Home Organization - Tackling the Toys

I am so encouraged by many of your responses and questions.  Many of you have said you are ready to tackle the toys so lets get started.  
First of all if you haven't read my starter tips refer to my post Home Organization - 1.  It is best to read that first and then return here because I am basically just going to dive right into categories here.

So just so you know (every time you organize) this will get messier before it gets cleaner.  You need to start in whatever currently has the most toys.  Even if you aren't going to keep them there still start there.  It is also best that the kids are playing elsewhere but if they must be in there then just tell them they need to help you sort things and to not grab from piles - you will never get this done if they keep  pulling things out to play with.

Begin pulling out toys and start putting them in very small categories (piles) around them room.  Here are a few of our small piles:

-small cars/trucks

-bob the builder toys

-CARS toys

-magna stix

-Lincoln logs

-Mr. Potato head

-tools

-airplanes

Other small categories that you might have are:

-Dora toys

-Diego toys

-barbie doll clothes

-barbie dolls

-baby doll clothes

-baby doll supplies (bottles, burp cloths, etc)

-dinosaurs
you get the picture!!!

Once you have divided all of these toys into smaller sections you will know how many bins you need and if your stuff will fit into the shoebox style bin (or whatever bins you want to use).  If not try to only go up to the size bin you need so you are not tempted to later stuff it with other things because there is space.  Now go get your bins and start putting stuff into the bins and label them.

We have lots of learning "toys" as well so lets talk about them for a minute.  Here are some of the bins I have for them:

-flash cards

-leap pad cartridges

-alphabet magnets

-animal magnets

-stringing beads

-puzzles - for puzzles I always remove it from the box and put them in a zip lock bags.  i cut the picture off the front of the box and put it in the box as well.  This takes up less space.  I put these in an open bin - without a top - so they can pick which one they want easily.

The playroom closet has the same shelves in it that I used in my Home Organization - Removing the Chee post.  They have a longer shelf that I have in the middle of my closet where the bookshelves are in the closet of that post.  I have the learning toys on one shelf and toys on the other two shelves.  This keeps the playroom floor open for the most part so that there is more room to play.  If you don't have closet space and need it to be in the actual room then you may want to buy cuter shelves and bins.  One of my friends just used bookcases and cloth bins without lids coupled with some clear shoe boxes for smaller items.  

Some other important things:

1. Dress up clothes: I  previously used a large plastic storage bin but now I have moved to a wooden toy box.  That is all that is in there.  I think that minimal organization in this area is important.  Put all the stuff in one place and if you have little girls that have jewelry you may want to put it in a shoebox within the bigger bin.  Allow for imagination here and give them the freedom to just dig through and put on what they are looking for - mixing and matching.  Have 1 place that it all can be put away during pick up.  I moved from the bin because the boys had acquired more than it would hold.  I would also suggest putting this near a mirror.  If I had a boy and girl I would separate them by sex but keep them together because probably if they are playing together they would dress up together.

2. We have lots of Lego's and I have put them in one big bin (they are all same size - we just had multiple bins of them).  

3. Train Sets: My friend has Thomas sets and so we divided this stuff into types of tracks - straight, colors, round tracks, etc.   this way when he needs a specific part of the track then he know where to look.  I also put all the trains in one bin, all the accessories into 1 bin.  The bigger sections of the track can either stack beside the bins or you can get a bigger bin for them.

4. Mini Lego/building sets: we haven't made it to this stage but I would treat these like puzzles (see above)

5. Cars/Trucks/Bulldozers/Dump Trucks: These I line up on the bottom shelf or on a small bookcase.  This keeps them from taking up so much floor space.  WE have a small bookcase that is full of these things.

6. Little People: Put the people in a bin and stack all the toys on the shelf in the same area.

 7. Misc Toys: you will probably have a bin of misc toys - things that don't fit into a bin.  Try to make this only 1 bin. YOU CAN DO IT.

