Organization.
*sigh*
This is something I need more of in my life.
I do have a few ideas that have made life simpler.
And I will share them with you in this exciting, and equally informative, 3-point post.
You’re welcome.
1) Closets.
We live in a fairly small house . . . about 1400 square feet.
And it can definitely seem . . .
crowded.
And there have been times, as few as they might be, where I might even say our house gets
chaotic.
So . . . we don’t have a lot of storage space in our tiny house.
I have been learning how to make the most of our small areas.
My favorite is the way we did the boys’ closet:
Little Dude’s clothes on the top.
Handsome Dude’s clothes on the bottom.
Interruption: Can we all have a moment of applause for my handsome Lumberjack who built not only that closet, but our entire house?
I believe in miracles . . . since you came along . . .
You sexy thing.
(Name that artist)
Since my main man built my house for me, I got to inform him of the way things ought to be.
And since I feel that children ought to be able to put their own clothes away, I implored him to put their closet rods within their reach:
Like so.
Attention all mothers: This may backfire on you once your children decide they should start dressing themselves.
This will especially backfire on you if you have a hard time biting your tongue when your child look ridiculous.
Try not to crush your child’s spirit (not that I have) when they come parading down the stairs wearing socks with sandals.
Fact: Socks with sandals goes against everything I believe in.
Another closet-y trick I have is to keep a spare dresser or a big Rubbermaid tub in the closet to store out of season clothes.
2) Children’s Artwork.
Raise your hand if you have a lot of these:
Can we not all agree that they produce a lot papers?
Which ones do you keep?
Which ones do you toss?
Where do you store the ones you keep?
Well, I haven’t gotten all that figured out yet, but I did purchase this box:
And for now, I am just tossing cute things into this box.
And look at this early picture from my dear Sweet Pea . . .
Poor Sweet Pea has had to wear glasses since she was 2.
Even her princesses wore glasses.
I couldn’t find anything to show you, but would you all like to hear something cute that Daisy Mae used to do?
Daisy Mae’s factual name starts with a “H.”
*gasp!*
That was top-secret information I just gave you there.
Let’s keep it on the down-low, 10-4 good buddies.
Any-who . . .
She used to sign all her artwork:
“HO.”
We used to love our artwork by Ho.
And while I am off-topic, I will share with you something else Daisy Mae used to do.
She could not pronounce the “k” or “C” sounds, but would instead substitute them with the “t” sound.
Cookies=tookies
Cat=tat
And so on.
Well, one day The Lumberjack told her that is she couldn’t leave her kitty out anymore or she was in trouble.
So, later that night, Daisy Mae shares this with my sister.
(Psst . . . that’s Daisy Mae and my sister)
Now, you will have to substitute a “t” sound for all “k” sounds as I am too embarrassed to write out specifically what she said.
“Meagan! Daddy says that if he ever sees my kitty out again, I am in trouble.”
It was a proud parenting moment.
Goodness.
Where was I?
Oh, yes.
Informing you all of how organized I am.
3) Husbandly Clutter
Oh.
My.
Gosh.
Becky.
(Name that song)
My husband has a lot of stuff.
And he throws said stuff in my laundry room.
What’s worse is he takes up all of my cabinet space in aforementioned laundry room.
Now, what would you think should be in a laundry room cabinet?
Stain removal?
Detergent?
Bleach?
No.
No, no, no, my dear readers.
Let’s take a peek, shall we?
(cue theme music from the movie “Psycho”)
Now, let’s take a deeper look.
Fishing nonsense.
Maps.
Walkie-talkies (camouflaged, of course, so as to trick the deer)
Interruption: the rotting bananas are my problem, not the Lumberjack’s
Wait a minute . . .what’s that box . . .
Now that’s safe!
Nails, screws, special laundry soap (scentless, of course, as to trick the deer)
And I have saved the best for last.
I did not even know these were in there!
I can’t quite put my finger on it, but this snorkeling gear reminds me of someone . . .
hmmm . . .
who was it??
Oh, yes!
Jason!
So . . . what’s a girl to do when her husband has too much stuff that she does not understand, nor know what to do with?
She decides that for the sake of preserving her marriage, she will just buy a large basket, stick it on top of her washing machine
and pile in the things that belong in the laundry room inside of it.
Yes.
Baskets are our friends.
I use them everywhere.
Alright.
That concludes today’s helpful and informative post.
Please tell me how you stay organized.
