Mission Impossible: Oragnizing kid rooms

My new year's resolution of organizing every inch of my home has caused me to step back and consider what really works in keeping my home organized and what does not work. For a long time, I think I approached organization backwards. That is, I would go shopping for containers and systems before taking a hard look at at what I was needing to get organized. (I think retail therapy made me feel more organized even though I really wasn't.) The reality is that truly being organized requires more thought and planning. So before tackling those areas that I feel need improvement, I'm evaluating the rooms that are in a working organized manner to see why they are working for us and how to get the same results in the harder places.

And people call be over analytical! Ha! ;)

Our girls share and small room: 8' and 12'. Amazingly though, it is almost always in decent condition and every item has a home. Hmmm. That seems to be critical in every room and closet: Everything has a specific home.

Lately it seems that I am in competition with myself to write the most boring post ever. Sorry. But look at the title. Yada Yada Yada. I never claimed to have anything interesting to share! So this is what ya get! Really, when I was an expectant mom, I think I would have appreciated a post like this. (If I read blogs then... which I didn't.) You see, I created a cute little room for newborn Maddie with the goal of making it look like it came out of a magazine. (A budget minded magazine anyway!) But the thing about babies is that they don't stay immobile newborns for very long. And while I thought I just needed to think about diapers and clothes, the major issue in a kid's room is the TOYS!!!! The ridiculous amount of toys they accumulate by age 3!!! I believe we have personally bought like 4 toys for our children. The rest were all gifts. We're grateful for them but we could be buried in them without some organization.

So here is what works well for us. A working organizational system is all about what works for you and your family. The girls, yes even Eden, know where things belong and when it's clean up time, they can do a great job. In these pictures, you'll see that their room does not look like it should be in a magazine. It's a real room lived in by two real little girls. I didn't go through and "prettify" things. There was dirty laundry in their basket. Which I did not take a picture of. You are welcome. The things on top of the dressers looked messy because the girls had been pretending those bears were their babies and when they put them back, they didn't take the time to artistically arrange them. I'm okay with that. The sheet on the bed does not match a thing (we had wet through situation last night!). Life and budgets and practicality have over ruled any picture perfect ambitions of mine. I think you could find thousands of beautiful immaculate rooms on HGTV or other sites so here is just our reality. And we like it.

This is Maddie's drawer. The spring loaded dividers are my favorite invention other than the dish washer. We have them in everyone's dresser. See her cute little undies! Maybe someday she'll be irate at me for showing the world her unmentionables. I have a label maker that I used to make it clear to any random stranger who happens to be helping put away laundry (ie. Seth) where everything belongs. And I tell myself that it's helping the girls learn to read since I say to them "These go where it says 'tights' ". The clinical study is still in process.
This shelf was a great buy. I think we got for like $15 while pregnant with Maddie. It is above Eden's dresser, which is also the changing table. That hanging hair clip thing was a gift from a friend who used to sell them on etsy. It's basically a quilt square with ribbons down in. Very handy. I used to keep all baby medications in those little canvas bins and then those that didn't fit went in their closet. But not only can the girls climb up and get into them, but it's been much better for me to just keep all medications for man, woman and child in one location. For us, that is in empty baby wipe tubs the kitchen. Keeping pills in our bathroom was leaving them sticky from the dampness and there really wasn't enough room to keep them ALL together in there.

The girls have a super small and awkward closet. There is a bin that you can not see that holds toys that are "out of the rotation". When I see them bored with their newer toys, we'll bring those ones back out and swap. I buy in advance for the girls so the shelves in the closet are full of the next sizes they'll need in shoes and clothes. I am a clearance rack addict.

When the girls were younger, I used this neat little dividers in their closet.

And here is the last of the toys... the bulky things get thrown into the ottoman in our living room. Makes for easy clean up.

This has nothing to do with organization but is this piggy bank not the cutest thing you ever saw?

Clearance find! A insanely expensive children's boutique was going out of business and I found this hand painted little guy.

Look at his little tail!!!!! Oh he's completely ridiculously adorable!!!