Kitchen Counters - Top 40 Organizing

As part of my New Year's Resolutions I am purging excess STUFF in our house and organizing everything I can get my hands on.  I am following the plan outlined here: http://www.home-storage-solutions-101.com/organized-home.html

My first order of business was to declutter the kitchen counters.  We have a small, eat-in kitchen and counter space is at a premium.  Also, flat surfaces in our house tend to become dumping grounds for junk and paperwork (as evidenced by these pictures).  Warning: these are real, lived in pictures.

Before:

This is our main counter space. There's not much to it. The stand mixer and Keurig have to stay out on the counter due to lack of storage space (we use them a lot too).

Our teeny tiny counters next to the stove.

And after several hours of hard work and two full bags of trash we have the after...

After:

I eliminated the bread basket in the corner (the bread was moved to a drawer) and put the Keurig in its spot.  This makes it closer the coffee mugs and now the Keuring doesn't hit the bottom of the cupboard when we lift the top.

Same counters, but from a different angle.  I'm searching for produce storage solution that is better than one basket on the counter.  I haven't found anything I love yet though.

The stove area.  Another of my resolutions was to give up soda pop.  With the bottles gone, it looks a lot better in this area.

Though technically not part of the counter declutter, I thought I'd add this picture of our dining table.  I repurposed the old bread basket to hold art supplies for kids.  In an ideal world I'd love to have nothing on the table (except maybe some fresh flowers), but the reality is that my kids spend a lot of time drawing and coloring at this table.  At least the basket looks better than the paper piles they usually leave behind.

The next step is to organize the cabinets and drawers.  After that I may get crazy and even shop for some window coverings.  Ha!

Controlling Paper Chaos - Top 40 Organizing

I shared in an earlier post that I was spending time this summer organizing the areas in my house that need it the most. I wanted to share the first area I tackled because I'm so excited about it.

With 4 kids in school and activities, the paper clutter in our house was out of control. I really wish I had taken a picture of all of the papers that the kids brought home on the last day of school. It literally filled their backpacks so that they could barely zip them!

I wanted to sort through the piles to keep the most memorable pictures and papers and also to file away the important papers that I would need to reference later.  I had saved so many papers through the year though that the thought of sorting through everything was very overwhelming!

I started, as I start most projects, by scouring Pinterest.  I have always loved this idea by A Bowl Full of Lemons, so when I saw it again on Pinterest, I knew I had to try it. It seemed like fate that when I went to check the prices of the totes and folders that they were having a great sale!  I ordered them on the spot - in 4 different colors (coincidentally, the 4 colors they had available were also the 4 colors that we already used to sort our kids' things).

They aren't perfect, but they look so much better than the stacks of papers on my dresser or the counter.  Having a limited space to store things really helps me to weed things out and figure out what's most important.

To label the file folders I ordered a Dynmo label maker (which I also happened to buy while it was on sale for $9.99 - I had a lot of dumb luck with this project).  I LOVE my labeler and can't believe it took me so long to buy one.

The totes took care of the keepsakes, but I still needed a handy place to store important papers that I need to reference quickly (and storing them in files was an out of sight, out of mind issue for me).

I came up with my school year action binder.  I made the cover quickly in Publisher (you can download it for free by clicking on the picture).

Inside I added dividers and folders for each child and each activity.  Here I can store class newsletters, contact info and class lists.

I also have a general school section for both our elementary school and our preschool.  This is where I store info that is relevant to both kids at that school - things like calendars, handbooks, and login passwords for homework websites.

Here's hoping that the next school year is less stressful and chaotic and more organized!

What tips do you have for keeping school papers sorted and organized?

Summer Plans

It's summer vacation and once again I'm excited and motivated for another summer of learning with my kids! Here's hoping that the motivation lasts all summer and extends to regular blog posting!

To be honest, I wasn't sure if I was going to do much besides summer bridge books and flashcards this summer, but I changed my mind because of two things:

1. Wild One has a huge desire to learn to read.  And not just any books, but chapter books.  :)  I told her that we would take it one step at a time, but I just can't ignore her enthusiasm to learn!
2. I stumbled upon the "Alphabet in Simple Science" over at Memorizing the Moments.  If you haven't see it yet, you should definitely check it out!  After reading through the posts, I was inspired to try it with my kids!

I've decided to adapt the science curriculum that Kaysha at Memorizing the Moments has developed to make it work for all 4 of my kids.  For the younger 2, we will focus on letters and sounds and the introduction of science concepts.  For the older 2, we will delve deeper into topics and maybe even do some science notebooking (I've created some experiment observation pages that I plan to share).

