Let's get organized - kids closet edition

Though I would love to post about our daily activities with wonderful pictures...my camera is having a hissy fit and I can't get it to work. I discovered this when we were letterboxing and picnicking as a family on Saturday. The weather was beautiful, the scenery was great and...I kept getting some kind of an error on my camera. So I am digging into my pictures that I have already uploaded so I can keep posting.

After moving in and unpacking, my next order of business was to organize closets. Several years ago I used my birthday money to buy some basic closet organizers. I have now used them in 3 different houses and both master bedroom closets and kid room closets. I like how you can move them from closet to closet depending on the biggest need. They have gotten a lot of wear and tear on them. To freshen up the ones that looked bad, I used white contact paper to cover them up. It worked wonders and rather than tossing them out and getting new ones, we can refurbish the old.
These are really intended for shoes but they fit will with bins on them like shelves. Again...I always start the same way. Pull it all out, make piles of like items and then find some kind of container to hold the items. And of course...label with my handy dandy label maker.

I used to really like the white bins but my new favorite is the clear bins with attached lids. I love how you can see the items. Notice Tally's rock collection (I had one and my grandmother had a HUGE rock collection, guess it runs in the family). If I run out of containers, I use shoe boxes. Sometimes I cover them with contact paper. Great way to reuse what you have.
Rather than let the kids keep their own toys in their own spaces, I make them put them all together. Then each child keeps different toys in their space. For example, Tissy keeps the baby dolls in her room and Tally keeps the puppets. It helps with sharing everything - like family property.

This is one of Tissy's closets (her room also has a linen closet in it). I used to have these shelves for clothes in my closet, but let's be honest...I am not into clothes so I put them to better use. I love how they look like cubbies. Tissy loves to organize and keep things tidy. A girl after my own heart.

Here is the linen closet in Tissy's room. We are using it for toys right now. For large items like the baby dolls, I find laundry baskets work well. If you don't have a closet to use for storage, under the bed works great. In our last place we used these bins under her bed and she could slide them out when she wanted to play with certain toys. Notice my cardboard box that says purses...it doesn't have to be fancy. That kind of container works well too, as long as our things have a place.

Happy organizing - what a great way to spend a summer day...getting tidy. =)