Lately I have been working on cleaning out closets and drawers and eliminating clutter. That is no easy task when I’m certain that at least one (maybe more) of my children will end up on an episode of Hoarders some day!
One thing that I battle is kitchen drawer chaos! We had soooo much stuff just thrown in, and it was hard to even tell what we had, much less find what we needed!
Before: Don’t judge too harshly!
My 13 year old helps with dishes, so his version of unloading the dishwasher includes dumping handfuls of stuff into a drawer without even attempting to sort or organize.
So, after many attempts at fixing the chaos with zero success, I ordered these trays from the Dollar Tree! Super cheap, durable, and they work like a charm! I had priced these at Kroger and they’re literally 7 times the price! The Dollar Tree trays were the same texture, size and weight, so I went with those!
I love these versatile trays!
Now, there is no empty space for him to just chunk things in. It takes two seconds to put things where they belong, the drawer is much nicer and things are easy to find! I think I’m going to order more for the “junk” drawer and the snack drawer!
After: Much better!!!
Share your organization tips with me! What do you use to keep your items clutter free? Comment belo
With five kids in my house and two of them younger than school age, we always have an abundance of toys! It can be such a pain to keep everything organized and cleaned up, and if I’m being totally transparent, on the weekends I don’t even try.
That’s why the 6 & 3 year old bedroom looks like THIS! No, don’t worry, there weren’t tornados in Arkansas this weekend, this is just what a few kids can do over the course of a few days!
Where’s the floor?
Chaos!
On week days, I have a pretty consistent routine. We do our morning activities, play, and then pick up toys before nap. Then after nap, we play and do our afternoon activities, but we pick up toys before bed.
On the weekends, it’s pretty much a free for all and the kids feel the need to dump out everything they own!
This is why my Monday morning routine is so important! That is the day where I take the kids to school, do my usual morning chores, and then I clean the kids’ rooms so we have a good start to the week. By looking at those pictures, you’d think it’s hours worth of work, but it’s really not and it is all because of our toy organization.
Every single thing has a place. There are bins for barbies, bins for trains, bins for stuffed animals…and so on. With that being said, the after results aren’t perfect! Not even close! My end goal is a clean place with space for the kids to be able to play without clutter. My house is far from perfect and could use a good purge, but we try to keep it somewhat together!
Because each thing does have a specific place, I cleaned this entire room, changed sheets, dusted the furniture and fan in under 25 minutes and I’ll walk through how I did it!
First I start at the doorway on my hands and knees. I seriously use my hands and rake ALLLLLL those toys towards the closet!
Everything has been pushed to the closet!
Once I make my way to the closet, I can start with the closest items to me and I start putting each thing it it’s proper bin.
Although it looks like a lot, this part takes me around 5-6 minutes, depending on how much they’ve pulled out.
We use a bin like this for stuffed animals that is actually made for duck hunting, but it works great to hold our ever-growing pile of stuffed critters! A hamper, pop up bin, or anything would work. Just find something that will fit your space.
Too many stuffed animals!
We also use one of these shelving units with canvas bins for toy organization. It isn’t very expensive, easy to assemble, and keeps items separated by type.
Canvas bins to hold ALL the things!
I also keep a basket next to me and if I find anything that doesn’t belong in this room, I toss it in the basket and will distribute where it all goes after this room is done.
My little “helper” pulling out what I’m putting away!
After the toys are put away, I strip the beds and spray with Odo-Ban, sprinkle with a little lavender baby powder, and put clean sheets on.
I then dust the fan and furniture and vacuum.
All finished!
Much better!
ALL DONE!
In less than 25 minutes! Nowhere close to perfect, but perfect enough for this wild crew!
Truthfully, I probably shouldn’t take this long, but I had a little helper who kept pulling things out as I put them away! Also, if I stuck to my week day routine during the weekend, there wouldn’t be such a mess on Monday, but for now this is what works for us!
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