Organization Before and After: Kids Game Closet

I used to keep my kids games out of their reach at all times.  I did this for three reasons:  so they could not make a huge mess when they did not clean the game up after themselves, that the pieces would not be lost, and that they would not destroy the games.   In Japan, the games were on the top shelf of a closet and were stacked so high, I never felt like getting them down, because it ended up like a game of Tetris trying to get them back up.  In our new house, it started off the same way, but the closet wasn't as big and we had more games- they were everywhere and I just did not like it.

I started thinking about the fact that we did not play the games very often because they were tucked away and that the kids could not decide to play a game on their own because they couldn't reach them.  I realized that in the end, they are kids, they are going to wreck stuff, they are going to lose stuff, and yes, they are going to make messes.  I did not buy the games to look pretty on a shelf or to maintain their value so that I could sell them underpriced at a yard sale.  

For all you parents out there, something to really think about- how many toys/games do your kids have that you limit playing time with because they were really expensive and/or you don't want it destroyed. I ask you this:  "why bother buying it then".  In this case- who are you really buying the toys for?  The kids or you?  Buy things for the right reason- if it's expensive because it's durable, that's great, or because it's made with less chemically, cheap materials- fine- but just because you paid a lot of money for it is not a reason to not let them play.  Make smarter decisions when you buy stuff for them, that's what I've been doing.  I don't buy things I'm going to worry about, and I certainly stopped buying things that I wished I had had when I was a kid, hoping I'd relive some childhood dream.  

I decided I wanted to give my kids access to all the games, but I was stumped on how to do it.  I am not good at rotating stuff, so I did not want to even cross that bridge.  I searched a lot online and did not really find too much.  I ended up flipping through a Better Homes and Gardens Organization magazine last summer and seeing a picture of a shelf with the games placed vertically instead of horizontally.  I was sold!  I set up an IKEA expedit shelf that we already had in our coat closet.  I alphabetized the games and laid them in there.  I had a few that were too wide so I put them up top with the adult games.  There were a few too many, so I placed one  horizontally on top in a few of the compartments.  

On top of the shelf, I placed all the smaller boxed games.  I used a canvas bin to stack them to keep them from falling all over the place.  There is a bowl in front of the canvas bin for all the random pieces we find in the couch or on the floor after a game has been put away.  Every Friday, one of my kids gets the job of putting the pieces back in the appropriate game and making sure the games are all put away neatly.  

I try to enforce a rule of only one game out at a time per kid.  The littlest one is having a hard time with this, but in the end, she still has the responsibility of cleaning up the games she had out and it's easy enough for her to do.  My kids definitely play their games a lot more now and that makes me happy!

Limiting my kids' Video Game Time

Something that I have struggled with a lot over the past three years is how to control the amount of time my kids get to play video games.  It all started with a Wii, then we got Nintendo DS' for travelling back and forth internationally (must have), then a Playstation so dad could have his favorite Katamari game, Santa brought an XBox 360 last year, hoping the Kinect would help the kids move around and burn energy on the days when it was too cold to play outside, and finally through a bet from dad and a birthday gift, two Kindle fires emerged.  We are chock full of video games (oh, and I forgot the iphone and iPads too).  While they can be great and beneficial for learning purposes and keeping kids tech saavy, they are also a deterant and a large problem.

Video games have caused fights, yelling, tantrums, and just general frustration in our house.  The games that are co-op, where you can have more than one person playing simultaneously can be a mother's worst nightmare, if the kids don't like losing or don't understand that they are playing with each other.  These games have emanated the biggest problems in my house and I have had to forbid my kids from playing them when friends are over and sometimes with each other.  Any peace and quiet I might gain from a little game time for them is so not worth the screaming and fighting that more often than not results.

The worst part about the video games is getting kids to turn them off.  The first rule I ever set and learned very quickly was always have a time limit and SET A TIMER.  If they do not turn it off by the time the timer finishes dinging, they don't play the next day.

