I think I need some help from master decluttering/simplifying mamas *Updated w/ pics*

[free thinker]

Please help me! I'd really like to simplify my house, to make it easier to keep clean. I have 2 kids, and work from home. I've tried really hard to organize, but it just doens't work well. I think the bathroom is probably the best organized/least cluttered place in my house. I bought a large wooden cabinet to put in there (no storage space before) and it seems to really be working. Things I"d love help with are:

Finding a good place for toys/creative play/craft projects ~ DD has a nice table in the LR, but there is no storage to store all of the stuff, so it gets all stacked up on the table, and looks like a big mess 80% of the time (crayons, papers, books, watercolors). There is no toy storage in her room, so I have a bunch of rubermaid boxes of toys, and just keep a few in her room, the rest in the basement, and rotate. I let them keep one small basket of toys in the LR, rotating stuff as needed. On a daily basis the following are brought to the LR, and usually stay there until Iput them away: blocks, dolls or stuffed animals, blankets, clothes, books, and usually some other choice toys. I try to take them back, but there isn't really a good toy storage place in her room either.

Less housework overall~ what can I do to lessen the amount of work I need to do? Washing fewer clothes, getting all clothes washed, folded *and* put away (I admit, I'm awful at this! It seems the kids mess up the piles faster than I can fold!), getting my DD to help (she will be 3 in April), fixing my clutter-cathcing places, making my house look prettier overall

Organizing tasks like cooking. We eat a whole foods diet, and I prepare 3 meals per day, so my kitchen is a MESS all of the time. I feel like even if I get it all done, in an hour it's a mess again! I'd love tips on simplifying that don't involve buying stuff already prepared, KWIM? I do try to cut up whold heads of lettuce at a time, and stuff like that, or cook twice as much as I need, nad have more for anther meal, but I still have a big mess all of the time.

Clothes~ how many do I need, and how many do the kids need? I'd really like SPECIFIC lists on this! I think me and DH are under control, but the girls room is always over-run w/ clothes. There are always some too big, some too small, and the girls share a room (well, baby sleeps w/ us). PLEASE HELP ON THIS ONE!



I'd also like any tips on *what* to get rid of to simplify, like do you have rules you follow? What about nice things that you probably wont' use? I've taken stuff to the donation place 2 times this month already, adn I have another load to take this afternoon, but I still feel like toys are taking over my house!

Thanks so much!

[Little4estKaren]

I really like the forums and articles at: http://www.organizedhome.com I have found a LOT of useful hints, tips and inspiration at that site. I encourage you to check it out!

Re: the excess clothes of various sizes ... I would recommend that you sort out the clean ones that are not the correct size and that you don't want to keep. The next time you do laundry, pick out the ones that you need to "recycle" and get rid of, etc. Donate them or perhaps take them to a resale shop. If there is something that you plan on keeping for future use, I would put the clean articles of clothing into a rubbermaid tub, label it with the sizes and gender.

I HTH ~


Karen

[Suzie]

I 2nd organizedhome. I go their daily for inspiration. Usually, right at my coffee is about to kick in. I've been getting lots done lately.

[mamabear]

Okay, I'm going to try to tackle this point by point:

Finding a good place for toys/creative play/craft projects ~ DD has a nice table in the LR, but there is no storage to store all of the stuff, so it gets all stacked up on the table, and looks like a big mess 80% of the time (crayons, papers, books, watercolors). There is no toy storage in her room, so I have a bunch of rubermaid boxes of toys, and just keep a few in her room, the rest in the basement, and rotate. I let them keep one small basket of toys in the LR, rotating stuff as needed. On a daily basis the following are brought to the LR, and usually stay there until Iput them away: blocks, dolls or stuffed animals, blankets, clothes, books, and usually some other choice toys. I try to take them back, but there isn't really a good toy storage place in her room either.

I'm a big believer in getting rid of stuff rather than buying things to store them in, but it sounds like you really need to invest in some storage items here. Is there no *space* for storage in her room or just no actual bins/tubs/shelves? I love open shelves with baskets or sterilite shoeboxes for storage and organization. Katie's art things are in a wooden IKEA box on her art table and then she has a shelf or two with sterilite bins on it with more art supplies.