So here are a few more tips:

1. Keep the floor space a clear as possible.  

2. The boys are only allowed to get 1-2 bins down at a time.  They must be picked up and put away before they get another bin or they must come as me. This keeps clutter down and it teaches them to play with the same thing for more than 10 minutes at a time. (self-control)

3. We don't have a ton of toys.  I have come to see that the boys play with only a few things often.  I would suggest trimming down on the toys.  I promise they really won't miss them.  Tell them that you are giving them to kids that don't have toys.  If you keep your toys then just find places for all of them.

4. It has been my experience that your smaller same sex children will for the most part play with the toys their big brother or sis is playing with rather than age appropriate toys.  I keep a few baby toys but the rest I wouldn't hold onto at least for that sex. 

5.  I keep Jake's games in the top of the closet.  This should be true for any toys that you only let them get at certain times.

6. Once you have one room of toys organized into bins it will make it easier to go room to room and get the toys from each room and put them in the appropriate bin.  If you don't have a bin that it will fit in create one.  I do suggest that you keep all of the same stuff in one area.  Example: all of your Dora toys or lightening McQueen toys should be together not scattered throughout the house.  If you want toys in various rooms them put a bin of alike toys in that room.

7. I would use the games in my post Home Organization - Training your children to teach the kids where things belong.

I am not at home while I am doing this post so I may add some things to it when I get home and remember something I may have left out.  Hope this helps -ask me questions if you have any and have fun Tackling those Toys.

Am I older yet?

So tonight Brady, my 2 year old (2!!!) had this conversation with his dad:
B: daddy I wanna sip of that (referring to John's alcholic beverage that looked like juice)

J: you can't have a sip of that it's for daddy

B:But I wanna sip

J:When you get older you can have some. It is for adults

so Brady goes and plays a little while and comes back and can you guess what he ask John (my 2 year old)?

B: daddy am I older yet??????

Wooing His Heart

A few weeks ago I finished reading "Grace Based Parenting" by Tim Kimmel.  One of the things he talks about is learning your child and his bents and seeking to cultivate those things in your child.  When I looked up the word Woo in the Thesaurus, other words for woo were cultivate, seek, try to attract, curry favor with, seek to win.  So essentially I gathered from Kimmel's book that as I parent I am to learn my child and his bents and use those to woo his heart.  A few years ago the lady that discipled me in college told me that she strongly believes that Christians feel the presences of God most in their life when they are operating in their giftings and doing the things that God designed them to do for His kingdom.  I see this is true in my own life so of course I want my children to experience this too. 

Jake is very artistic and is in love with taking pictures, painting, drawing and the likes. So today I set out to woo his heart and it was a wonderful day.  A few years ago, the Pensacola News Journal commissioned some local artist to paint/create pelicans to display around downtown.  They were amazing and very creative.  So I decided to take Jake downtown to see them today.  Sadly to say, there were only a few left.  Turns out many of them were vandalized and removed.  Jake took pictures of the ones that were left.  He loved seeing them.  Here are a few of his shots.

We also went to the Pensacola art museum and he was amazed at the paintings.  He would walk up to one and say Mommy what do you see?  Then we headed off and took some pictures of some local places.  We both had such a great time.  It is so fun to watch him get so excited.  It sure filled his tanks.

Home Organization - Removing the "Chee"

My mother - n - law's housekeeper told her that she had to much "chee" in her closets and it needed to be removed.  I was clueless and ask what that meant.  She said it meet that she needed to clean her closets out.  Well you all know that made me smile - and get a little excited. So today I tackled the kids toy closet. I spent about 30 on this closet - 2 shelves from walmart for $11 each.  I bought 7 bins at Dollar General for $1 each. (by the way that is $1 cheaper than they are now at walmart so I would check there first.)  The only things that came out of the closet for good are the car seats, bed rail and sheets.  Everything else is still there with space for some more (which is always your goal!!).  Be inspired!!

view 1 - before

view 1 - after

view 2 - before

view 2 - after

view 2 - after with top of closet

view 3 before

view 3 after

Yeah Jake Is Home!!!!

