Getting Organized

Christmas is three days away, and like most of you probably are, I'm a little crazy with preparations! I don't know about you, but every year, along with fretting over getting my shopping done, and making sure I haven't forgotten anyone, I start to worry about getting my house ready. I'm not talking about getting decorations on the tree, or preparing for guests, I'm talking about cleaning, and organizing, so I can actually enjoy the holiday.

I always tell my kids that Santa won't come if the house is dirty. I'm not sure they believe me, but they have never had the chance to find out, because I always go into crazy cleaning mode the last week before Christmas. The main reason is, that my house is very lacking in storage. I ALWAYS feel like we are busting at the seems, and when Christmas is coming, I fret over what we will do with all the toys and other things that my children get for gifts. This problem amplified when we had our third child almost two years ago.

You see, the upstairs bedrooms are tiny. So tiny, that you could never fit a twin sized bed, and a crib. You can barely fit a twin bed and a small dresser. The closets are smaller than normal too. We used to have a spare bedroom, that we used as a playroom, and as long as there were no toys in the tiny bedrooms, everything worked out fine. Well, when number three came along, we lost our playroom, and the tiny bedrooms were over taken by toys. So much so that I had completely given up on even trying to make the kids keep them clean. Krew's room had things shoved under the bed, in the closet, and all around the perimeters. I finally decided that enough is enough, and came up with a solution, so I could remedy the problem before Christmas.

We have a family room in our basement, and a tiny, seemingly useless room right next to it. Up until a year and a half ago, the family room was a dance studio, and the tiny room was where I did eyelashes. I decided this small room was the perfect space for a Boy's Cave. I found this old beat up toy box on KSL, and worked my magic with a little chalk paint, and chalk board paint on the doors. We hung some custom built ledge shelves for cars, moved in some cubby storage, and laid a couple car mats on the floor. It worked out beautifully! Now Krew's room is clean, everything has it's place, and I dare say we will be able to find a home for anything the kids get for Christmas. Win! We can even shut the doors if things get to chaotic in there=)