Baskets are a simple, energy-preserving solution to organize
We recently moved from a single floor, two-bedroom apartment to a four-bedroom house with three floors. My youngest was about 4 months old, and I was still recovering from the wreckage done to my body by carrying and delivering an almost nine-pound baby. The first house we ever lived in was a half split-level, so I was not accustomed to the concept of things being out of their place on multiple floors. It took a few days of running up and down the stairs in our new place before I decided that there had to be a better way to keep things organized and tidy. Enter baskets, and their sanity-restoring abilities.
Pinterest for the Win
This concept is not a complicated one, but it has made my life a whole lot easier as a mom of three. I read about how to organize with baskets on Pinterest and decided to give it a try. When it worked, I wanted to share how successful it can be.
The Method to the (lack of) Madness
Simply put, I have two baskets that sit on the foyer of my steps leading upstairs to the bedrooms. Over the course of the day, my children manage to misplace and scatter toys, hairties, undergarments, shoes, books, and many other items all over our living room. We have a “no toy storage” policy in the bedroom that helps keep the mess in their room at bay, but lots of things from the bedroom inevitably end up on the living room floor. Because well, kids will be kids. And as stated in my last post, tidy house + small children = mission impossible. I don’t remember where I got my baskets, but here are some fun options for baskets: one is specific for stairs and another one that is a nice size.
The Process
When I see an item that doesn’t belong in the living room (and isn’t being used), I put it in the kids’ basket. My girls share a room so it makes it easy, but if they didn’t I would have a basket for each room. I also have a basket for my husband and I that collects our out-of-place items because, hey, we’re not perfect either. At the end of the day (usually right before bedtime), we bring our baskets up to the bedroom. We empty them and bring them back down to the foyer for a fresh start the following day. If my kids brought toys up to their room over the course of the day, I use their basket to bring their things back down and put them away quickly before bed. My almost six-year-old is able to help put away the items in the girls’ basket, which makes it less work for me. On laundry day, I use the baskets for clean, folded laundry so that I am not running from room to room multiple times over the course of doing many loads of laundry. It gets put away with the other things, and I feel a little bit more organized.
Simplicity = Sanity
I hope this concept helps any momma who feels like she is always running back and forth between rooms to put things away at the end of the day. If I happen to forget (or neglect) this task one night, I simply leave the basket there until the next night. This organization process that has simplified my life and helped me give that mental energy to my kids.
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