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20 Weeks: Boys Need Their Toys

Posted on March 10, 2011 by Anisa

They just need to have a home for them too! Welcome to week two of my 20 Weeks of Organizing Challenge!

I’ve always been pretty good about limiting the number of toys the boys have.  I used these baskets to keep them picked up.  At first we tried sorting the toys into specific baskets, but really, I just cared that they were contained.  Here’s the system we had going in the bottom of their closet:

It kept the toys picked up, but it still looked kind of messy. Now, we have this:

The shelf is about two feet wide, three feet high and one foot or so deep.  H picked the colors of the canvas bins.  The storage system was on sale at Target so we got the whole thing for under $70.  It’s kinda pricey for us, but all their toys, with just a very few exceptions, fit in there with a little room to spare.  The exceptions were their train set which are in the two yellow lidded boxes which stayed in the closet under the hanging clothing organizer, and the big ride-on truck which is also parked neatly in the closet.

We intend to get a second hanging clothing organizer (so there will be one each for H & E) and when we have that, I’ll show you the final “after” picture of the closet too.  The freed up baskets I plan to use for storing the bedding.  It’s actually done now – more on that next week.  Voilà!  “Boys Toys & Bedding Storage” crossed off the list.

What about you?  What did you organize this week?  Remember to link up your blog in my comments with pictures, or you can send me pictures of your space and I’ll post them here to inspire others!

To see what else I’ve organized, check out my other 20 Weeks posts!

Categories: 20 Weeks of Organizing | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

20 Weeks: Bathroom Cabinet Rehab

Posted on March 3, 2011 by Anisa

For week number one of my 20 Weeks of Organizing Challenge, I thought I’d tackle our bathroom cabinet.  When I started making my list of 20 things, I went through my house and took a bunch of “before” pictures.  When I loaded them up and looked them over, the bathroom cabinet was one of the worst!  So it was first on the list.

YIKES!  That was our cabinet before.  You can see two storage thingies in there, but they are not doing their jobs.  And a whole lot of junk.

I do not get bonus points on this one, because I bought something to organize this space.  But it was on clearance for $8.  I bought a metal rack that has two compartments that slide out.  Here’s what the cabinet looks like now:

The rack on the left corralled all the bottles of peroxide and body wash on the bottom, along with the extra Q-tips and cotton balls.  The top holds stuff we use every day, like Rick’s razor and my makeup bag, sunscreen and deodorant.

On the right in the back is the plastic storage tub that was in there before.  I collected all the band-aids, gauze, and other random first aid items and put them in the box with the lid on.  We don’t use those things very often so I thought keeping the lid on would keep them all in one place and keep any random things that don’t belong from falling in.  I put the box length-wise in the back and it took up the back of the cabinet, butting up against the rack on the left, so nothing call fall in between the two.  I’ll set my hair dryer there.

On the right up front is all hair supplies.  I put my brushes in a little bucket so I won’t have to dig around for them.  The blue jar I was using in another part of the bathroom to hold hair ties and bobby pins. I very rarely curl my hair, but I don’t want to get rid of these tow curling irons (for the times I may want to use them).  I thought it best to put them with the hair stuff and to fill up that basket so I don’t just throw something else there instead of putting it where it belongs.

Lastly, in the middle in the front, between the rack on the left and the basket on the right are Rick’s clippers and hair cutting supplies in their case.  It fills the space there too, and it doesn’t get used often any more since Rick goes to a salon now.  But I do use it on the boys every few months.

Everything else was thrown away.  There was a lot.  I should have photographed that too, but I didn’t.  What did you organize this week?  Have you made your list yet?

 

To see what else I’ve organized, check out my other 20 Weeks posts!

Categories: 20 Weeks of Organizing | Tags: , , | 2 Comments

My Dirty Little Secret…

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Anisa

I have a confession to make.  I have dirty closets.  And drawers.  And cupboards.  And a messy office.  There’s barely room for me to type here on my desk.

I used to think there were two organizational types.  A filer and a piler.  And while I am a piler (goodness knows I like to pile), the truth is, when it comes to cleaning, I’m a hider, a stasher, a put-it-all-behind-that-door-and-no-one-will-be-the-wiser organizer. This type of “organizer” is a descendant of the hoarder.  (No Mom, I’m not calling you a hoarder, but you know we have at least one in the family).  I do get rid of things.  And I do have places to put things.  But not places for everything.  Maybe it because I have a small house?  Probably not though.  I think I’d still clean this way even in a McMansion with double walk-in closets the size of my living room.

So, this I’ve known about myself for a long time, and my husband puts up with it, mostly because the house looks neat when people come over.  But last week I came across this site, thanks to former Thrifty Thursday buddy, Tracy.  52 weeks of organizing.  Hmm… cool concept.  And that particular post, “Purge Until It Fits,” hit some high notes for me.  That’s what I usually do with the boys’ toys.  And I like it.  Rick calls me the toy Nazi, but I like it anyway.  So I decided to join in, with my own little twist.  20 weeks.

Twenty weeks of organizing.  I chose 20 weeks simply because I am half way through my pregnancy, which means I have roughly 20 weeks to go before the newbie arrives.  And I know that when I’m pregnant, I’m highly motivated to clean.  I nest with the best!  And also because I have to get the office out of the office and set up somewhere (where???) else in the house because we need this room for the baby.

To the challenge!

Step one: identify and list 20 areas that need organizing/reorganizing.  Keep the projects small – don’t list “organize office,” that’s too broad.  Go with “organize junk drawer,” and “clean off printer table,” etc.

Step two: organize those areas – one per week, don’t get overwhelmed.

Step three: Document your progress and share it!  I’m going to strive for before and after photos of each of my 20 items. I’d really love it if someone else wanted to join me in this challenge.  But your moral support and the blog accountability will do too.

Bonus points: organizing your stuff using or re-purposing what you already have as opposed to buying new things to organize with.

So my list for the next 20 weeks… in no particular order:

  1. Bathroom cabinet
  2. Boys closet shelf
  3. Boys toys & bedding storage
  4. Desktop
  5. Office corners
  6. Office closet upper shelf
  7. Junk drawers
  8. Buffet
  9. Our bedroom closet
  10. Kitchen desk area
  11. Boys clothes
  12. Move desk out of office/new baby room
  13. Make a place for table linens
  14. Canned goods/canning and food storage supplies
  15. Find a place for Rick’s work clothes and my business supplies
  16. Kitchen glasses cupboard
  17. Bathroom linens
  18. Scrapbooking table
  19. My sewing items
  20. Lower kitchen appliance cabinet

Stay tuned later this week for the after photos of the bathroom cabinet, which I completed this weekend.  What about you?  What kind of organizer are you?  Do you have any cluttered areas you keep behind closed doors?

Categories: 20 Weeks of Organizing | Tags: , , , | 15 Comments

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