This is my current toy organization attempt.  My kids have way more than they need. We will be paring down before the big move, but for now, this is what we live with.  Our one bedroom was converted into a backroom play area.  (Where our beds disappeared to is for another post.)  This does not mean that the toys don’t make it to the front room.  I still pick up legos underfoot in the living area all the time.  But for the most part, toys stay in the back.  My hopes for the new house (which will be 2 stories plus a mezzanine level) is that toys will be confined to the children zone on the first level and will not come upstairs.  Will this rule really work in all practicality? Probably not, but a girl can dream.

Creating a system that works for your family:

Everything has it’s place.  The kids know where to find everything.  Bins and drawers are provided for everything they own.  There are no questions about where something they want is because they know that everything has it’s appropriate place and is put back in that exact place after they are done.  At the end of the day, sometimes I do the bulk of the cleaning up, but I do emphasize that once they are done with one thing, they must clean up before moving to the next activity.  It seems like a lot of overseeing at first, but after a while, they get the picture.

2 rules I will instill for new house:

1. Toys stay downstairs.
2. Toys will be hidden away.  Planning on large pull-out drawers and closets with doors that hide the bulk of their treasures.

I’m hoping for only presentable collections to be on display.  I’m looking forward to the day when the vertigo-inducing blinking, noise making, annoying toys will be graduated from.  If you have littles, you know which ones I’m talking about…

May your life not be over-run by toys!

-K

I am a freak when it comes to clutter in my house.  When there is crap I don’t know what to do with or have not used in a while, it goes in a box.  Once full, these boxes get dropped off at Goodwill.  I never feel a shred of remorse.  You will never hear me say, “Darn, I shouldn’t have given that ______ away!”  Because in our tiny house, there is zero room for crap.  Yes, you could say my bookshelves look like they have “things” that appear like clutter on them, but they’re there for a reason.  My chatchkes are curated to my standards.  I know exactly how I became this way.  It was my mother.  The woman (rest her sweet soul) kept EVERYTHING.  When she passed away suddenly from a brain aneurysm, my sister and I flew to Japan and it took us and my extended family a full two weeks to sift through her treasures.  It was heart-breaking, nostalgic and horrible.

I think the OCD was there long before my mother died, but it surfaced full-force after going through her belongings.  I wanted to throw everything away.  My sister wanted to keep everything.  In the end, we packed a shipping crate full of stuff and sent it across the ocean only to sit in a storage facility which I paid for.  What a waste of money.  We had boxes upon boxes of memories which we would never use or see or care about.  It all was just sitting there costing rent, collecting dust as it did in her home in Japan. Photographs and family heirlooms are one thing, but the rest?  Total junk in my opinion.

My husband and his brothers quite recently endured a similar experience when their antiques dealer father passed away.  Their childhood home was massive and literally full to the brim with stuff.  Basement, three floors and even in the attic, the sheer amount of stuff was beyond overwhelming.  There was an auction and a separate estate sale involved to purge that house and there is still stuff lingering in there to this day.

My daily life is simple and I feel that less is more when it comes to what we surround ourselves with.  Stuff accumulates over the years and kids are the worst since their stuff seems especially in excess; from birthday presents to over-zealous aunties that buy gifts just because.  I like to think that a well curated home speaks to one’s state of mind.  I’m basically a simple person and I like things to be accessible, practical and simplified.  I don’t need stuff to make me happy.  The more stuff I have, the more stressed out I feel. Those hoarder shows on TV?  Good Lord they stress me out!  I just can’t deal!

Purging takes time and tackling it takes baby steps.  One room at a time is my philosophy. Maybe one drawer at a time.  And boy, does it feel good.  You do good to give things away too.  One man’s trash is another man’s treasure right? Things that clutter your house inevitably clutter your mind.  Start with the junk drawer in the kitchen.  Move on to your closet. Little by little, your house can be clutter free and you are left with the essentials.

My next project is a hutch with old CDs and dead electronics in it.  The digital camera from 10 years ago is still in there unused since our phones are so handy these days.  I teach my children by setting an example.  The toys from their baby days can find a home in another family’s toy chest.  Just like that old coat that I wore last, when?  It can warm the shoulders of someone in need.

Purge.  Do good.  Feel good.  Don’t look back.  I don’t want so much stuff that when my time comes, my children have to sift through scraps of their artwork from when they were in grade school.  They will hopefully thank me for it.

Only beautiful things with true meaning to your heart should clutter your home.

-K