Organize Your Supplies

I love this organizer for the kids’ art supplies. It sits on our school table where we can easily grab any tool we need. It’s the Tool Turn About from Pampered Chef and it costs $15. I bought it for kitchen supplies but it was too small to hold all the utensils I use. I like them better in a drawer where they don’t clutter up my counter.

This organizer would work great in several rooms in your home. Try using it in your bathroom or your home office. Contact your local Pampered Chef dealer for more information.

The Swim Bag

Here’s a great new idea for a large Organizing Bag. I used a hole punch to punch holes all over the front of the bag. Now I can use it for swimming supplies or anything else that would need to dry out. I can’t wait to make another one for the kids’ painting supplies!

Think Outside The Box

I spent some time yesterday organizing our school shelves and I re-organized our game closet today. We had some duplicate games so I’m giving those to Grandma and I threw out some old cards that the kids weren’t using anymore. I was still using some old Organizing Bags that I made several years ago. They were my first attempt before I came up with the design I use now that I really like. I switched out all the old bags for the new bags. Here’s a photo of our game closet where I have stored 29 different games and 15 different puzzles. Look at the top left. Those are the board games standing on end. Can you imagine how much room all of this would all take if they were still in their boxes? I love these bags!

I also transferred art supplies from four different art boxes that were taking up too much space. Look at this big box. All of the supplies in it fit in a small Organizing Bag! Which would you rather take to Church or have sitting on a shelf?

BTW, I throw out every box I can, not just toy and game boxes. I throw away cereal boxes and clamp the tops with a clothes pin. They all get tossed in a drawer. When the bags are half empty there is room for more bags. That isn't the case when they're still in their boxes.

What kind of boxes are taking up space on your shelves and drawers that you could get rid of?

Cheaper and Better

So far so good with the toys. The basement is still spotless. The kid’s rooms are clean. They are happily checking out their toys and putting them away before they get a new one out. I have heard a lot of people say that kids need to be able to make a mess for creative purposes. My personal experience is that my kids are more creative and have more fun with their toys when their environment is clean and they are limited in their choices. How does having every toy in the world promote creativity? I’m sure we’ve all seen what our kids can do with a cardboard box. Now that’s creativity!

All the costumes are finished! We spent the day celebrating by going to the Dinosaur park all day and then we spent the evening swimming at the gym. My next sewing project is to design myself and my friend a great fitting swimsuit. Have you seen what’s out there for women like us who have had babies and all the body parts are out of order? It’s not pretty. Not the bodies or the suits. You’re also looking at spending up to $100 or more for something that fits. I think I can make it cheaper and better. That’s becoming another one of my mottos!

The Toy Solution

I finished all the dance costumes and took them to class last Wednesday only to find out I had to make two more costumes. The teacher left one of the girls off my list and another Mom changed her mind about wanting a costume. I would have just told her it was too late but I was making the other so I though I might as well make two. I finished them both today. Now I only have one solo costume to sew by Thursday. That will be my project for the next two days.

The kids and I have really been working hard to get the house cleaned up this last week. We spent one day working in the garage, one day cleaning bathrooms and one day in the basement. There is still more work to be done, as always.

Every time I teach an organizing class I am asked how to keep toys organized. There isn’t some magical solution for toys. If you have too many toys then you have a mess. It doesn’t matter how creatively you store them or even how much room you have. Kids want every toy out all at once and they don’t want to pick them up if they can get away with it.

My 7 year old son has always been pretty good at keeping his room picked up so I haven’t worried a lot about his toys. You know the saga I have had with my 5 year old daughter. Every six months I go down and box up half of her things. I was trying to get to a manageable amount for her but nothing worked. No matter how few toys I let her keep, her room was always a mess.

Since we have put our house back on the market I have to be able to do a 10 minute tidy and have it looking respectable at any moment. I decided the only way that was going to happen was to box up every single toy the kids have. I know. It was a very drastic measure but it had to be done. I organized some toys into my large organizing bags that the kids can “check out” with their tickets. They get their tickets back as soon as the toys are picked up and put away. The rest of the toys went either to the thrift store or to storage.

I think they will happily survive. They’ll be playing outside all summer anyway. Any time indoors is spent on school work. The last two days have been wonderful. Kate loves her room now. All she has to do is make her bed and it looks beautiful.

This is going to be my new solution for the toy problem; box them up and I mean all of them. And don’t buy anymore junk!!! You would do anything for your children’s happiness wouldn’t you? Then do this because it will make them so much happier!