decluttering & organization - it's child's play.

i confess: i'm a pack rat. unfortunately, so are my children. take into consideration that we live in a small house and, well, clutter can spiral out of control and the next thing i know we look like we're living in an episode of hoarders.

okay, so it's really not that bad. but still.

we don't have a playroom. well, we did. but now it's more of a computer/craft/catch all space. {the intended use of the space should have been a formal dining room, but...} nowadays, i do my best to keep my children's clutter confined to their bedrooms.

remember, i said we live in a small house. very small.

despite my best efforts, i still find that my kids' toys, junk and other random items infiltrate my living room and even my kitchen. seriously, why are there lego men in my kitchen? why are there silly bandz all over the coffee table? do i really need a justin bieber cd next to the toaster?

here are ten of my strategies for keeping my children's rooms {you know, where they sleep, play, sulk...} in tip-top shape {otherwise known as decluttered & organized}:

1. stay on top of things. okay, so this seems like a no-brainer and, yes, in a perfect world we would all be living in sparkling clean homes with no dust, no clutter, no mess. such is not the case. but, it is wise to keep on top of things. it's easy to "let it all go." once you do that, you've lost. sort of.
2. get your kids involved. about once a month or so, the kids & i will go through their room - armed with garbage bags - and we decide what to keep, what to toss & what to donate. i did this last month in my son's room and wound up donating three garbage bags full of toys to one of our local shelters. three bags. and, by involving my son, it didn't feel like i was just throwing out his things. he actually decided what to keep & what to let go of.
3. label, label, label. if it has a label on it, then there's no reason why it should be put away somewhere else. i've even gone so far as to label my children's dresser drawers. {because, let's face it moms, it's frustrating to see freshly cleaned & folded laundry end up in a pile in the corner of the bedroom.}
4. two words: closetmaid cubes. okay, so maybe that's not what they are called, but you know what i'm talking about. those cubby things you can get at tar-jay. they require some assembly and you can buy colorful fabric bins to coordinate with your decor. they also come in various sizes. both of my children have the 9-cube organizers in their room. the fabric cubbies store everything from hot wheels, transformers and bakugan cards to nintendo ds games, cds and barbie doll clothes. i most recently purchased a mini cube organizer for each child's dresser. it's the perfect size for dvds. oh, and to conserve floor space {if your rooms are small} you can hang these bad boys on the wall {just remember to use brackets for extra strength}.  these cubes can be mounted to the wall {like dressers & bookshelves} for extra safety peace of mind, too.
   
   
   
   
   
5. when in doubt, throw it out. this goes along with staying on top of things, but sometimes it IS easier to get into your kid's room while they're at school and give it a good cleaning yourself. i recently did this in my daughter's room. she's ten and she keeps everything. and, i mean everything. two trash bags later, she had a nicely organized, clutter-free room. {her closet, however, is a different story...i haven't gone there. yet.}
6. storage, storage, storage!  take advantage of every last space available and use it wisely. in my daughter's room, all of her craft items are found under her bed. they are housed in two under the bed organizers that were originally intended for shoes. speaking of shoes, both children have shoe organizers hanging on the back of their bedroom doors. this keeps shoes off of the floor. shoe organizers are also great for storing smaller toys, craft items, etc. i also use colorful storage bins in their closets. this is a great way to hold stuffed animals, barbies and other fun things that you don't necessarily want strewn across the bed at all times.
7. make the bed. whether it's your child's bed or a futon or daybed in the playroom, make sure it's made daily. a neat bed will make the messiest of rooms seem a little less chaotic.
8. one new thing in, three old things out. so this principle goes along with getting your kids involved & the whole "when in doubt, throw it out" thing. for every new toy or fun item that is purchased, gifted, etc., your kiddo has to get rid of three things. seems fair, right? now, if only i could apply this principle to my own closet...
9. have catch-all bins. the $1 of tar-jay is a great place to get cheap metal bins or buckets. you can personalize them with your child's name, too. keep it in the living room or wherever else you need it and use it as a way to corral your kiddo's things. then, make them take it to their room or playroom to put away.
10. relax. there is no such thing as a perfect home. not in my opinion, at least, especially if you have children. 

so there you have it. my top ten tips for decluttering & organizing. it's not a perfect list, but it's a list that works for me.

what are some of your decluttering & orgazining tips?

share them with me!

disclaimer:
I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Hot Wheels® blogging program, for a gift card worth $40. For more information on how you can participate, click here.

we have a GIVEAWAY winner!

thirty-six of you entered to win some pink & green organizational goodness and random.org chose the 32nd entry as the winner.

i'm quite happy to tell y'all that the winner is...

