Saturday, February 20, 2010

I Came, I Conquered, and I Didn't Get Crushed Beneath the Piles

I'm referring to our master bedroom there. It's not really a "master suite" at like 14X12 but there is a bathroom attached so I guess it's the 1960s version of master suite.

Still, we have an incredible amount of stuff in there. And part of our great clean up of 2010 has to include that room if we are going to be picking on the girls about their stuff insisting the children keep their rooms clean.

I rearranged too. Remember when I made that little office area for S in our bedroom? Well, the problem is, it was on my side of the bed and that is unfortunately where Mt. Washmore tends to build up. So he hasn't exactly been able to get to his desk in a while. Plus at Christmas I was sewing there so it's been a mess for a while. Anyway, it's all fixed now and all I have left to do is sort through clothes and straighten some books.

This is the only room we haven't painted since we bought this house. Well, I painted that one accent wall dark sage green when our bed used to be on that wall, but that's it. I'm not happy with what's hanging on the walls but that's a project for another day. Right now, the key words are PICKED UP.

I explained the difference between cleaning (wiping, sweeping, spraying, mopping) and picking up to the girls the other day when we had our little talk. We all three like cleaning.....it's the picking up we don't enjoy. But they have been doing a good job. Rather, I have been doing a good job of making them. They have continued to try taking short cuts and be lazy. I'm thinking a week of training is too long---meaning they won't make it that long without correction of the Biblical sort.

I'm left with a big pile of clothes and blankets in the living room as well. There needs to be a serious clothing sort today. I was commenting on another blog last night and actually had a good idea. I think I'll pare down what's in their drawers and keep the rest of the clothes (Little Bit for example has a lot of great hand-me-downs and I hate to just give them all away just for the sake of cleaning up) in a big clear tub in the closet. Then we can switch out clothes every now and then or just go to the tub when they need something else to wear besides their everyday clothes. But in their drawers won't be so much stuff to rifle through every day. Dresses can hang up. Eh, we'll see.

Kinda still wishing for a family closet.....do any of you have one? I think I would love one if we had the square footage.

Next up on the straightening fit? The homeschool room. It's already organized, it just needs straightening up. Then I think we'll be ready to begin our week of training and inspections, although technically I've already started since their rooms are done.

I'm gonna be Inspector Clouseau. Or inspector Gadget. Or maybe The Trunchbull. But we are GOING to keep these rooms picked up!

6 comments:

  1. I don't have a family closet, but have dreamed of one for awhile. I went and looked at your link and thought "yes, that's what we already have going, but not nearly that organized." i've wondered what other large families do about the constant "outgrowing pile" and the HUGE amounts of hand me downs and next-seasons. i've thought long and hard about making the "nesting room" into a family closet (or just kid closet would be great) next. and it's adjoining the laundry room - all i'd have to do is knock out the closet wall to make a walk-through. matt would like that right? to walk in one day with a wall out? :)

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  2. I keep all my hand me downs and next season clothes in the attic in large labeled tupperware. I have a large decked attic area and keep all of them up there out of the way. I label them "boy 18 months" or "girl 3 T" etc. I also keep a box for each of the children for future clothes. Sometimes people give me their hand me downs and they are too big for mine right now, I just label them and put them up there till they are able to fit into them. I also use it for garage sale/thrift store clothes that I find that are too big. I haven't been garage sale hunting very much though, so their grow into clothes are starting to dwindle : )

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  3. I have tubs in the playroom closet. But I have such a large gap between the girls that I have to store a lot of years between them. It's getting smaller though. :) Fact is, Little Bit gets all the family hand-me-downs (from 4 girls) so the clothes she gets are just too many.

    What I would really like is just a family closet for their "now" clothes.

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  4. Brenda,I have a family closet.It is the best idea ever.It holds all our current clothing and shoes.Not our coats or bedding.We have a coat and linen closet for those.I have all the hand me down clothes in my bedroom closet.

    we are planning on moving soon and every house I look at I think of where the closet will be.


    LucyT

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  5. We are in the same place right now, with training to keep rooms clean. For a while Sleeping Beauty was doing great, but now it seems she is slacking.

    And don't even ask me about Snow White.

    Her room is ALWAYS a mess, and I lost it yesterday. Twice. So, it's all cleaned up now, and we had a very serious conversation about how a dirty messy room makes mommy twitch.

    But I really haven't trained her properly, obviously, or she would be doing it. So we're back to training too. And we are doing inspections too! Are you using a chart or something? Would love your thoughts!!

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I don't get to talk to a lot of actual grown-ups during the day, so your comments make me really happy! :)