A Little Organizational Tip

At my MOPS meeting a couple weeks ago one of the ladies talked about organizing. I am an organizational person. I love being organized. I love everything having it's own place. I love my label maker, baskets, bins, slots, folders, binders...you name it! The only thing that really keeps me from going overboard is my frugality. Otherwise I'd be shopping at the Container Store constantly. lol

One tip that I received at the meeting really stuck with me and it's regarding organizing your kids' toys, book etc. She said, "make it easier to clean up than to make a mess". The example she used was books. Like her, my 2 year old loves to go up to his book shelf, grab the books and just toss them on the floor. He may not even grab them, he may just take a sweeping hand and knock them all down. How does he put them away? He usually doesn't...not very well. They don't stand up on the shelf like us normal adults have our books. They just get tossed back up there, in little piles, and we all hope they don't just topple right back onto the floor.
The solution...a basket, bin or tub. The gal at MOPS said that she even grabbed some plastic cleaning tubs she had around the house and used them. I happened to have a couple plastic, shallow baskets from the dollar store that I was using elsewhere and was able to move them into Emmett's room.
The result is that I have 2 little bins that are perfect for his board/hardback books.

They go in the basket and he can easily put the books away. So far he hasn't been creative enough to grab the basket and just dump it on the floor. We'll see if that happens. But if it does, at least he can just put his books back in the basket and it will go back on the shelf.

**Note: the baskets on the bottom shelf actually go with my changing table. They are a temporary hold for his toy cars until we reorganize for the new baby.**

So keep in mind...with all your organizational needs...make it easier to clean up than to make the mess in the first place. :)