During the month of August...

I like to pretend I'm organized. I like to pretend I keep everything clean and organized. But the truth is, I absolutely do not keep everything organized and clean. I'm very good at hiding messes in my room, under my bed, in a random closet or cabinet, and in the trunk of my car. My husband can attest to all of these things.

I'm always thinking of new things to do (like this blog) and often times I get started on something and have every intention of cleaning up my toys before running to the next project, but like my son, I like to leave it all out to come back to later...does this sound familiar to anyone else? Maybe it's because I'm a youngest child.

So this month I've been trekking through the world of trying to clean and organize everything and to clean up messes I create. Here are some thoughts and images from the month:

Sun. Aug 12 - Sticking with Julie Tringali's post, I'm going to reorganize E's room! Here are some "before" pics.

Current Organization = Messy

E's Desk - before

Mon. Aug 13 - E and I went to Target and bought (all on sale) some "dorm room" stuff to help organize his desk and toys. We bought 3 fillable ottomans to put at the foot of his bed and a cubby with 5 (we may go back and get more) boxes to put in the cubby.

We also went to IKEA and bought some desk organizers and the cheap IKEA plastic food containers for his LEGOs.


Tues. Aug 14 - Let's go to work! E and I worked on building his cubby and put together his boxes. We started organizing them. We have yet to label the front, but we will! E was a great helper. He used both his hammer and screwdriver to accomplish our task. Proud of him.

We did it!

Helping

Aug. 22 - In preparation for Ethan's birthday, we tried to finish up organizing his room so we would have room for new toys.

- We put larger things in his ottomans, including his LEGO train set, which is a beast. 

- LEGO organization went by size and purpose of the LEGO vs. color. I liked Julie's idea that it would take him longer to find things and challenge him to search.

- I labeled the boxes temporarily for his toys

- The IKEA food storage containers work perfectly because they're clear on the bottom and easily stackable within the cubby bins.

Some of our IKEA Storage

Ottoman Storage at the foot of the bed

Aug. 25 - Thanks to Tyler's parents, E now has a LEGO sorter. It fits perfectly into our cubby system and it strictly for things Ethan is working on putting together. Finished LEGO organization!

LEGOs and Toys Organized

Now to see if we can keep it organized.