He had a blast with his cousins but we are so glad that he is home.  When he got to us at the airport he had big hugs for all.  He and Brady hugged and kissed and Brady said "I missed you Jake"  Jake's response to Brady was "I will never fly away from you again." Sweet Brotherly love.  Here are some fun pics from his trip and a sweet pic with mommy when he got home.  Oh I missed you Bocee!!!!

Home Organization - Training your Children

Thought I would give a shout out to my sister - n- law Kym.  She has gotten inspired by my tips and got busy on her house.  I am so proud of her.  These pictures are of her newly created and organized "school room" - she is about to become a home schooler.  She also inspired this post.  When she sent me these pictures a line in her email said "Now I just have to train the kids to put it all back where they got it."  Well I have a little suggestion that can HELP this process.  It won't solve the problem - but it will make the training part of it fun.  It is game time!!!!

So here's what you can do Kym, and all of you others who have said this exact same thing to me. Have some training time with your children in the form of a game.  Tell them that just like any other game they have to listen to the rules and follow the instructions in order to play.  So take a small section of the house - like this school room, a play room, bedroom, etc.  Talk to the kids and show them the basic gist of where things go.  Like I said in my previous post about labeling.  Your initial goal (especially with toddlers and preschoolers) is to get it very close to the general proximity of where it belongs.  We as mom's must die to perfection.  

So using Kym's pics as an example I would sit the kiddos down and tell them the first game we are going to play is I Spy. Tell them that this will help us learn were things go so that we can play the next game. Some of these are so obvious but that is great for little ones.  Have some stickers or something little in hand to give for right answers.  So then you can say things like I spy a globe, or a leap pad book, or a box of stacking blocks, or a magnadoodle....you get the picture.  The first child that shows you were it is gets a little sticker or such.  If the bigger kids are hogging the game then just take turns. Play this a little while and expect to let the kids be the person that spies as well.  This may be all that gets done in this training session.  Just remember that the goal is only known to you and disguised to the kids as fun and games.

If you have kids with long attention spans then proceed to the next game but you really want to make sure that the kids know were the things go/are first. If you stopped with I Spy and then return later to keep going then just recap the I Spy game with a quick "Who can tell me where.....is?"  

The next game you can play with them is Memory.  Before they come into the room (or make them close their eyes) take 4-8 random objects off shelves and in the room and lay them in the center of the room.  Tell them that it's just like when you play the memory card game and you have to remember where you saw the matching card.  Here you have to remember from the eye spy game where things are (don't underestimate your kids - they can do this).  Have each one take turns and put an item back on the shelf where it goes - if it is wrong give them another try.  Make it fun.  When they get objects right reward them with whatever you want.  Remember that they are learning a skill so give them lots of praise and make it worth their while.  Play this several time if they stay with it.  When you think they are ready go to the final big game.

The Cleanup Challenge -  this should come with a great surprise for all who truly participate not just the winners.  My suggestion would be to get your husband involved with all of this but especially this game (I mean lets face it - he will think he is doing it to help you out this one time but then he can't say he doesn't know were things go :):)  So divide into 2 teams - 1 adult on each team.  If you don't have 2 adults but an older sibling then let them be the main helper on the other team.  The goal is to clean up the entire room CORRECTLY in the quickest time.  So go into the room and somewhat destroy it and then time the other team to see how long it takes to clean up the room.  Cheer on your opponents - (John would struggle to do that).  Next, your team goes and in order to make it fair you have to minimize your help since you did set up the system - give more guidance rather than doing it yourself.  After the game is over their should be a surprise for the winning team (Nothing wrong with healthy competition) but a big treat for everyone - ice cream would be great.  This would be the time to talk about and teach your children about stewardship.  Something like this:

I had a lot of fun playing our new games together the last 2 days (or tonight).  It was fun time to spend as a family.  But we did this for another reason as well.  We want to teach you how to be good stewards of our home....Talk about what a steward is and what God says about it (keep it on their terms)  You can be good steward by helping mommy take care of the things that God has provided for us like the toys and books that are in our school room.  The games we have played have taught you where things go and I have seen you put them where they go - you even won prizes for doing it.  So now, when mommy ask you to go clean up your school room - I know with complete confidence that you can do it.  We expect you to care for your things because God has instructed us to do so.  Mommy has spent this fun time together teaching you how to do just that.  i am so excited that you have learned a new skill and a new way to honor God.  Do you have any questions about what I expect of you?

