A few days ago, I tackled our collection of VHS movies (thank you, DVD's, for being so much more compact in volume and scant in number). For the record, about 75% of the movies were gifts/handed down, and many of the rest were yard sale finds. I have to REALLY like a movie before I'll hand over cold hard cash for it. As you can see, the whole collection was literally threatening to cause bodily harm sooner or later, and the kids had done a number on it. (Scroll away Mom . . . nothing to see here . . .)
The kids helped sort, stack, re-sleeve, and decide the fate of each movie. (We were surprisingly unanimous in our decisions!)
The end result wasn't too shabby!
Still more numerous than I wanted, but SO much better. I also tossed all the gigantic, hopelessly squashed, plastic Disney Clamshell cases, and made an open-ended sleeve for each movie out of the label and some cardstock. I've always loathed those cases.I've conquered the hall cupboard (floor-to-ceiling) and the laundry room in recent days. Sooner or later, I have to face my bedroom closet. Heaven help me. However, every cupboard and closet I've tackled has ended up with at least 2 completely empty shelves in the end, so that's a very encouraging payoff.
Also, I found some ideas here today that I'm tempted to try:
Idea #1: Chore Jar
I was already planning to make a "Job Jar" of pesky extra chores (like wiping down cupboard doors or de-webbing the front entryway), but both of my big kids have approved the idea of putting the daily chores in a jar to be randomly drawn, too. I'll let you know how that works out.
Idea #2: Toe-hold Shoe Rack.
I'm not sure I have a good place to put this, but I like it!
Idea #3: Stop with the 35 cups a day already. (You think I'm kidding? I've counted before!)
This idea is from my fantastic friend, Mrs. P (incidentally, she also got it from familyfun.com). Each kid has their own color cup, plate, and bowl, and they're in charge of keeping them washed. When mealtime rolls around, they can't eat until they have clean dishes to eat off of. We've been working on implementing this for several months now. It has required a LARGE amount of vigilance on my part, but it does work. Ikea was kind enough to provide enough colors for my 4 kids plus 2 guests.
So that's how it's gone this week. My yard sale has been unavoidably postponed a week, so I really might get through every square foot of our humble abode. Interestingly, while I've always liked this house and been grateful for it, I'm finding I like it more and more the emptier it gets!
7 comments:
You're getting impressively organized!
Luv it!! You are doing great! Keep it up! I love the plate, cup, color idea, ingenious, for sure!
When my kids were little, they all had their own water bottle in the fridge, I never got any one a drink of water. I remember finding Kristin filling every persons jug all the time, because she always filled hers and it would magically disappear. Every always drank from hers, because they were too lazy to fill their own! At family council, she proposed a new family rule...lol! Oh thanks for the memory time!!
Wow! I'm so impressed! You're inspiring me to try to clean out my junk before I move. If only the weather wasn't so beautiful. . .
I am starting to lose my mind! I kept getting all these comments from this post, I had read this post and loved it but didn't realize it was from you! I am seriously having issues lately! I didn't even realize the picture was of Livy. What's going on with my mind? Please hurry up summer, I need a break!
I love organizing! I feels so great when every is organized. I am excited for the summer to catch up on some much needed de-cluttering!
Oh the "media center" now looks great. I also hate the old clamshells but our friend the darling Mrs M G. gave me some of the clear cases a while ago, and I was able to consolidate some. I need you to come clear out my game closet too. That's were I put everything. VHS, DVD, PSP, ESP, PMS...and so forth.
we do the job sticks (and have for several years) - it works!
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