In addition, Wild One will be working through the First Start Reading program with me.  In fact, the order that letters and sounds are introduced in this curriculum will determine the order that we tackle the "Alphabet in Simple Science" series.

As for the older 2, they will both be completing their summer bridge books as they do every year (I take them out for ice cream when they finish it).  Pinky has been struggling a bit with math this year, so she's also working on the Math Mammoth review books this summer.

 I also picked her up this book just to prove to her that math can be fun.  

We'll also be reading plenty of books, and I plan to continue our "What We're Reading" posts throughout the summer.

This summer we're finally trying out the Summer Challenge that Carisa created at 1+1+1=1 too!  I had fun stocking up my prize bucket and coming up with tasks for the kids to complete to earn a point.  I will share our prizes and challenges in another post.

Finally, I have taken on my own sort of challenge and am working on organization (a task that will take much longer than just this summer).  I started by listing 40 areas of my house that need to be organized using this printable from White House Black Shutters.  I plan to take them on one at a time and document befores and afters.  If I feel brave I may share those here too.

Well, that's another ambitious summer for us.  What are your summer plans?

Toy Rotation - Update

We've been really enjoying our toy rotation this summer.  It's been so HOT that we've spent a lot of time escaping to our basement playroom.  Keeping up with the toy rotation has helped keep the room enjoyable.  (If you missed our first toy rotation post, you can check it out here.)

I've been working on fine tuning some aspects of the rotations. One area that we are tweaking is the number of toys for each rotation, particularly when it comes to sets and accessories.  I've found that the number really depends on which toys are in rotation.  For example, during the month of July my kids played with ONE toy - their Little Tykes Bounce House.  I also discovered that my kids do not want dress up clothes out of rotation (they threatened mutiny).  Now I choose 5 or 6 outfits each rotation so that they always have dress up clothes, but they change from time to time.

I also tried working in invitations to play.  On my second toy rotation, I turned the playroom into a store.  I added a shopping cart, turned the shelves to resemble aisles in the store and set up a table with a cash register.  I even included some posterboard and markers for the kids to create signs for their store.  The great part about this set up was that I stocked the shelves with the chosen 9-10 toys for that rotation.  They could choose to use those things as their store inventory or just play with them if they didn't feel like playing store.

Here's a picture of our current rotation:

Our most recent toy rotation


Five dress up outfits seems to be the right fit for the 3 oldest.


On this shelf: dollhouse vehicles, marble maze set, and 2 totes of dollhouse accessories (one for people and one for furniture)


On this shelf: K'nex, magnadoodle, hopscotch and doctor kit

The breakdown of toys is as follows:

Moving:

• Stick horses 
• Hopscotch set (bottom shelf - not put together) 
• Dollhouse vehicles

Pretending:

• Doctor kit 
• Dress up clothes 
• Dollhouse village

Thinking: 

• Magna Doodle 
• K'nex 
• Marble Run Maze

Now, I know you might be thinking - "What's with all the dollhouses?"  I acquired all of these dollhouses without really meaning to. Two of them were gifted to us as hand-me-downs, and one I picked up at a garage sale for $1. I intended to keep one and donate the other two, but the kids and I could never agree which to keep and which to donate. The kids LOVE to set up all 3 houses and play "neighborhood" with them. They were thrilled to see that I allowed all 3 dollhouses to stay and put them into rotation at the same time. We'll see how it goes.

The totes on the shelves contain the pieces to the houses - blue for people, red for furniture. I am still unsure on the "perfect" number of accessories for toys like the dollhouse.  Pinky certainly prefers to have more so that each room can be decorated, while Wild One would be happy with a mama, a baby and a crib.  I guess only time will tell how this rotation will work for us.  I will keep you updated!

Playroom Toy Organization

For a long time, I have been struggling with the issue of too many toys. With 4 kids, 2 sets of grandparents who love to send gifts, and my personal love for garage sales, there has been a constant flow of new toys in our house. It felt as though we were drowning in toys. No where was this felt more than in our playroom.


While the kids loved to play down here, it became a source of stress when every tote, bucket or bin would be emptied on the floor (you can see that the totes were so full of toys that some of them wouldn't even fit on the shelves).


When it was time to clean up (and at times it felt as though the toys were ankle deep), the kids would become overwhelmed. Then, we would argue. We would yell. We would threaten. We would help clean up. We vowed to not buy more toys. We promised we would get rid of some toys. But nothing worked.



Then one day I read a great article about rotating toys. The article "How to Rotate Toys" on the Little Stories blog is really great reading. I highly recommend checking it out.

Almost as soon as I finished reading I grabbed some (okay, a LOT) of Rubbermaid bins and dumped every. single. toy. into the center of the room and started sorting.