Do you have a cleaning schedule?
Do you have an organized junk drawer?
Do you have dynamite in your laundry room?
Please.
Share your ideas with me.
Because clearly . . .
I need all the help I can get.
Organization . . . nope. Nothing. I’m not sure I could even define the word.
I am the least organized person. I did buy a rubbermaid tote for munchkins special reports and projects from school, that way I can save it and it is out of sight. They bring home so much stuff. I think I might have a few junk drawers and no cleaning schedule here. It depends when my motivation decides to show up.
I do not know the first song. The second one is Baby Got Back. How sad that I know that, and even more sad that it is now stuck in my head.
Organization is not my thing. There is always just so much stuff…..and as soon as some is organized there is more stuff that comes along! I do have totes to keep the boys “stuff in. I have a rubbermaid for each of them. I keep their special artwork, a few of the things they have written each year, and their report cards in there. I also have a tote for me and my husband for the “special” things they have made for us over the years. I do have to say that the amount of papers and art they produce lessens significantly over the years. As for junk drawers, half the time mine doesn’t even shut…..
Organization???? what’s that??? That word has no place near my house let alone IN my house. And can I tell you how much that annoys the you-know-what outta me??
We move every 3 years*.
It forces me to get rid of stuff we don’t use.
But I never clean out my junk drawer. I just use a heavy duty huge zip-lock and move the same junk from house to house.
*except for the time between Sept 2010 and Sept 2011, when I will move 3 times. Variety is the spice of life, no?
Ah, Darling. You have hit a topic close to my heart. I should show you a picture of MY laundry room 🙂 It doesn’t have only the items you’d expect for a laundry room, and it doesn’t even have beautiful cabinets, but it has these little plastic buckets, labeled and all with such things as: batteries/charger , computer, tv, phone/audio, extension cords, gloves, shoe polish. I guess you could sort of call me a freak! I do have a lot more space than you do though. There are definitely areas in our house that are not organized. Such as my linnen closet which contains millions of blank cd’s that my hubby got for free one year, black friday shopping, and 2 tripods, and whatever other junk that I don’t know where else to put.
As far as the kids artwork… I haven’t done this yet, but I had the idea to buy the kids each a large three ring binder and a pack of page protectors to put their special items in. I also bought them each a artist’s pad for Christmas (you know a notebook with un-lined pages, cheap, nothing a “real” artist would want) and covered the cover with material to make it pretty (real fancy, just a hot glue gun!) and that was their special drawing book. It’s not a perfect system, they are still prone to grab blank paper out of the printer almost daily, but I am starting to get them excited about the idea of having their own special book of art. The three ring binder idea is better b/c you can include special cards and school work and photo’s too.
I love the 3 ring binder idea!
I’m the farthest thing from organized! It drives my husband CRAZY!
http://www.monkeetrouble7.wordpress.com
I loved this post! I love the kids art- I used to be a teacher! Your kiddos are precious! Thanks for sharing! Happy Easter!
I am laughing because my laundry room is nearly identical to yours, right down to the fishing tackle… although we do not have scuba gear.
oh man! Seriously, swapping a “k” for a “t”…that was hilarious!! bwahaha!!
First of all, your kids are too funny. I think I would have died to hear that.
I’m an organized person, but I have no kids yet and a cleaning lady comes once a week. I have no real advice, but think you’re doing a great job.
Marla @ http://www.asthefarmturns.wordpress.com
lol…i have no answers for you…i am normally very organized….everything has it’s place, but i find it hard to be right now as i now live in a house that is 1/3 the size of the one before it…i have no storage and a lot of stuff!!! 🙁 but i love my tiny little 900+ square foot house,it’s cozy and there are only 3 of us, so it’s not that bad…
The picture of little dude by the box is the cutest thing ever!
Thank you so much for the tip on the big box for artwork! With 2 little girls in MDO they are always bringing things home and I never know what to do with it. The one time I threw something away my 3 year old found it and asked why it was in the trash! Cue the heart breaking!
I just took my husband on a stroll through your blog, he didn’t believe me that you use that pic of your brother-in-law in every other post. I proved him wrong and he was quite amused!! 🙂 Then he promised to take me to Mexico!
I know! I use that picture way too very much. But, in my defense, I had no choice once I saw that snorkeling gear!! 🙂 I mean, really. You know I had to do it.
That picture is simply fabulous.
Yes! Go to Mexico! It was muy bien.
