Help organize my small apt.?
My family and I live in decent size 2 bed,1 bath apt. I have triplets in one room and my husband and I in the other. Our kitchen and living room is decent size. The problem I am having is getting organized. I have a lot of trouble with shoes.I also work out of my house,home school, and the triplets are girls that are each there own person. Oh and we have 3 dogs too.
Please don’t say get a bigger house ( we can’t afford that, i am disabled and my husband works.One of our daughters i s disabled as well.)
I think if i could get some good ideas. It would be great. Thanks so much!
Please be kind. Thank you
I would suggest even if you don’t think you have a lot of stuff, check for clutter. Really look at if you need everything you have. If you can streamline to small collections of versatile hardworking items, everything else will be easier. Look very carefully at excess of things that you may like and use but you have too many: clothing, shoes, bedding, linens, dishes, pans, towels. When you have a bunch of things that are not all in use at the moment, then you invite mess and failure: you have to store what is not in use; it is easy not to stay on top of keeping these things clean and ready to be used again because there are plenty of items on deck to use while the others sit dirty; and when everything is dirty the pile is really intimidating. These kinds of things make generous donations or can be sold because they are still serviceable. But if you can’t do that, at the very least, set out what you really need of these types of things, and box up the rest in labelled containers and store them up high, down low, really really far out of the way. Shop from this stash when you need to replace something instead of going out for more. It is easier to live when you have more room and less stuff.
Also, it is important to treat your kids as individuals, of course! But as much as possible you can furnish them with creative toys that appeal to different kinds of kids. Art supplies. Books. Balls and blocks. Dolls and other pretending toys. I guess that is pretty much most kinds of toys! What I guess I am trying to say is there is no harm in providing them with community property to play with, and keeping "their own" stuff to a bit of a minimum. A bonus is that it reinforces social skills to share with each other.
When it comes to storing toys, use small stacking bins or containers with lids instead of giant toy boxes. Then everything will have a home and the kids will know where to put it. If they are too little to know how to put everything away, then use a big laundry basket and teach them to put everything in that, then YOU go behind them and sort them into their places. Hide away some stuff that you know requires supervision like finger paints. And if the kids have an overwhelming amount of toys, get rid of as much as possible, then divide the rest and store half of the toys away for a month, then swap them out.
When you think about your rooms, you want them to be flexible. You should be assigning them with storage roles, and beyond that, those areas, and your storage furniture should serve specific purposes too. If you don’t designate a home for things, then no one will no where to put them away (which means less help) and you won’t have as easy of a time finding things when you need them. Are the toys in the living room or the kids room? Where is the family office area? Where do the family’s books and videos go? Where does dirty laundry go? Where do you keep linen? Assign everything a precise home, otherwise all the drawers and cabinets and closets will become places to hide stuff.
Some precise suggestions (depending on room size):
Look for hidden storage. Up high, down low, behind something, under something. Under the beds. Under the couch? Trunk of the vehicle? These areas are for stuff you don’t use every single day. Maybe it is out of season, or you have rotated it out of use for a time. They can be a lot less accessible, and may not even need to live in the room of use if you are really desperate for space…just be sure your storage containers are see through, or labelled, or both, and start a little map or written log of your storage inventories so you can find things when you need them.
If you don’t have it already, get wireless internet and a wireless printer. Then everything you do can be portable and you don’t need a full office with a desk. You can tuck up the printer anywhere, and you can use your dining table as an office area and as a craft and puzzle area for the kids (get a cheap vinyl tablecloth for this). You can put all your family files and office supplies in a portable container such as a tote bag that holds file folders and a family information binder, and store in a nearby closet or buffet furniture.
Linens: Store spare bedding in the rooms with that size bed, maybe in an extra dresser drawer, or in that closet, or in the nightstand. Use duvet covers instead of having whole extra comforters, or use space bags to vacuum out the air. Get everyone used to hanging up their towel and reusing a few times. You can get by with 2 towels per person, and wash them once or twice a week. Store a jumble of washcloths in a small basket in the bathroom, and you won’t have to fold them.
When it comes to food, cleaners and toiletries, try not to stockpile too far ahead. Let the store store things for you and buy a replacement for each thing when you start a new one. If you are not crazy brand loyal, then you know that for every item you use, some brand of that thing is always on sale, and there really isn’t a huge variety among brands of common items. If you must pick up a crazy amount of stuff on sale, squirrel it away and don’t let it all creep into use at once. Store that stuff up high, down low, out in the garage, in a closet somewhere.
In the mean time, really try to use up your consumable goods that are taking up a lot of space. You will love the relief it gives you. Often things accumulate in the bathroom. If an item is not the miracle you thought, and you can’t use it for something else, then pass it along or toss it. If you have a lot of half or less full items, pick them off one by one…set the least full out and everyone use it until it is gone. Continue to set out the least full of your remaining items, and disperse them in various places around the house (other bathrooms, kitchen, in your suitcase, in your camping gear). Stash partial bottles of lotions and hand sanitizers in the car, in your purse, in the diaper bags, by the night table, in your mani-pedi kit, etc. Then when you finally need to replace these things, consider buying items that are appropriate for the whole family, or things that are versatile enough to do at least more than one job…tinted moisturizer, soap you can shave with, toothpaste with mouthwash, dusting spray that cleans glass, etc.
Get an airtight container for your pet’s food and treats and keep it on the pantry floor if you can.
For shoes, really look at the possibility of clutter. No one really needs more than 10 pair of shoes…can we agree? You won’t ever wear them all enough that they are all broken in. And if you are trying to finance your growing children to have a multitude each…it seems like a huge waste of money to keep replacing them in each girls size. At the very least you might be able to rotate your shoes in and out, similar to what I said about the kids toys, and similar to how you pack and store out of season clothing and shoes. After you have narrowed things down, under bed boxes, dish pans (for kids shoes), and fabric cubbies that hang from a closet rod are good ways to keep them put away.
Maybe not possible now, but it does sound like you should start saving for a move. With triplets, you are quickly outgrowing your home…I know you didn’t want to hear that, you probably do know. But it was said with love. I wish you the very best!
well the best solution for shoes is buying a great shoe rack that folds and hides the shoes, they come in shape and sizes of cabinets now that you will find after a little search, you can put all the shoes in there and forget about them till the next time you need them
assign each child a cabinet or shelf of his or her own so that they can keep their things in them which will automatically leave the houe clean, as you cannot do much, i would recommend that you take charge being an administrator and guide your husband and kids on how they can keep the home neat and tidy, if you can afford, get a help coming in once a week and help you tidy up things that are not needed on daily basis, get some nice looking display cabinets where you can disply the good things and get space in closets to store the needed things.. hope it works for you! do leme know
Cardboard under-bed storage boxes! If you can slide them under your present beds, use some for shoes, some for out of season clothing, and some for storing toys, games and books. They keep items dust free, handy and out of sight.