organization

Recently, I confessed a dirty little secret of mine on Nesting Story’s Facebook page. I exposed a side of my family that I am not proud of, and despite my best efforts, I just couldn’t seem to make this problem go away…

I am talking about our catch-all counter. You know, that place where everyone dumps their crap when they come in from school or work? The place where remote controls, phone chargers, newsletters, flyers, pacifiers, creams, crafts, magazines, sunglasses, sippys and magazines go to die? This mini wasteland then burrows this deep dark hole of anxiety into your brain and even those you just tidied it up five minutes ago, when you turned your back for a second, your family dumped all of their crap on it again!!???!!!

Yup, the thorn in my side. I was quick to learn that I wasn’t the only one with this deep, dark secret lurking in their home. Many of you quickly confessed, showing your messy counters and tables. After years of trying to clean it, clear it and announce that there would be no more crap dumping to the rest of my family and constantly failing, I finally realized I needed to approach this problem in a different way. I knew I could never fully keep this place clear of clutter. As a busy family of six, we sometimes just need to put stuff up and out of the way. So I brainstormed and finally came up with an idea that is so genius, it has now been working for our family for a couple of months!

I decided to let the crap and clutter stay on my counters, but in a pretty and organized way. I went out and found some attractive boxes (products listed below) with lids and I labelled them. One for each of my older kids, one for our one-year-old twins to share, and one for my husband Mike and I. Now, when someone dumps their sunglasses, trading cards or lip gloss on the counter, I just quickly pop it into their box. When the boxes are full, I hand them out and ask the owner of the box to put the contents away. BAM! I am telling you, this actually works!

For added organization, I found an equally attractive pin board, and an office organizer to house invitations and pens etc…

But wait… I didn’t stop my organization craze there… we also have one of those cupboards that I shove all of our kids arts, crafts and Play Doh into. Oh, by the way, who made the decision to make Play Doh accessories so massive? I am pretty sure we now own every Play Doh accessory known to man, curtesy of countless birthday parties. Something had to be done.I made the decision to evict everything Play Doh from the cupboard and store them inside a closet, in a cart on wheels. Seeing that I have to be in a particularly good and stress-free mood to break out the Play Doh and the mess that goes with it, having it out of our kitchen made a lot of sense.

I took all of our kid’s art supplies and art projects and stored them properly. The complete art projects went into a bin under each of my kid’s beds and the craft supplies were divided up in to two organizational containers. I then assigned a shelf to each kid. I gave them letter trays to keep drawings and school work in. I also created an a space for colouring books and their art supplies container to go.

I just wish I had done this sooner. Now, when I go to tidy the catch-all space in my home, it takes me under a minute to put everything in it’s place. My kids also have more responsibility over their stuff and easier access. I can finally exhale!

See Items I used below. This post is NOT sponsored.

RASKOG Utility Cart, Ikea – $69.99 CAN

DOKUMENT Letter Tray, Ikea – $9.99 CAN

KVARNVIK Box with Lid, Ikea – $9.99 CAN

SALMA Box, Ikea – $1.49 CAN

SALMA Box, Ikea – $10.99 CAN

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