I feel like video games are fun and enjoyable, but so are board games and outdoor physical games- do all of your kids know how to play "mother may I" and "red rover"?   The next rule I set for video games was a total time limit per day for any screen time (including TV).  During the school week, time was limited to 1 hour and the weekend 1 1/2 hours.  With five kids, it was hard for me to keep track of and follow through with the time limit.  The biggest thing was they all wanted to play different games.  So, when one was playing, the others were watching and their screen time was effectively tripling.  It was so much work to keep them from watching each other that I knew this system couldn't last.  The other thing that was frustrating was their assumption that they were allowed that time no matter what and that they deserved it.  Sometimes, at 9PM, an argument would break out between one of the kids and I because they didn't get to play "their time".  I was so sick of hearing about "their time", something had to change.

Finally, about a month ago, I discovered I could use this desire of my kids to play video games to my advantage.  Not only would I give them a time limit for playing, but they would have to earn it each and every day!  I haven't had time to make a chart, but I give them lists of chores to do around the house and each chore ranges from 5-10 minutes of playing time, depending on the difficulty of the chore.  They are only allowed to earn up to the maximum and I have the right to say that there is only time for 30 minutes of play, so you can only earn 30 minutes.  Let's just say I haven't had to take out the recycling, bring down the laundry, or vacuum much lately.  I'm kind of liking this now.

There is still a rule that if you are watching someone play, it counts towards your time, and you have to finish at the timer or you lose the next day.  I actually overheard my oldest say to my second son that he couldn't watch him play or it would count against him, so he left the room to read a book.   I know this isn't an end all be all solution and there will be days when I let them play longer (special occasions).  I thought I'd share this because I often hear other parents asking how to limit video game/screen time.  It's funny how when we first got the devices, we thought we were the coolest parents and what a great gift we were giving our kids and now we ask ourselves "what were we thinking".

I don't want to rely on the video games to relieve me from having to play with them, to replace human contact, to take away learning patience- what kid has to sit still quietly in a waiting room without a device in their hands now a days (or adult for that matter), to stop physical play, or to build a barrier in my relationship with my kids because I am the one having to take them away.  I hope that my reward system teaches them the value of doing hard work and how to handle time management.

How do you handle video game time?

Lunchbox Order Forms

I get up at 4:30 most days of the week.  I like to hit the gym early- it's my way of starting the day on a good note.  By the time I get home from the gym, it's 6:45 and I've been up for over two hours.  IF I take a shower and make myself coffee, I'll be pushing it to get the kids out the door in time for school.  Most days, I barely have time to make them all breakfast, make sure they're dressed, get their bags ready, and pack healthy lunches and snacks.  Add to the equation, there is no more bus, and we bike to school everyday-we've got to get out the door earlier to make sure there's enough time to get the bikes out, helmets on, and allot for stopping time along the way or unforseen "emergencies".

Fast forward to the kids coming home:   the two boys come home from school complaining that they are STARVING- for various reasons, but the number one annoying reason to me is: " I DIDN'T like my lunch Mom!"  I do not like to waste time, or food, so I had to put a stop to the complaints and came up with an order form system for my kids.

I got a magnetic white board (in the dollar bin at Target).  Each Sunday night, I write down the menu choices for the week, based on what we have available.  I set the board on the table and the kids fill out their forms for the week.  (Great to keep them busy while I'm making dinner Sunday night).

I went into power point, and made a strip of order forms with five boxes, one for each day of the week. The kids can choose their lunch, a dessert, and their fruit of choice.  This way, if they come home complaining about their lunch, it all falls back on them, because that's what THEY chose.

This also saves me time because I am no longer stuck in the kitchen wondering "what should I pack today?".  I can make better use of my time now, like drinking my coffee while it's hot!

An added bonus:  Writing and reading practice!