The mess wasn't pretty, and a few times I questioned my sanity for taking on a project of such magnitude., but I persevered.

I immediately weeded out any toys my youngest had outgrown, toys that were broken, or toys that had come from McDonalds or other cheap/trinkety type toys. To be honest, I didn't really get rid of anything else. I was very fearful that the kids wouldn't like the new playroom and wanted to be sure I could "go back" if I needed to.

To sort the toys, I put sets together inside plastic freezer bags and labeled them along with the number of pieces included (to make it easier when they were rotated out).


I added signs to the outside of the totes that outlined exactly what was inside. I tried to avoid generic labels, for example, labeling "Little People Farm" and "Little People Garage" instead of just "Little People." (I plan to show you my storage area in a future post.)

Once every toy was packed away and organized (including large items like the play kitchen and washer/dryer set), I made a list of which toys I wanted to include in our first rotation. I listed each child's name and, under it, each category that Kim included in her article. I tried to make the toys overlap between kids as much as possible.


Finally (the part I had been looking forward to), I got to work setting up the chosen toys. I was VERY nervous about how the kids would react. I had told them I was working on making the playroom even better, but I was certain there would be tears or protests about the finished product.

I unveiled the "new" playroom to the kids about a week ago. I am happy to say they LOVED it. I know they loved it because they wouldn't stop telling me how much they loved it. I made sure to bring out a few toys that they hadn't played with in awhile (and the ball pit was my insurance policy that something in the room would be awesome for them, just in case there were tears).


Here's a close up look of what's on the shelves:

Little People Farm and an additional animal/farm set, Peek a Blocks gumball machine, My First Purse, Mr. Potato Head and a Playmobil safari animal set


Puzzles, Dora school set, wedgits and 2 large Tonka trucks


Fisher Price Loving family dollhouse (Wild One decorated this one for me).

Also "on rotation" but not in the close up pictures - a ball pit and a tunnel.

After nearly a week, the kids are still just as happy with the room. They have been playing longer, with less complaints about cleaning up. And to my amazement - they've been playing with fewer fights too! For my husband and I, the room feels calmer and more inviting - a place we don't mind spending time anymore. I even feel like we can finally add some artwork to the walls without completely overwhelming the space.!

I have a lot of fun ideas for upcoming toy rotations. My plan is to rotate every 2 weeks. I hope to share the rotations with you so you can see how rotating toys works (or doesn't work) for our family in the long term. Be sure to check back!

Linking up to some of these great parties!

Pencil Holders!

Pinky has really enjoyed writing and drawing in her journal lately. She has a ton of pencils that she has collected and needed a better place to store them. I thought it was a perfect opportunity for a throwback craft I loved as a kid - tin can pencil holders!



I can not believe how much Pinky and Chaos enjoyed this craft (I guess I should since I loved it just as much when I was a kid). We covered the cans in felt, and then I let the kids go to town gluing on embellishments - pompoms, flowers, ribbon, sequins, buttons, etc. Chaos surprised me by being very involved in this craft. He loved the gluing (something he usually avoids) and in general just had a great time.



Here are the pencil holders in their rooms - with paper and journal nearby just in case they feel inspired to write!



Linking to:

Home Organization, Day One

Technically it's not day one, but it's the first day I actually remembered to take pictures!

Remember this picture from a few days ago?


Shortly after they made that mess I started my organization of the nursery. I needed to sort through outgrown books, toys and clothes. The hardest part though was that I needed to make room for Sprout's clothes somewhere.

After a few hours (and a sizable pile of toys and books to donate!) here's what I had:

A much neater bookshelf


I don't have a before picture of the closet, but you can see that I emptied an entire shelf for Sprout!


And I emptied 3 dresser drawers too!

Now I just need to start washing newborn clothes and get them put away!

Home Organization

I don't know if it's the promise of spring around the corner or my impending due date causing a nesting instinct, but I've felt an overwhelming desire to organize lately. Not too long ago I stumbled upon a 21 day organizing challenge at A Bowl Full of Lemons. The challenge has ended, but that's no reason for me not to do it!

I'll try to post some before and after pictures as I go. I know I'll need to tweak her list a bit since one BIG area for me is the kids room. Somehow I need to make wardrobes and baby equipment for 2 kids fit into the smallest room of our house. Yikes!

What about you? Do you do any annual spring cleaning or organizing? Do you have a method or just do what you feel? I'd love to hear about it!

