"Organization Solutions" By Heather

I have only 3 boys now, but I am the 3rd of 9 children, and in my family I was always a cleaner/organizer, and according to my parents I did a good job!

I also have watched my in-laws household function, and have gleaned ideas from them as well! They had 14 children, although 3 boys are married and out of the house now.

~CLOTHES~

Both in my maiden family and my own family, I have found that the BEST thing to do for clothes, is get clear storage bins. These CAN be expensive, but wait and shop during sales, and you'll be fine. When you get the lids, try and pick multiple colors if you can. This helps alot, and it gets the kids excited about using "their bin" of clothes.

I have moved across the country (coast to coast literally!) 3 times now, and let me tell you, for children under the age of 8 at least, all you need is ONE clear storage bin-full for each size/sex. Pack it full ;) Any more clothes than that, I really feel is too much. So, right now, I have a 0-3 month bin, 6-9 month bin, 12 month bin, my son is in his 2T bin, my other son is in the 3T bin, and I have a 4T bin, and a 5T bin. Me and my sisters have even helped my mom organize some of her kids' clothes this way too. I'm telling you it works! :)

Any extra clothes? Sell them in lots on craigslist. You can put the money away and use it incase you have an "outfit" emergency at some point :) I sell them in $5 boxes or paper grocery bag-fulls, and its a good deal for me and for the buyer.

~FOOD~

I would use bins for bulk dry food as well, such as flour, sugar, rice, beans, etc.. Keep glass or porcelain containers on the counter that you can refill so you aren't having to constantly open and access the bins. This will ensure no bug outbreaks happen...trust me its such a loss when it does! Just stack up the bins!

One shelf in the garage/basement can help with things that can handle really cold temperatures, such as cans and jars.

Throwing this out there...an extra freezer is SO helpful, because you can freeze SO many things! Breads, grated cheese, butter, meat, etc. I have been so excited to find how well things freeze and thaw! This saves us so much money, because we can shop the sales, stock up, and not waste money by having things go bad before we can eat them.

For cereal, I would get plastic clear pouring containers...these let you see what cereals you have, but keep them fresh incase you like multiple types open at one time (we usually always have a sweet kind, cheerios, and flake/bran kind open at one time.)

~TOYS~

Ok...this is where I have been SO surprised with all of our moves! My kids do SO MUCH BETTER when they have only a couple toys/groups of toys, available to play with! This last time, I really contemplated just selling the other boxes of toys, as it seems the more toys my kids have, the more ADHD they seem to be! Running everywhere, messing things up, etc.

To test your kids, I would sneak into their room sometime, and box up some toys you think they really haven't used in ages. Toys that I found were important to keep, were the small cars (I always call them hotwheels, lol!), trains, legos, blocks, and balls...although I wouldn't keep to many of each catergory (I only have boys, but you get the idea). You can get clear containers for these as well, to keep them separate from the big toy boxes. It will make them play with them more, so you can start shrinking the amount of toys in the big toy boxes ;)

Again...sell them in lots on craigslist, and save the money for future toy gifts that will be good quality and meaningful, and you know aren't gonna end up in the pile of give-away for at least a couple years, lol! :)

~HOUSEHOLD~

Things like detergent, soap, shampoo, toilet paper, paper towel, pads, diapers, etc...here is my two-cents ;)

For diapers, switch to cloth (there are SOOO many awesome cloth options these days, not like it used to be for our parents!), and for baby wipes, use flannel receiving blankets, cut up into baby-wipe sized cloths. What works even better than those, is the dollar tree/dollar store "baby washcloth" things. Gerber sells them too, but you can get them at thrift stores and garage sales really cheap, as they aren't good for real washcloths...but excellent for baby wipes! Look-up wipe solutions online. You throw them all in the wash together, and this saves SOOO much money and space! With 3 in diapers or pull-ups, we are saving approximately $80/month...with an initial investment of $100 for the older boys' dipes, and $45 for my newborn dipes (we made them ourselves from the right materials). Get them used, on diaperswappers.com.

Instead of using paper towels, get in the habit of using washcloths. Walmart has a huge pack of washcloths now, that are fun and multicolored. In a big family, you always have laundry to do, so tossing in a couple washcloths really won't make much of a difference. In fact, I throw mine in with my cloth diapers!!! I use them so much instead of paper towels, it really works well. And it will make your dishwashing sponge last longer if you use the washcloths too. I wouldn't get too many though...start with one pack, and if that doesn't cut it for your paper-towel-substitute needs, grab another pack.

If you are really adventurous, I would try out what's called "mama cloth"...pads and pantiliners made from cloth! They are fantastic, really! I at first was like, "Gross!", but they work wonderfully, and will save so much space and money in the longrun. Plus, they are so much more comfortable than regular pads! Checkout the different options on www.hyenacart.com.

Anyhow, this leaves more storage room for toilet paper, soap, shampoo, and other
personal items of that nature :)

Oh! And DEFINITELY invest in foam soap pumps. You use like, 1/3 of the amount of hand soap, body wash, baby shampoo, and dish soap!!! Once you have the pumps, you just buy the soaps in bulk (not to many though...you're trying to save space here :) ), and when you refill, only fill 1/3 full, and then fill it up with water. Saves you when your kids decide to dump the whole contents of the bottle down the drain (which happens alot around my house...).

~STORAGE~

Underbed Storage containers are awesome. You can use these for any special items your kids have...such as their baby memory boxes, their baby blankets toys and stuffed animals, craft projects, and as "Hope Chests" for the girls.

OKAY I'M DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I guess I am obsessive compulsive when it comes to organizing and cleaning :) Hope someone finds SOMETHING helpful in my post at least!


Love,
Heather