Another Obsession - Organizing

Among my other obsessions, I am obsessed with organizing.  I have to admit, I get a bit of a 'high' after organizing a cupboard, closet or toy shelf!  We live in a small house, so organization and optimizing space is key.  I can not tell you the amount of times I have rearranged Miss 5, 3 and 1's playroom, just for the fun of it.  I can't stand clutter.  When things are left laying around I get a tightening in my chest and I go on a daily rampage to get it all put back in it's place.  I can not leave the house if it is a mess.  I will be late to wherever I need to be, just so I can tidy the house up so I don't have to come home to a mess.  De-cluttering is weekly occurrence.  I am always looking for an excuse to get rid of things.  When The Children's Wish Foundation or Diabetes calls to let me know 'that there will be a truck in my area' picking up household items, clothing and toys, I literally hang up the phone, grab a garbage bag (or two) and walk around my house looking for things to get rid of!  If it hasn't been worn, played with or used in the last few months, it gets donated.  When my husband can't find something...guess who he blames?  And...he's usually right...but ssshhh...don't tell him I said that!

Hi.  My name is Vanessa.  I am an obsessive compulsive putter-awayer, re-arranger and de-clutterer.  I have problems, I accept that!  That's the first step, right?
 
Here are a few of my little tips for organizing small homes with young children.

Hair Accessories - With 3 young girls, we have collected A LOT of headbands and hair clips.  To organize hair clips, you can purchase a frame or canvas and hot glue ribbons of various widths and colours onto it.  My hair clip board is hung on the wall of my girls' bathroom and they get a kick out of picking out their own hair accessories for the day.  For headbands, I used to shove them all in a pail.  When I pulled one out, they all fell.  My good friend Tammy (Secret Life of a Stay At Home Mom, Houswife Hacks Part 2) gave me the idea to cover a paper towel roll with fabric and place it back on the holder, decorate it with your own special touches (ribbon, fabric flowers)...and
VOILA...the perfect headband holder!

 

Art Stations - My daughters love to colour, draw and create so I like to have art materials available for whenever the creative juices are flowing.  I purchased kitchen utensil holders from Ikea to use as marker containers and an extra rod to hold a roll of easel paper.  Miss 5 and Miss 3 have their own stations to eliminate fighting and to give them their own space...although they usually squish together and work at the same table!  They also use their tables to create with play-doh and paint.

 

More Labels -  I love these hanging chalkboard labels (from Target) to organize our toy bins on the main floor.  Every cabinet has toys in it.  I can't stand looking at toys all of the time, so the playroom is in the basement and we keep some favourite items upstairs in our main living area...discretely hidden in pretty much every piece of furniture!

Baskets on Stairways - I often keep a basket on my stairway going up to toss things in throughout the day that need to go back upstairs.  The girls like to bring things down from their rooms.  A book, a stuffy, a toothbrush, a taken-off-headband.  At the end of the night, I carry the basket up with me and put everything back in it's place.  This saves me having a complete anxiety attack due to all of the little bits and pieces being scattered around the main floor.  The same goes for going downstairs.  I have a mail-type basket there to gather drawings, artwork and other keepsakes to be taken down to sort out into the girls' art boxes when I have a few minutes.  I take photos of the Art I am not keeping and save the photos in an App called Artkive and file the rest into their memory and art boxes.

Clothing and the Never-ending Laundry Pile -  Just this summer, I decided I would only keep clothes that were a complete outfits.  Every top had a 'matching' bottom.  This allowed me to sort through Miss 3's hand-me-downs quickly, because there seemed to be a lot of random tops and mismatched bottoms.  I began purchasing Miss 5's new clothes only in complete outfits.  This also helps her when choosing an outfit.  This top, goes with these bottoms.  They are pulled out of the closet as a set.  When I am doing laundry, I take a couple of extra minutes to match up the outfits and I stack them in their closets this way.  Not only does it help Miss 5 pick out an outfit, it also helps Mr. 34, my husband, dress the girls when I am not around.  He once showed up to a party with my (then 1 year old) daughter dressed in pants and a dress with an overall dress over top, and a sweater!  I guess he tried...lol...maybe a little too hard.  For me, I am too much of a control freak to allow my daughters to have full liberty in choosing their outfits and apparently my husband needs my guidance!  So this seems to work for all of us.

Coat Rack at Child's Height - Nothing drives me more crazy than the dumping of jackets, shoes and backpacks upon entering the house.  Unfortunately we do not have the luxury of a second entrance or mudroom in our house.  So I have taken a little corner in my house near the front door to create an area where they can hang their own jackets and backpacks and neatly put their shoes away.  Now we just need to teach Miss 1 not to touch the neatly put away shoes!

Ouchie Basket - Every time I go to grab a Band-Aid (which has become a bit of an obsession with Miss 3), I cringe at my over-flowing medicine basket.  I recently re-organized the items into a drawer system and OMG, what a difference!  To grab something in the middle of the night (for teething Miss 1) is SO much easier.  I took everything out of their boxes to make it more compact and easier to store.  It's the little things in life :).

 

I hope some of these ideas help you to get organized and save you time, so you can take a minute and go to Starbucks and get a grande-half-sweet-non-fat-no-water-chai-tea-latte...without the kids...and sip it very, very, slowly...in the car...listening to anything but 'If you're Happy and You Know It'...that's what I would do!