Label Maker, Organizing & Sick!

The weekend was great but I'm still not completely caught up with the organizing challenge.

Day 6 was the dresser! My room is the last place I clean because I never have enough time to get to everything so when I saw this assignment I trembled slightly. I usually keep the drawers fairly organized but with Christmas and packing for a trip they got extra messy.

Three of my dresser drawers are devoted to my baby and the last time I set out to organize I was taking out clothes that no longer fit and stacking them in piles on the dresser but never finished. Further I seem incapable of doing the simple assignment of just organizing the dresser. I also did the nightstands, and drawers and cubbies in the closet so the assignment took me Friday & Saturday. It didn't help that I've been sick and several of my kids as well.

Anyway - - - yadayada - here's the goods:

I didn't get a before picture but here's the after...

Sock Drawer - I actually thought - there is no way I'm organizing my sock drawer. That's plain silliness. Who care's?!? Right?

But then I had an idea when I saw these triple storage bin. I stacked two on top of each other with the bottom one having my nylon's & tights. It actually is my favorite drawer! Ha ha!

Here's one of my husband's drawers.
Before:

Its' just short sleeve shirts, long sleeve shirts and a bin with Biking stuff.
After:

On to the pantry ... when I saw that this was the challenge, I thought perfect because my husband just barely did this so it will give me more time to work in my room. Anyway I saved it until last night and of course I couldn't just leave the pantry the way my husband had organized it. No that would be to easy. Instead we (yes he helped & happily) took EVERYTHING out and put together his "cansolidator" he'd gotten for Christmas. Oh and I got a new label maker to solve my label maker dilemma and we had a lot of fun with that. We thought we were hilarious but I'm sure that was just because it was 2 AM before we finished.

I didn't get a before but here are some pictures in the middle of the process.

Our little helper until it got too late.

Cansolidator

After shots:

Lunch Station - we've been using this system for a few years. It's works wonder's when 5 kids are making lunches in the morning before school. My 1st grader always asks how come they have to make their own lunches because everyone else's mom's make theirs. I told her it's because she can do hard things as her preschool teacher taught her & we've made it pretty easy. All they have to do is grab one thing out of each lunch bin. Last night we added a "sandwich fixin" bin and labeled them all. Our dessert bin is empty right now so I added a HAHA! label on the bottom of the bin (this is where we thought we were hilarious!).

Anyway we had a very productive weekend and enjoyed labeling everything in past and present organizing jobs. Now on to today's challenge - the coat closet! Watch out this might be scary!

Day 4 - Linen Closet

I paid my daughter to organize this a few months ago but things don't last long around here with 7 kids digging around looking for the perfect towel or cute sheet set!

Before:

Look at all the towels on the floor. This would be because the kids can't pull a towel off the top of the pile they have to look for the "perfect" towel that is usually in the middle of the pile. And Whooo (adding emphasis) would ever think of picking up the towels that drop in the process.

I can't blame everything entirely on the kids. I really dislike putting away laundry. I usually assign a child to take the neatly folded and stacked towels, sheets, etc. and put them away. Since the linen closet is in the kid's bathroom I don't check very often.

Here are some interesting finds from the closet:
A "Zupe Dude" - my oldest (now 14) used to ask to go to Denny's a lot as a toddler because they had these toys. We've only lived in this house 5 years so I'm not sure how this made its way to the closet.

And not sure why this was hiding under the towels. His grades are pretty good. He can pull those B's up no problem.

Alright - here's the finished product.

Looks pretty good and hopefully the bins will help it stay that way. It will be perfect once I get my label maker (long story) up and running! Oh and I am putting away the swim towels and getting towels all the same color with the kids names embroidered on them. No more digging for towels!

Day 5 - Under Kitchen Sink

Okay - I am still playing catch up but should be on track by the end of the weekend. I was gone all morning for a birthday lunch for my wonderful mom, but got to work when I got home.

Believe it or not this was organized at one point or another but the bags have decided to overtake the cabinet.

This was a good excuse to get the bags under control so I went to Walmart and bought a bag holder which really helped control the chaos of the cabinet.
After:

I won't take a picture of my counter! We're creating piles of things that we're getting rid of and I also have a tub of tools for my husband to take back out to the garage.

My oldest came home from school and told me he was going to need a tour of the kitchen --- it's his chore this week! Funny

Organizing - Day 1 & 3

This was  a busy day.  I realized I needed to go out and get supplies so I would be armed before I entered the war zone that is my house.  :)   Since I am playing catch-up I decided to stay in the kitchen and do the junk drawer & the tupperware cupboard & save the desk top for another day. (... really, that will be an all day job and it wasn't the right day for me...)  To take it another step further I did many more drawers and an extra cupboard in the kitchen.