Lisa
of Don and Lisa Osborn

congratulations!! please send an email with your mailing address to me: shell {at} stutteringshell {dot} com

thank you to all of you who entered to win and hello & welcome to some new faces who came over to see what the giveaway was all about!

if all goes well, i just might hold another giveaway next month {and maybe i'll have a small giveaway every month in 2010...who knows}. oh, and keep your eyes peeled because i will be getting my future etsy shop in order this weekend.

GIVEAWAY - Pink & Green Organizational Goodness

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED ~
thanks to all who entered!

as promised, i have a giveaway for you!

in celebration of my 600th blog post {which happened last monday}, i have a little pink & green organizational goodness for you. it will help you preppify your desk, if you will.

it's nothing too exciting or too fancy. trust me on this, folks. i'm on a bit of a tight budget due to this self-inflicted unemployment, so don't be disappointed when i say to you that these fun items came from target. from target's $1 section, to be more specific.

can you believe it??

the lucky winner will receive:

• 2 packs of pink & green file folders {3 folders in each pack}
• 1 pack of pink & green binder clips {various sizes}
• a magnetic list pad {embellished with a cute pink bow}
• a set of sticky notes
• a magnetic weekly planner

so there you have it. nothing fancy. but extra super special, in my opinion. if you're teetering on the verge of being unorganized {like i am} then these little gems should come in handy...especially if organizing your work space is one of your new year's resolutions!

to enter, all you gotta do is comment on this post. that's all. nothing crazy. no silly questions to answer or websites to check out. you can tweet about this if you want. feel free to blog about this or copy the picture to post on your blog's side bar. but remember...to enter, all you gotta do is comment.

i'll leave the giveaway open until 11:59pm EST on january 14th and i'll announce the winner on friday, january 15th. international bloggers are welcome to enter, too!

the fine print: i was not asked to giveaway these items nor was i endorsed by target in any way, shape or form. i purchased these items with money from my own pocket. they were not given to me. nor was i asked to review them or blah blah blah. so on and so forth...

What's wrong with this picture?

Aside from me having to blur out a telephone number and the big green reminder card from my OB/GYN for my yearly "well woman" visit...what is wrong with this picture??

I'll give you a hint. We're nearly at the end of the MONTH...and it was just last week when my seven year old daughter pointed out my mistake.

Psst...and if you likey my calenar then you need to get thee hindparts over to Em Tanner Designs right now!

Today is just a cool day

A view of the National Mall in Washington, D.C. as thousands

upon thousands await the inauguration of our 44th President,

Barack Obama.

I can't take credit for the photo posted above. It's from MSNBC's website. I've got some live video streaming right now on the computer. Today is quite an exciting day! What makes today even more exciting is the fact that my children, who are only 5 and 7 years of age, know what is going on and know who Barack Obama is. In fact, during their school's mock election, both kidlets voted for Obama. My daughter's reasoning was pretty straight forward -- she just liked him better than McCain. I think it was maybe because Obama's name is just cooler sounding. My son, however, was very honest and said that the ONLY reason he voted for Obama is because his wife's name is Michelle and his daughter's name is Malia -- just like Aidan's mom and sister. :)

Kitchen pics!

I know...finally. Some more kitchen pictures. Hooray!


Installing the glass mosaic tile...the kind of tile we used were face-mounted tiles, I believe it's what they are called. They were single tiles "glued" to a paper front and once the tiles were pressed into the thin-set mortar you moistened the paper to reveal a 1' x 1' square of mosaic tiles. Adam said it was a pain in the you-know-where. The first wall he did (shown above) gave him the most grief...he cursed out that wall many times that night. It was quite entertaining if I do say so myself. Ha ha ha.



The finished product a day after Adam grouted the tile backsplash. He was so thrilled with how well it turned out. I really like the color of the glass mosaic tile...it matches with the walls in our kitchen beautifully. (I know, I know...the Gizmo can opener has GOT to go, but Adam won't part with the freakin' thing!)



A closer look at the tile. Yes, our family likes carbs...it is one of our most favorite food groups! :)



It's not professionally done -- my husband is a bricklayer by trade people, not a tile installer -- but it still is wonderful nonetheless. I'm so happy!

A view of the backsplash by the stove/micro...I love how the tile sparkles in the new under-the-cabinet lighting Adam installed yesterday. That portion of the kitchen was easy for him to wire. He's installing the remainder of the lighting under the other half of the cabinets tonight....I just heard him call something in the kitchen a "bastard." Something in the installation must not be going as he wanted...