I make sure to show that picture to my husband regularly. Jason lived in a closet in the house my husband and his friends lived in for a while, so whenever we talk about his roommates, I have always referred to Jason as “you mean that one who lived in the closet?”
Too bad Jesse didn’t get a picture of that for you to use as well.
Look how much Spanish you picked up! 🙂
While I do agree that the sock-sandals combination NOT OKAY…….I believe there is one exception. Nice warm wool socks with Birkenstocks! So cozy!! 🙂
HAHA, you had me laughing out loud!! I love Daisy Mae. Seriously. …sees my kitty out… I needed a good laugh this gloomy Friday morning, so THANK YOU!
As far as organization, I’m HORRIBLE at it. I just have random baskets everywhere and they ALL collect junk. So instead of having one junk drawer, we have no junk drawers (they’re all being occupied) and two huge (like laundry basket size) junk baskets under our coffee table and a small one in our kitchen. And a basket for extra blankets, a basket for laundry stuff on the dryer, baskets filled with books and papers on each of our nightstands, multiple baskets housing our toiletries in the bathroom, a basket for burp rags… you get the picture. I just happened to have all these baskets over the years and while I would love to have one of those homes that is so organized and spotless and put together with no clutter, I know that I never will. I’m trying to let go, but it’s not working! ha! I need a personal organizer to come help me problem solve my junk mess… or help me get rid of magazines and papers we will never need…
I’m sort of organized, but not really. One of my biggest problems is organizing my husband’s junk. I have seen the same set of gear at my house, right down to the camouflaged soap and walkie-talkies. Fishing stuff, snorkeling stuff, boating stuff–it’s all there. Our bedroom has two closets. When we moved in, Indiana took the bigger closet. I said fine as long as his stuff stays in it. When I find it elsewhere, I just pitch it back in the closet. Only now I can’t get the door closed so I don’t know what I’m going to do.
The entire post I was waiting for something to explode!
And yes, we all need to fight against socks and sandals – for the sake of the children.
Oh, and I didn’t include any organizing tips because I don’t have any.
Unless closets count.
Then throw everything into closets.
Then, one day, it might become necessary to use dynamite and never look back.
About those pieces of art work–take pictures of them and just keep a few. LJ could do that with his new camera! 4 kids in a 1400 sq. foot house boggles the mind!
And I love your new header picture!
Some people watch TV. I organize/reorganize/rearrange. It’s truly recreational and therapeutic for me. I love the whole process, except for the beginning part which always looks worse than the “before” and appears as though my house vomited.
Now, that does NOT mean every area of our home is tidy and organized. I have my weaknesses. And if you visit and ask to see the garage, you’ll have to do it over. my. dead. body. (It’s better than it was a few months ago, though. Baby steps.)
Artwork. My bff’s policy is that she lets a creation stay up/out for a little while, then she takes a picture of it and it goes in the garbage. It’s still saved in digital form. I’m sure she has plenty of the real stuff as well, but she’s choosy.
I save a lot more than I should and may start employing that method. I also saw a really cool portfolio made out of poster board, colored duct tape, and ribbon. I just can’t find the link right now…
I use baskets, too. As for cleaning, I have some wonderful ladies from church come help me clean so I can do therapy with my children. I think we might be downsizing so I might finally get rid of A LOT of things that we’ve just had packers pack up whenever we got orders. I laughed so hard when I read the kitty story!
Doesn’t everyone have dynamite in their laundry rooms? I find it quite handy when the pile of dirty clothes gets too big. Ka-boom! No more laundry.
excessively cute “art” = saved in a drawer
still very adorable, but mom doesn’t like clutter art = scanned into computer and put into a digital scrapbook
I love being organized. I am a naturally organized person. Unfortunately, I have too many children and too little money…..
Ok I better win the worthless points. The first song is by Marvin Gay (Hello people). Second song Baby got back.
Ok and now I have to say I read someone elses blog that you also read and she was making me choose between pie or cake and now you are telling me socks and sandles is not a go. As I sit here replying to you in my socks and sandles I’m not impressed 🙁
I have to be organized. We very busy and if I don’t put appointments on the calendar well, it’s not pretty.
Today, I forgot that I had a doctor’s appt on Wed. Ugh!
Have a great weekend.
Just found your blog through Kelly’s…
I am so impressed with your gorgeous, little family! I can barely keep my husband and our dogs in line — I have no idea how you do it.
My hat is off to you!
