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10 Minutes to an Organized Dresser Drawer

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How was your 60-minute challenge? My house needs more than 60-minutes of decluttering.

With lots of help from my family, I tackled the alcove of our bonus room ridding lots of unused toys and freeing up 2 shelves of a bookshelf. Though I had great plans to return to the project, I chose to focus on other priorities.

If 60-minutes cannot be found in your schedule, try spending 10 minutes to an organized dresser drawer. For this challenge, I refrained from my unmentionables and chose my sock and hosiery drawer. 🙂

Remove all items

To organize the space, dump out the entire drawer. When the drawer is empty, keep it empty while you sort.

Sort all the items

Place all the items removed from the drawer into one of three piles.

    1. Keep
    2. Donate/Sell
    3. Trash

Organize the “keep” items

Look over all the items you plan to keep, and group similar items together. For my drawer, I grouped all my white socks together, then the dark socks, and finally, the hosiery.

Designate a Space

With your empty drawer, plan where to place the groups of items.

Return “keep” items

Place the items into their designated space. If your first plan does not work, experiment until you find an arrangement that works for you. Then return your drawer to the dresser.

Toss the trash

Deposit your pile of trash into the garbage.

Remove the items to donate/sell

Add these items to your donate/sell stash and rid them from your home. Our family’s stash is in the garage, and I failed to get the items out of the house quickly. A few days later I found my toddler playing with a hat formerly placed in the donate/sell pile. Guess I’ll just have to swipe it later. 🙂

Enjoy your results

    

Before                                                             After

Congratulations! One organized dresser drawer complete. If the momentum takes you, organize another. Take it one drawer at a time, and happy organizing!

Question: Which dresser drawer needs your attention this week? 

Organizing: Enlisting the Help of Family Members

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When I am cleaning the house, putting away the laundry, or organizing coupons, my girls are at my feet asking begging to help.

Though I can get the job done much quicker without their help, I try to find something they can do. Encouraging them to help by giving them age-appropriate activities, teaches them to contribute to the maintaining of our household.

Please know that I struggle with allowing my children to help. In using time wisely, I have a set agenda that I am attempting to complete in a specified time frame.

Distracted by little ones, creating more of a mess in their effort to help, is not efficient or productive. However, I am learning that taking the time now to teach my little ones will pay off in the future when they will not need my help.

Instead of getting frustrated with them, I am learning to spend more time with them to teach them how to complete the project. The more we fold laundry, pickup their room, and sort coupons, the more they can practice what they have learned. I can then guide them, correct them, and encourage them to the end.

Not too long ago, I was cleaning the kids’ room, and my daughters came to help. While I worked on making the beds, the girls picked up the toys and placed them in one of the following containers:

1. Blue fabric bin: Child #1’s toys

2. Green fabric bin: Child #2’s toys

3. Brown fabric bin: Books

4. Beige fabric bin: General toys

5. Cardboard box: Items that do not belong in their room

If my girls were unsure of where the item belonged, I taught them to put the item aside. When I reached a stopping place, I came over to help with the sorting.

My girls enjoyed working with Mommy. Though they did not work for a reward, I enjoyed sharing a special treat with them.

As you continuing using time wisely, remember you do not have to do it alone. Your time is valuable, enlist the help of family members and work with them.

As you train them, you might find some enthusiastic helpers willing to get the job done. If not, then try a reward program, competition, or special treat to encourage them along the way. Happy organizing!

Question: How do your children help with household maintenance? Please add your answer to the comments.

Organizing: Creating Play Stations

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With three children, who are two years apart and both genders, our house has a range of toys. Without an organizational system, we would live among the toys. 😉

In working through each room of my house clearing out clutter, cleaning, and organizing, I decided to try creating a Little People play station for my girls.

Though my son has out-grown most of the Little People items, he does enjoy playing with the toddler. However, my girls will be playing more at this station than my son.

Determining the Functions of the Play Station

Since this space is mostly for my girls, I needed the play station to meet the following criteria:

1. Low enough for the toddler to reach.

2. Large enough to hold the 8-10 Little People play units.

3. Wide enough for both girls to play at the same time.

4. Room enough to move around the station without blocking traffic.

5. Small enough to fit in our living room with the rest of the toys.

Keeping within my limited budget, I surveyed our current options and found that our circular coffee table (which has never been used as a coffee table since my children overtake most of the furniture in the house) fit all these standards. With a $6 fabric bin to hold all the accessories, this play station exceeded my expectations.