Here are the before and afters:

Junk drawer At one point this entire drawer was organized and full of those bamboo dividers BUT they all broke from the kids digging around for pencils and various treasures.

After - I went with a hard plastic with less joints to rip apart

Junk Cupboard Before

After

Silverware drawer - this was already organized but I still cleaned it out.

Utensil DrawerBefore

  
After

Knife drawerBefore

After

The Tupperware Cupboard - Dan organizes this very regularly so I only had to re-stack

After

Organizing Challenge! Seriously needed!!

I was just telling my mother-n-law over Christmas Break that I needed to fly my sister-in-law out to my house to help me organize.  (Although with my giant brood it wouldn't last long!)  Then one night I lay in bed and told my husband that it is very obvious that I can't keep up with everything and that we should hire a maid .... which I still haven't done yet. I say this often but never do it even though I feel like I am constantly swimming upstream. 

A few weeks ago my husband was at home for the day and decided to deep clean the kitchen and keep it that way all day.   I watched as he diligently worked throughout the day to keep up with the demand that our kitchen takes.  After his third load of dishes and constant care throughout the day I mentioned how exhausting it is and that just that one room in the house is a full-time job.  He couldn't believe it but agreed.  He tried to stay ahead of it for a few days but then his enthusiasm failed.  I told him I just have to pick up in the morning and then at night or I would spend my entire day in the kitchen. 

Anyway all these stories are to tell that I'm feeling like I want to be more clean and organized but that it is often overwhelming in my house of kids.  Last night I saw that my cousin-in-law took a cleaning challenge and decided I'd do so too.  It is great because she just gives you one task a day for 21 days and it will help clear the clutter in the house in places that I don't get to as often.  Only problem is that I'm started on the 5th so I have to play catch up over the next few days!  I'll post pictures of my progress. 



I'll probably still hire a maid!!

Perspective

Having the right perspective has helped me immensely today.....

You know how everything from Costco comes in multiples?  Like a box of Cheez-it has two sleeves.  Well I bought a couple boxes of them yesterday with my handy-dandy coupon of course!  I came downstairs this afternoon to find one sleeve empty already.  I started to get frustrated but then took a step back and did a little thinking.  Okay a box of Cheez-its from Costco costs about $6 and I had a $2 off coupon.  So I'm only out $2 for half a box and it made a nice after school snack.  That's actually not too bad for 7 kids!

Oh and as long as I'm in a giving mood .... we won't worry about the brand new giant Christmas lights that we brought home yesterday that are already broken.  That's right one of them had a little run-in with a soccer ball.

It's just an accident ---- sheesh!  You need to work on your patience!!

Trash

My baby has discovered the trash ...
I know you're wondering what I'm complaining about.  It is so useful when they are able to discard their own stinkiness; however, he doesn't quite know the rules yet.
EVERYTHING goes in the trash.  I know he's simply practicing his free-throw for his future career in the NBA but seriously this has got to end.
•  Sippy cups go in signalling "I'm done"
•  Toys go in meaning "these are sub-par mother,  please go acquire me something meaningful"
Anyway, it is this new discovery that has me siting here tonight staring at a single brown penny loafer wondering where it's match is.... My guess:  Timbuktu
** Trash day was yesterday**
SIDE NOTE: 
He also has been fascinated with the appliance cupboard in the kitchen lately, more specifically the popcorn maker.  Tonight I discovered why --- it is full of tiny "balls" (the kids, not I, fail to empty the unpopped kernals).  These balls are the perfect pair with the hole near the latch on the dishwasher when opened.

Sneak Peak

All 4 of my girls are in a "Whoville Christmas this year."  Last night two of them got to perform bits of it for "A Swiss Christmas".  Check out their cute "Who" hair.  I'll post a video after their real performance.

Merry Christmas

Thanksgiving

This is going to be mostly pictures.  After we survived the great Blizzard of 2010 (if you live here you'll know what I'm talking about ;) ) we headed down to my parents to enjoy spending time with family.  We especially loved having my brother's family up from Texas.

Good Times!

 A little pre-meal nap!  They hadn't even eaten yet...

 Caleb was sick most of the time.... his eyes say it all.

 Jake spent most of his time out side so his glasses were fogged over when he came back in.  haha