A few tips:

1.  This could be a game night with breaks in between games.  The kids will follow your lead so if you make it a blast they will have a blast.

2.  You don't need to expect them to get it in 20 minutes especially if they are little or are not use to having "training times" like this.  Just be patient and try the next day.  The bigger picture here is that you are training your children how to be stewards - not just keeping a room tidy.

3. I would suggest talking with your husband about it before hand - I hope that he desires that your children learn stewardship as well and then he is on board and making it fun. Plus he learns where things go.  I would call that a GREAT PLUS!!!

4. I would suggest using this with every major room that you need their help keeping tidy and organized - their rooms, play rooms, living rooms, baths.  Some of these may not be safe for the kids to be in charge of yet so use your judgement.

5.  Don't stop after this night or training session.  If we don't use it we loose it.  If they slack replay the games to remind them.  Expect them to do it and make it an issue of obedience.  There have been times in my life I have said it is easier to just do it myself but God has told us to train our children in the way they should go.  If I do it myself I am doing my kids a great injustice of teaching them that someone will always be around to do it for them.  They don't learn/aren't taught personal responsibility and stewardship.  

I hope this is a way you can teach and train your children that is fun and playful rather than nagging and frustrating.  Love to hear how it goes.  Remember to be patient, persistent and consistent.  You will see fruit.

Home Organizing - Labeling

Ok so this will be a short post.  Today a post on how to teach your family where everything goes came to mind but I decided that I needed to do a short post on clear labeling first. (The other post will follow soon!!)

So in order to make everyone including yourself successful in putting things back WHERE THEY GO, everything needs to be labeled clearly.  Don't deceive yourself into thinking that you will remember what is in there - YOU WON'T.  So here are some ideas for labeling and you can pick what works for you.

1. If you have small children it is best to do both picture and word labels.  This makes them successful.  You can do this one of two ways.  1) lay the contents of the box out and take a picture of it and laminate the pic and tape it to the box. 2.) Find a clip art of what is in the box and print it with the word below it on a label or a piece of paper and laminate it and tape it to the box.  You don't necessarily have to do this if the boxes you have a clear because they can see what is in there but the box needs to always have word labels on it regardless.  Trust me it makes life easier.

2. If you have the right kind of basket - woven, some fabric, etc you can take an object in the bin and tie it to a ribbon and attach it to the basket.  This is more cute than functional but it will work if you won't it cute.

3. Same baskets as #2, or wire shelving (like a pantry or the top of a closet) you can use "Hang tags"  They are little white shapes with a metal lining around them and they are attached to a Key like ring.  You would thread the ring through the shelf or basket if it will work.  This looks really cute in a wire shelf pantry.

4. Your basic label maker of file folder labels will also work great.

This should be enough to get the ball rolling.

Also, here are some other tips for those of you that may be anal about putting things in the exact place:

1. Take a picture of the toy/object that will be completely removed from the spot (things like toys, music pieces, shape sorter, etc) and put it in the back of the shelf or on the bottom of the shelf so everyone knows were it goes.  a note of warning though: this degree of analness (is that a word?) does not set anyone up for success.  You will always be frustrated and very seldom will you get to tell your toddler or you husband - thank you it looks great and really mean it.  So think about letting up a bit and shoot for teaching them the right shelf or general vicinity and learn to let it go!!!!!

I think that is all I can think of to help for now.  Hope these are helping