Time to get Organized: Garage clean up in 30 minutes

It's been cooling off a bit here, making being outside during the day slightly tolerable.  Hence, today's 30 minute clean up was the garage. The garage is not done by any means, but I thought another before and after of a 30 minute clean would be inspirational.

Here are before shots from the front and then front to the side at an angle.  You can see my kids are not good at putting their stuff away.  It's hard to believe we actually parked both cars in here last winter.

One thing I fell prey to that Peter Walsh mentioned in his book is having a yard sale and leaving the stuff to rot in your garage.  I had a yard sale back in June, and my stuff was still out in the garage- 2 huge boxes and a changing table.  It literally took me five minutes to haul it back in the house during this clean up, but somehow it took me 2 months to motivate myself to give up that 5 minutes.  A piece of advice he gives is to never bring something back in the house that you were going to sell at a yard sale.  The only reason this came back in is because I'm selling it at a thrift sale and I have two weeks to label it and drop it off.

32 minutes later:

The bikes have parking spots (Note, I had previously done this, but they are actually back in them.  I used painter's tape and made each kid's first initial in their spot- these have worked great!)

The plasma cars and other vehicles have spots now too- again painter's tape.

Balls and bats, racquets have designated bins (anything ripped, cracked, or missing it's partner was tossed):

Water and nerf guns have a bin.

I think I'll be able to park my car in here as soon as I finish repainting that table and shelf:)

Time to Get Organized on Tuesday: A Before and After

So, I vowed to do a 30 minute clean-up a day in my house no matter what.  There were a few days that we missed, but we made it up by doing 60 minutes the next day.  So here's my first update.

The upstairs hallway.  It has not been empty since we got our shipment last August.  My goal is to have the whole house purged before our 1 year anniversary.  Take a look at the dramatic difference to this hallway in 35 minutes last Sunday:

Now we can easily walk (or run) down the hallway in daylight or dark without fear of tripping on something.  (I'm loving those reflections on the freshly mopped floor- which was so easy to do with nothing in my way ;)

How did we do it?
I started by making piles of like items that went to the same area- each kid was assigned a task and when they were done, they would come back for more.  If they whined, they were given an extra minute of work.  There were books that had been unpacked, but never put away, boxes of winter clothes that needed to be taken to the basement, toys that needed to go bye bye, and baby clothes that no longer fit.  Everything found a spot or went to good will.

I'll tell you what, I'm liking the results and I know that less is more!  I felt so much stress everytime I walked up and down that hallway and now I feel peaceful.  In fact, I just discovered it'd make a great place for me to get some photos.

Time to get Organized: What's your excuse for clutter?

I was trying to do Time to get Organized on Tuesdays, but this week, there was no time to write on Tuesday, but there WAS time to get organized!  I have been having trouble organizing my things in my new house for various reasons, such as lack of time, lack of vision on what I want the room to be, fear of being too bold with color, not the right pieces of furniture, lack of time- you get the point.  I bought an awesome magazine by Better Homes and Gardens on getting organized back in June.  I was so inspired by the magazine, I went to the bookstore and bought a book on organizing.  I never thought I'd buy a book on organizing, after all, I don't need someone to teach me how to alphabetize or put things on shelves.

The book I ended up buying has really been life changing for me.  The book I decided to buy was authored by a man who hosted the TLC show Clean Sweep.  I was fearful that the book would be hokey, after all, once a show takes off, the person has their picture on anything to do with the show, whether or not the product is worthy.  The book I bought is called It's All Too Much by Peter Walsh.  If you are looking to get organized, or just actually looking to get rid of clutter- you should read this book!  This is my own opinion and no one made me read or buy this book.

The past three weeks, I haven't been around much because I was away visiting my family.  In that time, I did a lot of searching on the internet for photos I liked because I'm trying to start my own photography business- one thing I noticed in all the photos I liked, there was no clutter in the background, the environment looking serene and inviting- that's what I want my house to look like.  This pushed me further in my desire to make my house clutter free.