For more kitchen pictures, check out this link: http://stutteringshell.blogspot.com/2009/01/heres-what-i-owe-youwell-sorta.html

All in all, what started out as a garbage disposal gone bad has turned into a really wonderful project. We spent some money we didn't want to spend, but I think the value of what we've done with our kitchen full outweighs the *whispering* credit card bill. Ssssh...spare me the lecture. Besides, it's 6 months no interest...how could you NOT go for it! :)

Another year...another dollar...

So, what big plans do I have today with my sweetie? Well, let's see...last night before we headed out for dinner (we had Mexican...mmm) we ran the dishwasher. As Adam went to get the dishwasher detergent out of the cabinet he noticed that there was a leak underneath our sink. Grrrrreat. The garbage disposal had a hole in it and, well, I think you can imagine what the cabinet space beneath our kitchen sink looked like. Ew.

Thank goodness New Year's day isn't like Christmas day and stores are all open and ready for shoppers. We made a trip to the Home Depot and bought a new garbage disposal. We upgraded from 1/2 HP to 3/4 HP...don't ask me what that means. I'm just excited about getting a new garbage disposal. I don't know the life span of one, but the one we're replacing is original to the house and our house was built in the late 1980s, so.....

Well, while at the Home Depot we also bought a new sink and a new fixture for the sink. Adam had his eye on a very pretty black enamel sink, but I talked him out of it and we settled on a $99 stainless steel sink that gives us a bit more room since it's 8" deep (our current sink is only 6" deep).

So, Adam's in the kitchen as I type this. He already took out the bottom of the cabinet...MDF and water don't have the best of relationships...and he's replacing it with some plywood. If the "OW!" I just heard means anything, then he must be wresting with the garbage disposal right now...you know, getting the old one off. I'm supposed to be helping. Ha ha ha.

This is all quite exciting although it was money that neither of us really wanted to spend, but I think this has motivated us now to replace our kitchen countertops and I think we may start that project this weekend and take advantage of the time since our children will not be at home (allowing us more time to spend working and getting the project done faster). We have some granite tile in the garage...or maybe it's marble...that we plan on using as our new countertop. I am envisioning a glass tile backsplash that runs from the counter to the bottom of the upper cabinets, but we'll see about that. After all, this kitchen renovation is on a tight budget...a really tight budget.

purging and reorganizing...

So my Spring cleaning has come a bit too late in the year (or maybe it's just early??)...but I'm sitting in my computer room trying to figure out what I'm going to do with the mess I have made in here. This space should be our formal dining room, but considering we are not formal dining people we made this into the computer room/office/catch-all room. It's been everything from the junkyard to the play room. There has been a couch in here and a foosball table in here. Right now, all that's here is a big ole mess.

I've never known what to do with this space. I mean, I know what I want to use it for, but getting it laid out how I want it and making the room how I want it have been challenges since the day we moved into this house.

What I do know is that I don't want to paint it. Three years ago, Jennifer Finch who owns Jaden's Dreaming Tree came over and painted a huge Hatteras mural on two walls. She eventually went on to paint in M & A's bedrooms, but both bedrooms have been painted over since. At any rate, the mural is fabulous and I love it and it goes so well with the "beachy" theme that our house has (ok, so maybe it isn't so beachy cottage-like, but it's my version of a beach cottage, ok?).

Here is a link to the picture of our room (this is the corner...you can see the itty, bitty Hatteras lighthouse):
http://jadensdreamingtree.com/seaside/3.jpg

Jennifer has two more pictures of the room posted as well.

Right now I have a computer armoire that has to go. I originally wanted it, but the dark cherry wood just doesn't go with the room. It matches my college diploma's frame, but that's about it. I'd really like to get a new armoire that is a whitewashed wood style, but with the finances being what they are I am going to have to continue to settle for the old computer desk that came from my now EX mother-in-law. I don't think it has any bad ju-ju surrounding it, but maybe a good cleansing ritual wouldn't hurt. I have two bookshelves from Ikea that are not the most spectacular, but they do the job. I also have a small shelving system and small cabinet from Target. In the corner I have an old white cabinet (again from the EX MIL) that holds all of my scrapbooking/crafting supplies.

Ideally I'd like to put a chair, table and lamp in here for reading and just to make the room more cozy, but again with the finances being what they are I probably shouldn't. Besides, Christmas is around the corner and I'll just move the chair out of the living room into this room when we put our tree up.

I suppose it would help to show pictures of the room and how it's laid out...but with the state it's currently in, I'm not going to do that. I do have my pride, ya know! So, for now I guess it's just a work in progress...one that I hope to figure out really soon.