Cheap ways to invest in these are the $1 sterilite shoeboxes, as I mentioned - they go on sale at Target and the like every so often. IKEA if you have one nearby has cheap organizational stuff too. We have cheap homemade wooden shelves. Target also has sturdy wire shelves that we use for lots of different purposes. In our old house they were in the garage; when we moved we wiped them down and now I have fabric on one and fruit/onions/garlic, playdough and kitchen art/craft supplies and some random kitcheny things on another, the rest are in the basement holding boxes.

Less housework overall~ what can I do to lessen the amount of work I need to do? Washing fewer clothes, getting all clothes washed, folded *and* put away (I admit, I'm awful at this! It seems the kids mess up the piles faster than I can fold!), getting my DD to help (she will be 3 in April), fixing my clutter-cathcing places, making my house look prettier overall

One thing I did, tip from arasmama, was to buy fabric bins for Katie's clothes, and give her the basket of clean clothes. She sorts into pants, shirts, underwear/socks/tights, and jammies - NO FOLDING. It's made my life a lot easier. And then I gave dh the job of washing, drying and folding his own clothes. I just had to wait for him to wear his last pair of underwear a couple of days and then he DID do it himself! Just like college. Oh well. Before I'd always caved earlier and washed them earlier. But he did his three big loads of clothes (he has too many and won't chuck any) and all I had to do was step over the baskets for a while. So now I just do mine, Jake's, and the towels, and it's easier.

Getting rid of tons of clothes helps with the laundry situation. When clean, all the clothes for each child should only fill one large laundry basket. That is my guideline. I pack up any over this amount to rotate in when I get rid of ripped or stained clothes.

Organizing tasks like cooking. We eat a whole foods diet, and I prepare 3 meals per day, so my kitchen is a MESS all of the time. I feel like even if I get it all done, in an hour it's a mess again! I'd love tips on simplifying that don't involve buying stuff already prepared, KWIM? I do try to cut up whold heads of lettuce at a time, and stuff like that, or cook twice as much as I need, nad have more for anther meal, but I still have a big mess all of the time.

For this one, I just let the kitchen be a mess. I figure it's worth the fresh food. Ours is too, and we do the same thing. Preparing ahead of time and doing things in bulk is really all you can do. Also get a few good one-pot meals, especially for winter, like a nice potato/lentil stew, can help a lot.

Clothes~ how many do I need, and how many do the kids need? I'd really like SPECIFIC lists on this! I think me and DH are under control, but the girls room is always over-run w/ clothes. There are always some too big, some too small, and the girls share a room (well, baby sleeps w/ us). PLEASE HELP ON THIS ONE!

When you get to folding that clean laundry pile, sort a bunch of clothes into a giveaway pile and another into a throwaway (if ripped/stained). Make a third pile of too-big clothes. Put them in a rubbermaid tub or cardboard box and save them for when they grow into them.

I go for 8 outfits per season for each kid. This way I can go a week without doing laundry. I probably have 8 tops, 8 bottoms, 8 underwear, 8 pr socks, plus a bunch of dresses for Katie, and similar for Jake, but his extras are flannel shirts he wears over his shirts sometimes. For dh and I I'm trying for the same but really need to pare ours down again.

HTH! My main advice is just keep plugging away at getting rid of stuff. You get to a certain point where it starts to snowball - suddenly you have MORE time to declutter, because you've decluttered/simplified to a certain point - and then it just moves faster and faster as you feel how freeing it is and more and more time opens up!

Also organizedhome.com, flylady.net and motivatedmoms.com have great ideas. Motivatedmoms and flylady have schedules for cleaning that can really really help you keep on top of things.

[Mamax4]

For the crafts, i'd consider getting a small bookshelf to keep by the table, and sorting everything into rectangular baskets, this way you can take one basket at a time off the shelf. I also agree about going through everything and making sure what you have is nice, not dried-out and what your children really use.

I don't have dressers for my children's clothing. Dh and I put together a closet system ourselves from various kits from Lowes. The baskets are wire and you can see right through them to the clothing so what you want is easy to find. I can't stand dressers-- kids fling things out looking for stuff and then try to stuff it back in. Plus, dressers take up too much floor space, es if you have smaller rooms.