When I walked into my house after being away for three weeks, I immediately got stressed out at the piles that were everywhere.  I do a good job of organizing stuff into piles, but then I don't have time to deal with those things and put them where they need to be.  I saw a quote on a friend's facebook page and it really stuck with me:

Do you agree with this?  I find myself constantly rushing around trying to make the piles disappear before I have friends over.  I find myself having less friends over because of the piles- I do not want to live like this, I want the serene inviting house in the photos I see, the one that isn't stressful to walk into.  Reading this book has made me feel like I can get there, like I will one day walk into that house.  I am by no means a hoarder, but I do fall into the excuse category of "I don't have the time", but somehow I find the time to go buy something else that might make my life better or help me get more organized.

The first step Peter tells you to help get organized is envision your life how you want it to be and then look at how you want each room to be.  Next, you have to commit to not buying anything else until you have eliminated your clutter (especially organization devices).  I am officially commiting to not buying anything (besides food of course) else until my house is clutter free.

Think of this, instead of spending the time going to the store, looking at stuff, then driving home with the stuff, putting the stuff away, and taking care of the stuff, you could be using ALL THAT TIME tending to the stuff you do have that you probably don't even use.    Let me ask you: How much time do you spend cleaning, organizing, and taking care of the stuff you have- is it worth it?, would you rather be playing outside with your kids?  This is the biggest thing that hit home to me- I don't want to take care of stuff I might use or never use- I want to spend it with my family, cooking, and taking photos.

I'm leaving with you with Peter's list of top ten excuses why people won't get rid of stuff, think about it, which excuse are you using:
1) I might need it one day (you can buy it again or something better might come along, stop living in the future, and live in the present- GET RID OF IT!)

2) It's too important to let go (do you use it on a daily basis, do you only look at it occasionally, do you know which box it is in- take a photo, designate a small box for super important mementos- GET RID OF THE REST!)

3) It's worth a lot of money (only to the person that was foolish to pay that price to begin with or the specific person that knows the value- who you may never find to sell the item to, the value means nothing sitting in your house, collecting dust- try to sell it or GET RID OF IT!)

4) My house is too small (you have the space you have, do not buy something for a future house, even if it's a good deal- do you really need a bigger house for your non-living stuff- do you need to pay heating and cooling for those five couches?, move now or GET RID OF IT!)

5) I don't have the time (somehow find the time- get up 30 minutes before the kids, stay up 30 minutes after the kids, cut out unnecessary shopping, don't ponder over the stuff or walk down memory lane with it- GET RID OF IT!)

6) I don't know how I got like this (none of us do, just realize where you're at and find a way to get to where you want- GET RID OF IT!)

7) It's not a problem, my family just thinks it is (if it's affecting your relationships with your loved ones, it is a problem, do you value your stuff more than your relationships with your living loved ones?-would you rather have a conversation with your box of junk than an actual human being?- GET RID OF IT!)

8) It isn't mine (then give the owner a set amount of time to claim it, obviously if you've been holding onto it for them for this long, it is not important to them- GET RID OF IT!)

9) It's too overwhelming (yes it is, but little by little, you can conquer it.  set aside a small amount of time everyday or set aside a whole day for clean up- bring in a helper who has no attachment to your stuff that will help you plow through it, just GET RID OF IT!)

10) __________ (he assumes lists are better in ten, so what's your excuse that wasn't mentioned- either way, it's an excuse, so GET RID OF IT!)

Stay tuned next week for a before and after!

Organizing Recipes from Magazines

Time to get organized on Tuesdays, I think it's a new thing I'm going to try out.  Why?  Because I love being organized, today is Tuesday, and I really want the boxes and clutter out of my house!!!

Last year, when we were getting packed up from Japan, I found a large collection of magazines I'd saved because I wanted to try a recipe in them.  I never looked at them the whole 4.5 years I had lived there!  I certainly wasn't going to let those magazines bump something of importance out of my shipment.  So, I sat down, went through the magazines and ripped out all the recipes that sounded good to me and recycled the rest of the magazine.

