Clean Sweep Part 3

I hope to make this the last of the "Clean Sweep" series. I don't want to get bogged down in the nitty gritty details of organizing because I might lose all of the few readers I have:D)

From pantry cabinets, to bookshelves, to your dreaded junk drawer...there is always something to be organized it seems. Bad news: your organizing will never stop. Good news: it will come closer to staying that way if you have a good system of organizing the stuff.

I will touch on a few more points and then call it quits.

Before I had two kids, my son's room was then the guest bedroom and his closet held all the extra stuff that wouldn't fit into ours. Crafts supplies, sewing supplies, batteries, teaching CD's/tapes, games, etc. are still at the top of his closet neatly tucked away into small Rubbermaid type containers with lids. Each box is marked on the front with the appropriate items contained in there. We have a container for batteries, craft paint, sermons on CD, small type games such as several decks of card, skip bo, hand held Yahtzee, etc., sewing supplies, and a miscellaneous box that might contain odds and ends that aren't junk but there's not enough of it to have its own box. I have a small three drawer system that sits on top of the filing cabinet also located in the closet, that contains my craft ribbon, school supplies (markers, glue, crayons, and scissors), and the last drawer contains pictures that I want to keep but don't necessarily want to put into albums, i.e. extra portrait pictures from a studio, doubles, etc.

I love those bins and drawer sets. Everything is tucked neatly away and you can label it which also ensures you will put the things into its proper location.

Because I am short on kitchen drawers...three to be exact is all I have...I don't have the luxury of a junk drawer so all my things have to have a place or I would go crazy.

So start this week organizing your junk drawer and make homes for those things. You can probably purchase cheap containers at the Dollar Store if you're short on budget.

Hope this post helped some of you. It's not as extensive as I would have liked but you all know me...I can get wordy sometimes...ok all the time.

Until next time, happy organizing.

Clean Sweep Part 2

Now I hope you have done your assignment:) The second part will be challenging if you haven't ridded out yet, but don't fear. There is still hope and time. Don't be overwhelmed. I can already hear you muttering underneath your breath about how you don't have time and aren't gifted in this area...go slow and pick one small task and you will feel so good after it's done that you will be motivated to do more.

I will only address a few categories today...toys and clothes to be exact... to be organized so if this doesn't apply to you then more categories will come later. If there is something I didn't address then feel free to ask me about it and I will address it the best way I know how.

So get moving sisters...and brothers!

Once you have your trash pile, your charity pile, your garage sale/and or consignment pile then you are ready to begin phase 2. *Side note: I prefer to give my good stuff to consignment vs. saving it for a garage sale because of lack of storage space for me*

The first thing I will address is toys...the dreaded play room...or if you're like me the small bedroom.

My daughter is two years old and loves all things girl and things in between. Purses, babies, jewelry, dress up clothes, kitchen stuff, etc. You get the picture. Things could get real cluttered real quick. My last purging was right after Christmas. I got rid of five babies and left her with four, two purses (she still has two), and all the little bitty junk that gets lost so easy. We don't collect McDonald's toys because for one she has never had a happy meal and two the stuff is junk and clutters up the room.

I organized her closet so that the play kitchen would fit in the corner right when you walk in so she could still play with it but it was out of the way in her room. She got a wooden doll bed for Christmas so all the babies get nestled in there at night. Her kitchen accessories are stored in a small container with a lid. I purchased a three drawer set from Wal-Mart in which the top drawer holds all baby stuff (play diapers, bottles, doll clothes), the second drawer holds all the miscellaneous items like small balls, her flashlight, play purses, etc, and the last drawer holds her dress up items and play jewelry. The rest of her toys are bigger sets that won't fit into drawers (play dough set, doctor play set and her play laptop that she doesn't know how to use yet but she acts like she does:) Those things nestle on top of the drawer set or beside it.

She does have a bookshelf for all her books.

That's about all she has. Doesn't sound like much but how many toys do kids really need? I think kids get real spoiled when they have so much. They no longer appreciate the simplicity in life when they expect to have a room full of stuff. Plus, it's more to organize. All kids have their favorites anyway.

There are obviously things I want to keep for her and Judah as keepsakes so purchase a bin for those things. I do keep most of her crafts and such from Sunday School. I have a basket in the top of the closet that I store those things in each week. When it gets full I will purchase a bin, label it and then store it in our outbuildings. You can't keep everything so keep the best of the best.

Put away the toys that you want to keep that your kids like but maybe have lost interest in and bring them out when they are bored with their current toys. It will be like Christmas all over again.

Encourage family to buy a small toy, coupled with an outfit or two and then give them money for Christmas and birthdays. I requested size 3T outfits for Libby for Christmas so I could put them up for summer or winter. She had plenty of 2T and besides she wears her favorites and some clothes she has never had on.

We have two accounts set up for Libby and Judah so anytime they get money it goes in there.

I also keep a bin in their closets to put out-grown clothes in. It keeps them neat and keeps you from leaving them on the hangers or laying them in the floor to go through later. I regularly go through their closet and purge those items that are getting too small, out-of-season clothes, or clothes she/he wore but I didn't like. Those items go in the give-away pile. By keeping the bin handy, you can put the clothes in there as you need to and they are out of site and neat. When it gets full, label it and store it. If it's your last child, then yoo hoo, you can give it all away right?

Another thought on the kids clothes. Because their closets are big enough, I hang up the next size they will grow into so I always know what I have so I don't buy more than is needed. Throughout the years friends have given us clothes for them but they weren't able to wear yet. Libby has her 2T's hanging up and 3T's on the end. Now when people ask what she needs I can just go into her closet and look.

Same idea for adults except you won't store your clothes in bins unless they are maternity clothes (mine are stored in two bins labeled shirts and jeans, shorts, dresses.) or seasonal clothes if your closets are too small to hold both. My closets are big enough to hold both luckily.


WOW! Didn't mean to be soooo wordy, but there was so much to cover...hope I didn't lose you on this one.

More to come later in the week.

Happy organizing!!!!!