Evaluating the Workability of the Play Station

1. My toddler loves to help clean up all the accessories since she can put the people in the box.

2. The lower level of the table holds other play units when the girls are ready for a change.

3. Both girls can play – one on each side of a play unit without getting in each other’s way.

4. The girls love playing with multiple play units at one time.

5. The circular coffee table solution continues to offer hours of fun without overtaking the space with toys.

This play station for Little People works for us. The one container for all the accessories transformed the Little People population in our living room. With one place for all the items, cleanup is easy and often done without asking. Love that!

As you continue finding organizational solutions for your household, consider creating a play station. This same system might work for legos, Star Wars, or dolls. With a simple construction play station, your children might surprise you with a picked-up area. 🙂 Happy organizing!

Question: What types of toys invade your space? Please add your answer to the comments.

Purging, Cleaning & Organizing: Warranty File

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After sorting through all the paperwork from all the new electronics, gadgets, and toys, I went to add the documents to our warranty file, housed in a two-drawer filing cabinet. When I opened the bottom drawer, I found the file stuffed and in need of purging, cleaning, and organizing. Oh, my!

Seriously . . . it was a mess.

In case you are wondering about this file, the outside is usually covered with magnets which my girls enjoy putting on and taking off while I work at my desk. See the little finger prints all over the outside. 🙂 But inside, it holds all the documentation and receipts from purchases that carry a guarantee.

In using manila file folders, I label each folder with the type of documentation, e.g., phones, tools, appliances, furniture, etc. Over time, we replace items, donate, trash, or use the items.

Periodically, this file needs purging of obsolete items to keep the folder contents current. I think my “periodically”  extended a few years on this file because I found expiration dates from 2004.

I told you it was a mess.

In working on this project, I spent about 2 hours from purging to cleanup with a wonderful result.

Purging the Drawer

1. Gathered my supplies. After deciding to purge this file, I got the new documents, a pen, and manila file folders.

2. Purged each file. Removed one folder at a time and reviewed the contents. When I found paperwork for items we no longer have, I placed them in a trash pile (bottom right pile in picture below). The documents for items we are using were kept in the file.

3. Emptied the entire drawer. Taking out one file at a time, I worked through each file until the drawer was empty.

Cleaning the Drawer

1. Dusted the file drawer

2. Removed shreds of paper

3. Wiped the drawer clean

Organizing the Drawer

1. Arranged the file folders. In keeping this file divided into three sections, I placed each file folder into one of these three piles:

a. Structure of the house – windows, roof, shower units, etc.

b. Décor of the house – paint, ceiling fans, lighting, etc.

c. Products of the house – electronics, toys, jewelry, etc.

2. Combined file folder content. When I found similar products, I joined them into one category. For example, I placed the files for the lawnmower, edger, and weed whacker into one lawn equipment file folder.

3. Labeled each file folder. In keeping it simple, I wrote the category name on the label of the file folder. As I need items from this file, I can read the labels to quickly find the folder I need.

4. Returned folders to cabinet. With the sections organized and labeled, I placed them back into the filing cabinet. I used hanging file folders to divide the file folders into sections.

  

Cleaning Up

1. Trashed the unused file folders

2. Placed the outdated warranty pile in the To Be Shred box

3. Put away the pen and extra file folders

Instead of an overflowing heap of papers, I can open this drawer and find the document I need – with room to spare. In using time wisely for about 2 hours, I purged, cleaned, and organized my warranty file. For me, this was time well-spent.

As you find outdated systems, like overflowing paperwork, schedule time to purge, clean, and organize. Using time wisely can get you from “Oh, My!” to “Oh, yes!” Happy organizing!

Question: Where do you keep your warranty paperwork? Please add your answer to the comments.

Organizing: Children’s Clothing – Applying the Process

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After completing the organizational project of my youngest daughter’s clothing, I proceeded to follow the same five steps to organize my older children’s closet and dresser. I started with their summer clothes and shoes, and began the process one step at a time.

Step One: Prepare

The totes were brought into the hallway by hubby. The sharpie, labels, and plastic bags were already in the hallway.

Step Two: Purge

All the out-grown and summer clothing was taken from the closet and dresser and neatly folded and placed in piles.

Step Three: Pack

The piles of clothing were neatly packed into totes labeled with the gender, size, and type of clothing (i.e. Girls, 3T, summer).

Step Four: Place

The winter clothing was then unpacked, washed, and placed in the closet and dresser.

Step Five: Preserve

Any remaining items were stored in labeled totes and preserved in storage for a future date.

The process went much quicker for my older children than it did for my youngest daughter. My guess is due to all the totes and supplies previously gathered, and my mindset was already in an organizational mode.

   

Before                                                                         After

After completing the project, I decided to improve their closet space by adding the storage bins I found on sale at Target. I loved the transformation. This project concludes the clothing swap for my children from summer to winter. Now to decide what my next project will be. Happy organizing!

Question: What is your current household organizational project? Please add your answer to the comments.