Kelly
Good evening my friend living my parallel life,
When we moved from our little home to our current home, we took the cabinets and countertops that Bill had installed in our kitchen. We mounted them in our garage. In those said cabinets are camo spraypaint, way too many sharp, rusty tools that are screaming “Come and get Tetanus!” and Down Wind Deoderant. If LJ doesn’t already have it, it would be a great Stocking Stuffer. But wait, that is after hunting season. When’s his birthday?
I wish I had dynamite in my laundry room…I would blow it right up.
Perfect, perfect Jason set-up.
He built your house? He is a lumberjack, an electrician, an architect, a construction company, and a general contractor? What in the world?
My baby girl does that same thing with her “c” and “k”…and now I found out that if I ask her to sign her name on a card she will write “Tit” even though her name in nothing like that. Not even Kit. Or Kik. I’m going to send that to Grandma anyway.
My son could not say tr sounds…he said an f sound instead. Then he sang a song. The lyrics to the song were “Truck daddy truck daddy truck daddy truck daddy….” Hmmmhmmmm…
I love the book The House That Cleans Itself. It’s awesome.
Hot Chocolate.
You got it! 🙂
Nope not mad. I know I’m a dork. I spent the first half of my life in Vermont does that excuse me. You have to wear socks in your sandles up there it’s to cold. I also just read your comments and I see Nikki up towards the top understands the birks and socks 🙂
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Um, Hot Chocolate or something like that? Believe it or not, that song has particular meaning with Mr. YH and I.
I like clothes where my kids can get them, too. And I just outright send them back to their rooms to change if it doesn’t match; just my personal preference.
Socks with sandals make much more sense in country that is always dirty.
I do have a cleaning schedule. It’s flexible, though (and now I have a housekeeper to help). I don’t clean everything on one day- one room/day and I do a little laundry each day. The kids help with that. They also sweep under the table after meals and do other slovenly tasks like that.
We like baskets.
Re: Danielle Ts reply – what’s MDO?
Love the beautiful box with the spiral design and the darling baby photo. I am trying to make my ‘guest’ room in similar design and colors.
At least you have a laundry room and porch. sigh. That would so be heaven to me.
My apartment is so small and I have so many projects that most of my stuff simply has to be out in view. One of the best things I ever did was purchase a package deal of strong white all the same size white boxes. Not only do the stack up real nice because they’re all the same size, you don’t notice they as much because they are white and not that annoying brown. In my room, yes, call me Nerd – I actually stencilled all my white boxes with a pink shade to look like they came that way and look sorta nice in my closet. All 20 of them are filled with new fabric and clothes that no longer fit me. Five of them are all Neil’s baby toys I can’t part with in case I ever get my own grandchild. And five others are all Christmas. They also have stenciled designs in strategic places. The Christmas boxes have darling vinyl cut out of either light bulbs, ornaments, trees, etc to be able to tell which is which. All the fabric that doesn’t fit is unfortunately in clear bags so I don’t have to open ten to find what I need. They don’t stack & look messy in my bedroom. All my tools and woodworking projects, photo albums, are under the bed. I had one kid. I mostly saved all his paper stuff. Most of his artwork is saved permanently on all my sewing books he drew in. Perhaps LJ grew up so frugally, that he now enjoys buying and spending. I wonder if the deer are really fooled by camo walkie talkies. Who’s he talking to out in the woods?
I think doll leotards, tights, necklace, and tutu would be a very lovely show and tell experience. Don’t you? Happy Easter to you all. You can eat and eat and eat and eat and eat until you die. Name that movie?
Great tips…had to read it twice….
Enjoying a Saturday afternoon of blog hopping and all the Easter posts. Hope you will stop by and leave a comment….On Sunday night I will be drawing for
$100 GOODIE BASKET.
http://grammyababychangeseverything.blogspot.com/2010/03/new-friends-new-blogs-and-giveaway.html
I have heard of taking digital photos of your kids artwork — not that I have done it. I should drag out the boxes of artwork that I have and do that sometime soon before I run out of room. =)
Your post gave me a chuckle and also some great organization ideas. Thanks!
Oh, my goodness! Your post cracked me up. My trick is to have a place for everything and to do a little cleaning and organizing every day. I can’t let it go for a week and then try to get it all back together in a day.
LOL! Your hubby’s stuff looks like my hubby’s. Lots of fishing and hunting.
You are hysterical! I am home sick from work and this post gave me a good laugh and left me smilin’.
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