Monday, June 7, 2010

What happens when a pack rat has children????

....she has baby pack rats!!!!

Promise we can still be friends if I show you these pictures?

Promise you'll still like me?



deep breath...






Okay, here's the scary truth.
This is how my girls' room looks MOST of the time. My cheeks are turning red even writing this!

Somehow, their darling room turned into a chaotic, disorganized mess that only gets clean if I do it all by myself, all the while yelling at M for not helping.
Sadly, it took a long time to realize that there were major toy storage and organization issues so that she COULDN'T help me. There were things she could do to pick up, but not much without causing a bigger mess.

So.....

armed with new, bigger and more plastic bins and a plan, I tore their room apart on Saturday morning.


Five hours later....


...still a work in progress but SOOOOO much better! Right?

Problem number one:
storage, we had lots of baskets which means lots of dumping and lots of "oh I'll just throw these in here" when we're cleaning up.
Solution: bins! glorious bins! and we still need more!

Problem number two:
lulu's dresser was in the closet. I thought it was smart at first to give more space to the room but I've come to realize I want the closet space for toy storage under their clothes soooo much more!

Solution: move out the dresser, move in the bins of toys! Now there's twice as much room in the closet for toy storage!

Problem number three:
Always messy!

Solution:
I rearranged the room so that the dressers and beds were all on one side and the toys and closet full of toys were all on one side so it wasn't chaos. Hopefully, when they play, it will stay more contained and the cleanup will be easier.

Problem number four:
angry Mommy during cleanup

Solution:
We still had a basket of toys in the living room the next Monday. It was our first test. We were able to clean it all and put things away because everything now had a home instead of just dumping that basket into another in her room. Even lulu knew where the babies and the "bobbies" went! Hooray!

So far so good!
We need more bins, we need to get rid of more stuff, and we need to keep cleaning it regularly.

7 comments:

Katie said...

WE HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM, but most of the kids toys are in the family room, so that i where the mess is! I've been buying plastic storage w/ lids that close, b/c when they're open, ash just dumps them all!!! We always have toys every where, and I'm always cleaning and yelling at ash and sending him to time out for not helping while picking up! It is a never ending battle we all have!

Emily said...

Wait wait wait. Your husband was home this weekend and you spent 5 hours cleaning and organizing your kids' room. You are much more motivated than I am, it really was driving you crazy, huh?

Liz said...

nope- this was the sat before last! i wrote it and posted it to a future date. sorry, should have edited that!

Grandma Jan said...

It looks wonderful. All your effort was worth it. I love the way the room looks. Toys in the closet seems like a great idea. Thanks for sharing the adorable updates. Hope the new plans works for all of you.

Grandma Jan said...

Did I say that I love, love, love Megan's bed, bookcase, and dresser! Adorable.

Liz said...

thanks!

Grace said...

It made me happy to see that Hello Kitty was on the bed. yay! One happy Aunt!! :)