Project Simplify: Kids’ Stuff

March 9, 2012 By 6 Comments

Simple Mom is hosting a Spring Cleaning/Organization event this month called Project Simplify and this week’s project is kids’ stuff.  I didn’t tackle all of their stuff (clothes, toys, shoes, art supplies, books, etc.), but decided to focus on giving their rooms a good cleaning and going through the stuff in their closets.  Two challenges we are facing lately with their stuff are:

  1. They just have too much stuff (clothes and toys alike).
  2. I have given them too much access to all their stuff at a young age.
So, I wanted to purge where needed and get a better system for putting their things away.  With just a few days to work on this, I didn’t complete everything I want to do in there.  But I purged, organized, and got a better plan for where to go from here.  We’ll start with Karis’ and Landis’ room:
BEFORE
AFTER
I have small wire baskets under their bed that work pretty well.  They store different kinds of toys and the girls seem to do well with designated baskets like that.
BEFORE

The books look like this most of the time. I realize they are pretty young to set all the books upright. The bags on the wall are for their dress up time that they love and do often. I actually meant to hang that in the closet but just made a mistake in telling Dee where to put it. I want to move it, but don’t want to deal with patching holes in the wall.

AFTER

I’m thinking about a couple options for the books. I could either get baskets for the books to go in that would look a lot nicer. The other thing I’ve thought about doing is hanging shelves on the wall for baskets of books where they can only get down one basket of at a time.  What do you think would work best?

BEFORE
Their closet is always a wreck.  I’ve just had too much stuff in there.
AFTER
I moved all the stuffed animals to the twins’ room which really freed up that shelf.  I put the sleeping bag in its case and stored it under Karis’ bed.  I took all their dress up jewelry out of the jewelry box, put it all in the hanging shoe pocket organizer in the closet, and got rid of the jewelry box.  I kept the shelves for their dolls and the cute hooks on the wall for their dress up hats.  Have I mentioned they love to dress up?  I still need to hang the curtain I bought for the doorway.  Removing their closet door has been great for giving more space.
Now on to the twins’ room:
BEFORE
AFTER
I would like to put updated pictures in their room.  The ones on top of the chest of drawers are still of Karis as an infant!  I also need to get another lamp shade.  I got rid of the one we were using when I got rid of the crib bedding.
BEFORE
  AFTER
I have struggled with what to do with all the Mega blocks we have.  I made the simple decision today that whatever didn’t fit in one box needed to be given away.  I also set up the building table in the corner so they can actually use it.
BEFORE
I have never loved cabinets for clothes.  I just don’t do a good job of keeping them neat and it just ends up in a big messy pile.  I did make the decision to move all the kids’ pajamas into the drawers in the laundry roomthat I now use for sorting.  Since our kids are so young and we usually send Karis to get all the pajamas at night anyway, it doesn’t really make a difference where she gets them.

AFTER
I also moved all the off season clothes from this dresser to the chest of drawers and decided to use this dresser exclusively for toys and all stuffed animals.  We’ll see how this works and right now, I have two empty drawers to work with.
BEFORE
The twin’s closet is pretty big.  It reaches back pretty far on the right and left.  I use it for the twins’ hanging clothes and all off-season, off-size clothes and shoes for all the kids.  It obviously gets out of control.
AFTER
While I didn’t get everything done that I want (as in rearranging the adjustable shelving and purging off-season clothes), I did get a good assessment of what’s in there and got everything cleaned up.  And I got rid of the last of all those extra hangers!  It feels so much better to open those doors!
Do you have any other suggestions to better simplify and organize these spaces?  
Next week’s task on Project Simplify:  Kitchen and Pantry.  Stay tuned!
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Comments

  1. Heather says:
    March 9, 2012 at 5:13 am

    Great job! The before and after pictures are awesome! We have the same problem with books, my kids are 3.5 and 19 months. I have taken to using an armoire for their homeschool books, and the bottom shelf (which they can reach) is for all the board books and other books they regularly play with. If it is messy, well I shut the door. As long as the books are in the armoire I am happy :-)

    Reply
  2. Kir Gallo says:
    March 9, 2012 at 10:57 pm

    Good job getting through all their stuff! I am following from Blogalina!!

    Reply
  3. Stacey Lanier says:
    March 10, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    That's a good plan, Heather, to put their books behind a door. That's sort of what I'm thinking for using baskets on the bookshelf. At least the bookshelf would look nice. :)

    Reply
  4. Stacey Lanier says:
    March 10, 2012 at 3:52 pm

    Thanks, Kir and thanks for stopping by!

    Reply
  5. Delilah Love says:
    March 11, 2012 at 11:03 am

    Wow, great job! I love the stripes on the wall, they are gorgeous! And we have that same dollhouse bookcase. Have a great week!

    ~Delilah @ Semi Domesticated Mama

    Reply
  6. Stacey Lanier says:
    March 11, 2012 at 7:56 pm

    Thanks, Delilah! I love those stripes too. ;) We've had them since our 5-year-old was born. :)

    Reply

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