As for folding and putting away-- I often 'bribe' with a movie, and everyone helps fold while we watch, or I get 90 minutes of peace and fold and sort the clothes into piles. My kids are fine with putting away the shirts, then coming back for the pants, underwear etc. I find it gets done quicker and neater if they do it this way, rather than putting it all in a basket that they take to their room. They tended to wear the clothing right out of the baskets, and that resulted in the same problem as using a dresser...fling, fling, shove shove...can't- find -squat.

[JenTwo]

We have an area for crafts/homeschool. It's a small desk and over it we have a two-shelf area to keep small $1 bins with crafty things. There is also a rubbermaid tote beside it that stores workbooks, spare paper, etc.

Most of our toys are stored in our playstands. The exceptions are dd's leap pad (in a box in her room), a box with blocks and a small box of balls, bean bags and toy cars in ds's room. Having their toys in one spot really condensed mess and clean up time. The toys in the playstand are also put into baskets so they aren't falling all over the place.



Our kids now have very little clothing. They really don't need bunches of everything. The only problem I have run into is that they both have a habit of staining things quickly. It's made me quicker at getting the stain treated. LOL A quick rundown of dd's clothing (almost 4 yo): 8 ss t-shirts, 10 ls t-shirts, 4 sweaters, 3 jackets (all purpose, snow & heavy non-snow (not necessary IMO), 12 pr socks, 4 pr pants, 4 pr shorts, 2 skirts.

She has undies, dresses, too, but I can't think of how many off of the top of my head. I don't think she needs as many dressses as she has, nor the extra jacket and ls shirts. All of her clothing except the dresses & jackets fit in two average size dresser drawers. ALL of ds's clothing fits in two dresser drawers. Neatly at that. Part of it is knowing your child. DD goes through socks like wildfire so having only a few pairs would get old fast. So if there's something you know your kids are going to use more often have enough of that item for the child. DH and I have discussed doing the same thing that Laurie suggested, moving all of the clothing to closet storage. We're moving this summer though so we'll wait to see what the new place has for closets.

eta: okay, I lied. I realized after hitting submit that they have a tote of dress-up clothes in ds's room and a tote each of legos and lincoln logs in dd's room. LOL We're fond of totes, baskets and wooden boxes.

[stephanielynn]

i keep a bin at the bottom of ds's closet, so that as soon as i realize he's outgrown something, i put it straight in the bin. i've started selling at a consignment sale twice a year, so i go through it then and determine what's in there that i want to sell/keep.

i've started a morning and night routine with inspiration from flylady.net. but anyway, each morning, i get out a load of clothes and drop it in the washer and each night, i clear the sink of all the many dishes (or sometimes i keep it clear as i go...just depends), start the dishwasher, and make sure i have put the load of clothes away. it has been so great to wake up to a clean sink and all of the clothes away. we used to live out of the laundry baskets because i used to feel like it was better for me to wash all on one day. omg...it seemed to take forever to get all of that laundry folded and put away...and then i STILL had to wash in between all of the time because i wouldn't have my favorites jeans, shirt, etc. clean! i won't speak of how many clothes i have because I KNOW i have more than i "need,"...although i constantly feel like i have nothing. different issue there...

you asked about nice things you don't use...you could always ask around and see if anyone you know would like the stuff before you drop it off at goodwill. i've had fun doing that...although it means that it sits around longer until you can get it to them sometimes.

[free thinker]

Thanks for all of the ideas! I went thru and purged their room over the week, and I'm working on re-organizing. I bought some cheap closet organziers at wal-mart, and as of right now, all clothes fit in the closet and dresser! Not bad for 2 girls. I got rid of the changing table, and put all of the baby's diapers in bins, on the spare twin bed. It's just as easy to change her there, and it's not taking up extra space. The toys are still a work in progress. I have one big bin of playfood and one big bin of doll stuff. The rest is in bins in the basement, and I guess I over bought on the bins b/c I have several left over! I'm trying to decide what to do in the girls' room. It really needs some sort of orgaizer/furniture thing, but there isn't enough room for playstands. It is a 10x10 room that has 2 twin beds (they are too little for bunk beds, and will be for several years I'd think) one dresser (upright chest of drawers), closet door and bedroom door, so there is very little wall space for much of anything. Right now I am just stacking the bins in there, but it looks really tacky IMO. I'm planning on redecorating when I"m thru w/ all of the organizing. I want their room were it won't need anything major for the next 5 years or more (paint, bedspreads, ect., only a clean up a few times a year).
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[free thinker]

Time for an update! It's been 3 months, I have taken alot of the advice above, and here are just some of the results!!!