Every summer, when we were on homeleave from Japan, I would clean out the shelves under my parent's kitchen island.  My dad had tons of cooking magazines under there, five or six years worth of Gourmet and some Bon Appetit!  So, after my episode of magazine purging when leaving Japan, I asked my dad if I could do the same to his magazines.  Note, I decided to do this less than a week before I was moving to my new house.  Literally every night, I was pouring through, ripping out recipes, trying to lessen the load I was taking in the moving truck with me.  I think I ended up having to take about 20 magazines with me.  I got a cute little bag and carried it around with me to my daughter's gymnastics and dance classes.  While she danced, I ripped out recipes.  I went from probably 5 feet high of magazines to this:

How good does that feel?  Pretty awesome!

After I ripped out the recipes, I placed them into a folder that I carried around in the bag with me until I was ready to organize them.  When I was done with all the magazines I had at the time, I spent some time organizing the recipes into categories, meal, appetizer or side, dessert, breakfast, tips, breads.  You can organize yours however you want, that's just how I'm doing mine for now.

After school started, I bought a 3-ring binder on clearance at Target, along with binder divider tabs and the clear plastic page covers.  Those were sitting in the office collecting dust for a while.  Finally, when I got my wisdom teeth out, I was forced to sit on the couch for a few days, so what better thing to do when you can't eat, than look at all the recipes you want to try?  I slipped all the recipes into the clear page covers, put them in the binder behind the tab I wanted to categorize them in and voila- a lot less space being taken up in my house and a lot more organized recipes for me!  If I try something and don't like it, I take it out and bye bye.  If a recipe is two pages, slip them in side by side.

Be open minded when you are tearing out recipes because you can always swap out an ingredient that you don't like.  For instance, swap chicken for fish, or... swap strawberries for the rhubarb in this:

In the front of my binder, there is a nice little pocket, where I keep two very important things, paper to write my meal plan for the week on the front (grocery list goes on back) and a wish list for kitchen items I want/need to make some of the recipes.

I have already made many of the recipes in here and in fact, the buttermilk pancake recipe I pulled out of Fine Cooking is by far the best buttermilk pancake recipe I've made- and I've made it three times in the past month alone.

I was talking with my friend about this this past weekend and she said she's been doing it with cookbooks that she doesn't use that often- genius!  Except, there are some you just don't rip up, like Cook's Illustrated, Baked, Pastry Queen.

I'm using the same idea for all my craft stuff that I get from Family Fun magazine and Parents too.

This is a project I've been working on since last summer.  Don't worry, something like this is very easy, I just did it here, there, and every where, and until the end didn't truly devote myself to it.

DIY Tutu Organizer Kids' Shelf

OK, you can totally tell I had a lot of boys before I had a daughter.  She has a LOT of tutus.  And, no I don't force them on her, she loves to wear them, I just might have gone overboard on the number I bought.  They are very puffy and take up a lot of room, drawer space is limited, so this is where I've been storing them.

Last fall, I began searching for ideas how other people stored tutus and found nothing.  In the process, I came up with my own idea (I have had the materials since last October, just finally got around to doing it last weekend).

I started with a photo ledge that I bought at IKEA for $10:

I took some old dolls and had my husband screw them on to the front of the shelf (my plan was to have them seated on the shelf and their legs would hold the stuff up, but he didn't like the idea of them sitting with their legs open and the glue took too long to dry.  Another idea my dad had was adhesive velcro so you can change out the toy if you want):

The original idea was for the arms to hold up the stuff, but the arms are movable and the weight of the tutus make them fall down to the dolls' sides.  So, I used drapery clips and hung them on the wings of the dolls, then, clipped the tutus to them.

Rapunzel is dual purpose, her hair is housing some of our favorite barrettes:

Not only can we hang stuff from the front, but we can put stuff on the shelf:

Princess peach seriously looks frightened that she's going to fall off.