Staying organized is one thing I work really hard at. For me, I find that it keeps the stress levels down, frees up more time to spend with my family, and just plain works! With four kids organization is mandatory (if you ask me). Our mud room is one room that I use as a family organization room. I’m going to share a few of my tips and tricks to staying organized with kids!
First up….the embarrassing BEFORE photos.
Now here is what I did. First thing I did was make the mess even bigger! I took EVERYTHING off the shelf and out of the cubbies and tossed them on the floor. I made three piles- Save, Store, Sell. Once you have your piles then you can start figuring out what you need to do to organize. I realized that some extra baskets and buckets would help me a bunch.
I taped off an area above the hooks on the wall and painted with some chalkboard paint. Right now it just has one of my favorite quotes on it but in the future I plan to use it to keep the kids reminder notes on them like: field trip Tuesday, paper due Friday, Spanish test Monday, etc.
I added an old dresser to the closet to provide me with some drawers and took out my handy dandy label maker. Each drawer is labeled with one item (with 6 people in our family we filled these drawers quickly).We have lots of extra shoes in our house and 12 feet to fill them so I keep the ones that no longer fit for the “extras” pile and use them for my younger kiddos. These baskets work great for that job!
I placed baskets under our bench and labeled those with their names for the current shoes (and boots). Excuse my cheesy flowers over their names…I want to keep it more private.
Last but not least they each have their own “space” for their coats. In the morning I set their shoes for the day, coat for the day and their lunchboxes.And just for fun- the organization spilled over onto their closets. I couldn’t help myself!
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| A messy closet-just won’t do |
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| Hanging all like items together is much better! |
Whao, great organising! inspiring, i am n the middle of doing up the utility room (laundry/mud room) and is slow going. (initial post: http://www.being-a-mama.blogspot.com/2012/02/utility-laundry-room-clean-up-getting.html). Main thing we want to organise (hide) is boots for garder, extra shoes, etc, so will have to put my thinking cap on, we definitely don’t have the space you do for a lovely bench. wish we did!
thanks again,
Being a Mama
Way to go!!!!!! Great before and afters!!!
I’m off to go tidy up right now!!
Could you come on over and organize my closets?! Putting the dresser in there is a brilliant idea!
Μuch better now right? You can find everything much more easier! Well done! Keep up the good work!
Wow what great organizing a place for everything, I love it! For some reason entry way’s are such a pain trying to keep clean with little kids, even when there is organization I still have to remind them to put things where they belong..
Organizing my kids’ stuff is always tough! Thanks for the great ideas!
I didn’t realize how much of a difference it makes by hanging like items together. Looks great!
~Angela
Thank you for these great organizational ideas! Great pics too!!! Thank you! Beth @ Flair FOR Home
I needed this, thank you for sharing your before pics! (I am not alone in my disorganziation).
Thanks for inspiring me to get to work:)
New FOllower!
~Jen @ Frazzled Five
Thanks for visiting Being a Mama.
Sometimes organizing IS slow going, I totally agree. But isn’t it the best feeling ever once you finish?
Thank you Christine…the before’s are always hard to share =)
Miss MOE- I’m on my way 😉
Thanks Olga- it is SO much better. It’s amazing what a little organization will do for you!
It still isn’t the CLEANEST place in my house but the nice thing is I no longer am on the hunt for mittens and hats every morning.
Heidi- hope it helped =)
Thanks Angela….I used to hang outfits together (and I still do for my youngest, he’s only 1) but my older three like to mix and match and it seems to work well for us!
Thanks Beth! So glad you enjoyed this post!
Hey Jen- SO happy to share. You are NOT alone….I have many areas that need a serious re-organizing…and it’s my plan to finish THIS YEAR!
Wow, Lindsi, you have been busy organizing and cleaning your house up. Thank you for sharing at Sharing Saturday!! I hope you will share with us again this week!