Easy Laundry Tip

One of my favorite laundry "helpers" is my 2 bin laundry sorter. With kids, I'm constantly stain treating clothes (and easily forgetting what has or has not been treated between washes). With this sorter, I can put clothes that need to be stain treated on one side and clothes that don't on the other. This has been SUCH a timesaver for me! The best part? It's from IKEA and only cost $9.99. It's light weight, has a lid and handles (great for carrying the whole bin downstairs when I need to), and the fabric can very easily be wiped clean.

Another perk - as the clothes come out of the dryer, I fold them and put Pinky's on one side and Chaos' on the other. Makes putting clothes away a breeze.

Cleaning Schedule

I've tried a lot of different cleaning schedules through the years. I've changed them based on a lot of things - the season, the age of my kids, whether or not I'm pregnant...and so on. I've found that keeping things simple is the key to sticking with a schedule. I used to have a very detailed schedule that included morning, afternoon and evening routines. I discovered two things while trying this method - 1) It left me feeling very discouraged if I didn't complete the million to do items and 2)The more time I spent on cleaning the less time I had with my kids.

My current list is simple - a room a day. No weekends since, in all honesty, I never get much done then anyway. My husband is home on weekends, and we spend our time as a family, which will always be more important than a spotless house to me.

Here is my current (new) schedule:

Monday: kitchen
Tuesday: bathrooms
Wednesday: living room
Thursday: bedrooms
Friday: special projects

Whichever room(s) is/are listed for the day I clean top to bottom, usually during Chaos' morning nap while Pinky is playing (she sometimes helps too). For example, in the kitchen it means sweeping, mopping, wiping counters, etc. I vacuum on days I clean the living room and as needed (with 3 animals running around, it's needed often).

Friday is my favorite day. It's the day to get done all those little nagging projects that can distract me during the week. I choose ONE project from my list and do as much as I can that day. Right now my list of special projects (which aren't always just cleaning projects) includes organizing cupboards in the kitchen, sorting through old toys, storing outgrown clothes from the kids' rooms, answering emails, and ordering pictures for an upcoming crop.

The most important thing to me is to remember that if I don't get something done on the list, it's okay. Somedays I can accomplish so much, and other days, forget about it. The important part is just to do what I can, when I can. As Erma Bombeck once said, "Cleaning a house while the children are growing is like shoveling the walk while it's still snowing."

Clever (and pretty) organization

Just wanted to share a cute idea for storing all of your kids' momentos and keepsakes that don't make it into the scrapbook. I went to our local TJ Maxx and picked up a few fabric covered storage boxes - one for each kid (I need to get a different one for Pinky - the one I had wasn't big enough and they were out of all the other pink boxes). The boxes are big enough to store baby books, papers, locks of hair from the first haircut - anything you want to store, and they look really pretty all stacked up. If you're really feeling crafty you could even buy a box and decorate it yourself.

Displaying Artwork

Had to share this easy and inexpensive way to display your child's artwork. There was some dead space in our playroom that really needed to be dressed up. We picked up the Deka curtain hanging system from Ikea. It's basically a wire that runs between two small posts you attach to the wall and includes 12 clips to hang curtains, or in this case, paintings! The best part - it only cost $4.99. Now we have a cute, personalized feel to our playroom.


The artwork right now is all about dinosaurs - the theme of Pinky's last class.

Magic!

While cleaning and sorting all of the dress up clothes in our playroom, I realized that we had a lot of magic wands that were taking up space in the dress up trunk (which makes them hard to find, too). I decided we needed an official wand holder.

With some fabric scraps, glitter, and stickers, I transformed this:

Into this:

I had a lot of other ideas on how to embellish this wand holder (trim along the top, LOTS more sparkly stuff, etc), but I had to remember that it was going to be handled by kids - a lot. So I tried to keep it simple. I put on a coat of polyacrylic on it to add some durability. I'm pretty happy with it, as is my little princess.

Linking to:

Organizing and Cleaning

I've been on a mission the last few days to organize and sort through the abundance of toys we have. I'm hoping to get it done before Santa bestows another heap of presents upon us. My husband and I made a point of having Pinky pick out a few toys to donate to charity, and we're taking her this weekend to pick out a new toy for Toys for Tots. By doing this, I'm hoping that she will understand the true meaning of Christmas and that it truly is better to give than to recieve.

Anyway, one of the tasks that has come up is sorting through Pinky's books. I'm a firm believer that a child can never have too many books, but some of the books she had were far too babyish for her to even be interested in any more (and I happen to know that Santa is planning on bringing her some new ones). So, I weeded out the younger books and brought them downstairs to Chaos' bookshelf. While I was putting them away, I turned my back for one second, and this is what I saw:


And after I asked him what he was doing:

He belly laughed at me too. He just *knows* when he's doing something he shouldn't! He's such a little monkey. He's going to be my mischief maker!