AFTER
Get Ready For Baby
If you've ever had a baby, you are all too familiar with the nesting period, that time during the pregnancy where you want to get your home prepared for the new arrival. It can be an exciting time yet an unnerving one.
This can be a time when perfectionism can kick in. Anxiety might be high and the anticipation of what's to come can bring parents to the point of feeling a little cuckcoo. Such as the case with this client.
The goal: Get Ready For Baby!
She did a great job keeping her emotions in check through the organizing process but her nerves did get the best of her from time to time and she found herself becoming worried. Understandably she wanted her home to be ready in time for the baby.
The focus of her project was her young son's play area, all the toys, and his bedroom.
Though their toy clutter was not even close to the worst I've ever seen, it was enough to create overwhelm even for this expert organizer. I knew that frustration was interfering with what would be a tranquil living room environment.
Like many play spaces I have organized, there were more toys then there was the space to store them.
There was a cubby to keep the toys separated into categories, there was no rhyme or reason as to how they were grouped together. The arts and crafts cubby on the other side of the living room had also become disorganized and made arts and crafts time not as easy or fun.
Because her son was still so young, he hadn't yet developed the skill set to put things back as they were.
Like most young kids, they will pull things out when they want to play with them, but won't give much consideration to putting them back in the right spot unless they are trained to do so.
Cleaning up and organizing is a skill that must be taught
Left to their own devices, kids would rather have mommy and daddy do it for them. But if you want to teach them to do this for themselves, not only must their play spaces be set up in an easy to manage way. It is important that they practice over and over again till they build that muscle memory and habit. Then they will start to do it for themselves.
Not giving your kids the opportunity to practice these valuable skills will inevitably lead to frustration down the road when you find yourself still picking up after them well into their teenage years.
To make this project extra challenging, they were anticipating moving but were not sure when. It could be a month or it could be in two years. So they did not want to invest in any additional organizing products beyond just organizing bins.
Purchasing Vertical Space "Placeholders"
Thankfully, I was able to convince the mom to at least get a bookcase for things such as games, puzzles, books and electronics to clear up space in the cubby that was currently holding the arts and crafts.
I suggested she go on to Facebook and look at her local Buy Nothing group to see if she could find a free bookcase so she would feel better about not spending any money on something she may not be able to use in their new place if they did move sooner than later.
I was able to convince her to get plastic storage bins for the sorting and storing process just so the toys had some sort of home instead of just being on the floor.
I mostly used them to hold the bigger items that couldn't fit into the cubby like outdoor play items such as plastic toy guns and sporting equipment.
I suggested she get a deck box to store those items outdoors. But told her she could also just use the large plastic bins with lids instead to store the items outdoors to keep them protected and clear up space in her living room.
As with many kids, one of her chief complaints about the cubes she was using to store smaller toys is her son couldn't see what was in them.
I suggested
she either get clear cubes or use clip labels.
She opted for cubes that were see through in the front, making it much easier for her son to see the toys he had.
I also organized the toys into specific categories such as action figures, cars and building blocks making it even easier for her son to see what he had and more importantly put things back in an organized fashion.
He had several stuffed animals that were mixed in with the rest of his toys.
I recommended a toy chest or a hamper to store them, but again since she wanted to limit her spending on additional organizing products, she opted just to use the plastic bins instead.
Those were stored in his bedroom, which is where stuffed animals are often used the most.
The really big stuffed animals were put on the top bunk of his bed that wasn't being used for sleep.
For his bedroom, the main source of clutter was baby clothes in the closet she was saving for her next kid.
Rather than having them taking up the valuable real estate in the bottom half of the closet, I put them in boxes she already had in the closet. Utilizing the vertical space on the top level of the closet, I put them up top, leaving room below for items that were used more often.
Making the most frequently used items, the most easily accessible is the how to optimize the space for function.
Purging To Make Room
One thing she really wanted was to do a lot of purging and was convinced she was going to be able to do it.
But, because of my experience dealing with pregnant women who work full time and tend to be in a frazzled state of mind, I thought the chances of her getting to it in between sessions, which was spread a week apart was highly unlikely.
As I expected, she didn't get to the purging like she wanted to.
However, in anticipation of this, I set everything up so when she's ready she can easily purge without yet still maintain the organizing that was done.
After two sessions (8 hours) I was able to completely organize her son's toy space, arts and craft area and bedroom closet.
She felt satisfied that everything was organized enough to make it easier for her to maintain and easier for her son to use and contribute to the maintenance.
Repeating the Same Organizing Mistakes
As much as I would love to think the organizing will stick, the reality of their situation is they had more stuff then they had storage in their small home. Additionally, she has difficulty getting rid of things. It would be an organizing challenge for anyone to be honest. The chances of the spaces I organized becoming disorganized again are pretty high.
Sometimes, a bigger a home is not always the solution, but in this case it's the best solution for their growing family.
Hopefully, they find the right home for them soon.
If you need help organizing a life time of things and yearn for better space optimization and storage solutions, give Miss Organized a try! Contact us for a free consultation call.