First is a pic of what it looks like from the door, going in. The walls are painted "cloudless", an aquaish light blue, the quilts are from Pottery barn, and so are the drapes (well, all from e-bay, but PB brand). The main colors are the aqua blue, pink, and light green. We plan to live her for 5ish+ more years, and I hope I don't have to re-do this before then. I want it to be suitable for a 2 year old, or a seven year old. The beds are on the floor, and that's the only thing I can see changing in the next 5 years. Right now the baby's bed serves as a changing station, all her dipes are in those totes.



Pic#2, you can tell there are actually 2 beds in this room (it's 10x10), the closet door is only 2' wide!



I took the dresser out, and organized the closet, using cubbies from Wal-Mart. now ALL clothes go in the closet, and the door is closed so the my DD can't pull everything out (this was a BIG problem with dresser, plus it took up alot of room,and I downsized on the clothes, so the dresser wasn't even full). Now I only have 2 pairs of shoes in the lower part of the closet, the rest are in bins up on the top shelf!



And now this wall is completely bare. I'm not sure what to do with it. I've thought of buying the book racks from PBK, and mounting in the corner to make a book nook? I do plan to take pics of the girls, frame them, and hang them in the room somewhere. I"d also like "Sisters" somewhere, in letters, but I'm not sure at all. One other thing I thought of doing was stenciling a picket fence along this wall, and vining flowers up it. I could still do the book nook thing, too, if I did that. Ideas anyone???



And in case you are wondering about the toys, they are all in boxes in the basement. I am sick of picking them up, and the kids rarely play with them anyway. Usually just art stuff, or stuff in my kitchen I boxed all of the toys up, and they will be allowed 1 box upstairs at a time.

I'm SOOOO proud!!! I know I still have alot of work in other areas, but I have tamed the Laundry beast, too! OTher tips I used to do that (besides getting rid of access clothes) are to wash all towels seprately, then I can fold just towels and put them away, less piles and such to get messed up! Same for the other loads of laundry. I do one of just socks and underwear, one of playclothes, one of DH's clothes, and then the towels and bedding! Everything fits on top of the washer when I'm folding it, so more incentive to actually finish the task!

Thanks so much, Mamas!!! I LOVE THIS FORUM!!!

[mamabear]

That room looks awesome!!! I am so proud of you. Thanks for sharing pics. It really is great to see how things turned out! I love the way you decorated - it's feminine yet classic, not at all "little girl"ish where you'd have to redo it when they're eight or something.

Aileen/naturalmama posted that she does clothes by person - we went to that system and have never looked back. It makes it so much easier, and I give my dd her clothes and she puts them away herself in baskets on shelves much like the ones you have.

On the blank wall, I love the book nook idea! It would give you a way to keep books available, but organized.

It looks wonderful!!

[stephanielynn]

Wow! good for you. it looks so good! thanks for sharing...and i like the book nook idea too! i also like the idea of framing pictures of the girls. and i think i would look for some sort of cute artwork...something to match the bed spreads or two little girls that look like sisters or something...or frame some of their art rather than painting the mural on the wall. i;m sure the mural would look cute too though.

[djmdj]

I love it too! I love all things pottery barn!

My kids' twin beds are on the floor too. They refused to keep it cleaned out under there, so I just too the bedsteads down!

What would give it that finished edge is if you got a cheap fitted sheet that goes with the color scheme and put it on the box springs. It keeps them clean and completes the look, kwim?

I love it! You did a great job! And I REALLY love the floor!

[Mamax4]

oooooo, nice! Come do mine!!

[Radha]

Beautiful!

[mamatosage]

It's beautiful!!!!!!!!!!!