can say we truly rest from cleaning in some areas!
I started out the day with my goal room in mind - the kitchen! By the end of the morning - I'd tackled most of it.
I'm a perfectionist, and if things are just perfect, I tend to give up. But today I just kept on going, and going, and going until evening - It looks great!
Thanks again for inspiring us!
Candace
My adventures today are posted at:
http://heaveninourhomes.blogspot.com/2008/02/messy-mondays.html
Crystal, thanks so much for this challenge. I found a very special piece of jewelry I thought I had lost - I posted about it at my blog. You made my week!
Jennifer
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