Organize the Chaos

I am by no means (the boldface and italics are necessary to stress this point) "Miss Organization." Martha Stewart would balk at many things in my home and quite frankly, I'm okay with that. There are a couple of things that I have found to be really helpful though and I wanted to share them.

1. Keep a basket by the door. I'm trying to impose a new rule in my home that we take off our shoes when we come in the door. The rule was initially in response to the fact that I was having to vacuum our carpets daily. The carpets are now cleaner (well at least a little bit), but an even greater benefit is that I always know where my boy's shoes are when we're heading out the door. This truly saves me about twenty minutes of searching time a day and we're no longer late to events because we can't find one shoe! You can also keep an extra pair of socks for each child, hats, mittens, or anything else that might be useful!

2. Toss (or store) some toys now. With the holidays coming up, you're bound to be receiving more toys for your little ones. Now is a great time to sift through the toys they already have and get rid of (or store away) some of the ones that don't get much use. Try not to hold on to things that only receive attention once or twice a month. Don't feel bad about taking things away, you may be surprised that they're actually pleased to have fewer options!

3. The ultimate toy container. There are many different containers that you can use to keep toys "contained." I have found one that I love. It's actually a pop up hamper and you can choose from a variety of colors and styles in the storage and organization section at your local Target (or other home goods stores, I'm sure). We are currently holding all of our blocks in one, but you could use it for dolls, cars/trucks, stuffed animals, or whatever toy your child has an abundance of. It could also be a catch-all container for easy clean-up. I've found that they actually enjoy cleaning up when they get to throw things in the hamper. Another use is to be able to efficiently transport favorite toys to a grandparent's house or a vacation destination.

4. Hang up the best outfits in their closets. We have all had kid's outfits that have gotten shoved to the bottom or back of a drawer and when we finally uncover them we find that the season changed or our kids have outgrown them (this is tragic when it's a really cute outfit!). A friend of mine once told me that she hangs up most, if not all of her children's clothes. You can view them more easily this way and they're far less likely to slip through a season unnoticed. If the closet that you have for your child is small, you can hang up just the favorite and nicer outfits.