Living in Small Spaces

My house is on the smaller side. I am not complaining. I love my house! It is perfect for my family. And I do realize there are people with more children living in smaller spaces. However, as Americans we tend to "collect" a lot of stuff! (And when you have grandparents who think the bigger the better this makes things a little harder!) Due to having little storage My husband and I are constantly going through clothes and toys to donate or sell. Thankfully my husband is a master organizer. Shocking I know! Usually the wife is the clean, organized one. Not in this house. He wins that prize. All of what I am going to share with you is from his fantastic brain!
Due to having little amounts of storage we have learned to maximize room in closets, under beds, in bedrooms and in every nook and cranny you can think of. Today I am going to give you a peek into my sons room. This is his closet:

As you can tell we have loaded tubs with toys from floor to clothes. This helps with a few things. He can see all his toys and get to them easily. He knows he is only aloud to have one tote out at a time. Things stay organized and don't get lost. We are able to store a lot of stuff.
There are also smaller totes on top of the shelf above his clothes. My daughters closet and my closet look very similar to this. Now, I know what you are thinking. Those totes can be expensive. Yes, yes this is true. If you noticed, Broderick's all have red lids. This is because we bought them after Christmas a discount price of $4.24! That is like half off! Look after Halloween and Christmas for deals on them. They may be black, orange, red or green, but they are going in a closet for goodness sakes.

This is my Broderick's "dresser." His room is an army theme (still deciding on paint for the walls) so we thought this was a great look for his room. And guess what...more storage!

The fabric bins for the most part have clothes in them. There are a few with books, hats and misc. things. The buckets are full of...you guessed it...TOYS! and the long tote at the bottom is all guns and swords. The great thing about this is, I can rotate the toys in the closet with the toys in the buckets for better accessibility! This was not one of the cheapest things we have purchased, but it can be used for many things down the road. The shelf can be put in the garage, the fabric bins could be moved multiply places and the buckets...well, what can't you use a bucket for?

Due to the house being on the smaller side you can only imagine the room sizes. (Broderick's is actually the biggest of the 2 kids rooms.) We do have a tiny, very tiny, play room. But for the most part the kids rooms are also their play rooms. To maximize floor space we bought them both loft beds. This was probably one of the best discisions we made when it comes to their rooms. They love it first of all! And I love how much floor space they gained.

Broderick has a desk for playing Legos, coloring, doing school work, or collecting more stuff! (Which is usually what happens!) And look...we hid more tubs! Are you surprised! These can also be changed out with the smaller tubs in his closet. The bucket is also a great thing! Right now it is filled with G.I Joes, but for future it can be a laundry hamper or other things.

That is what works for me. I hope it helps you too!

Back to School Traditions

I know...
is seems crazy that school starts in just 4 weeks.
I think, "that is enough time to have a lot more fun!"
And then I think, "Ohmigoodness! 4 more weeks of summer!"

I love traditions! We have Christmas traditions, Halloween traditions, birthday traditions, end of school year traditions. So it is only appropriate that back to school has traditions too!

Here are a few of my favorite back to school traditions:

Each child gets a "special" day with mom about the week before school. For Carys this usually means getting our nail done, lunch and picking out a back to school outfit. For Broderick it will be a trip to the toy store and a park or indoor play area with lunch also.

The first day of school I will make a fun, healthy breakfast. They will come home to a surprise snack. And for dinner we will go out to eat or I will make a dinner of their choice.

There will be an encouraging note in their lunchbox.
(I usually do this everyday, not just the first day.)

Rob and I will give them a gift after dinner.

I will decorate their bedroom door or the front door to surprise them when they get home.

There will be time spent on the "cuddle chair" talking about their day.
(This is also something that is done each day after school.)

These are just a few of the things that work for me and I can't wait to explore more fun things to do. Tell me, what are you back to school traditions?

I have been flying for over a week!

Have you ever heard of the Flylady?

If you haven't you must check her out!

I was first introduced to her about 2 weeks ago. I am so thankful!

For any of you that know me, you know I love a clean house. I mean like, LOVE, a clean house.
Of course, with kids and summer, and trying to have a life, it can be very difficult.
(My house is small, so it isn't super hard to clean but I still feel like I am taking time away from my kids when I do.)

So, back to the flylady.
Among many other things, she gives you a "job" each day. She designates everything in your house a zone. Then each day you spend 15 minutes cleaning something in that zone. The best part...she tells you what to do. It always seems to be something you (I) don't normally think of.

Cleaning off your fridge.
Wiping fingerprints off doors.
Washing rugs in the bathroom.

Brilliant!

There a few things I don't really do. Not because I don't like her idea, I just prefer to do it differently. For example she says to get dressed each morning right away...to your shoes. I don't like wearing shoes in my house so I put on my slippers. This is also hard in the summer because I like to veg out with the kids in the morning in our jammies and drink coffee. (I drink the coffee, not the kids, and a lot of it.)
She also says to do a load of laundry a day. Ugh! I hate laundry so the idea of doing it everyday makes me sick! I understand for some of you with large families this works. I prefer to do it all in one day two times a week. I feel like the hamper is empty for at least a minute!

Somethings I absolutely love...
(besides what I already mentioned.)
She has a kids zone too! They are responsible for their rooms and she assigns them jobs as well.
Each day she includes 15 minutes of exercise and decluttering!
Sunday is your day of rest and spiritual "cleansing."
Her lingo is so fun. Flybabies - that's me. Super Fling Boogie. Swish and swipe.
Swish and Swipe. Ohmigoodness...this is amazing! Love it! (Can you hear me singing!)

All this to say it works for me!
Now go check out We are that family and see what else works for others!

How do you road trip?

With Summer upon us I am sure many of you are traveling.
My family just got back from a 9 our road trip. This is a trip we have made countless times so I have it down to a science pretty much. Broderick was 4 weeks old the first time we took this trip with kids. (That was not the best trip, but I have learned a lot since then.)

Before we go, I have the kids each pack a bag full of toys.

We load up on snacks. I pack each kid their own snack bag that is right by them so whenever they want one they can reach it.

We pack special car games (Card games like "Would you Rather" Super fun.) and coloring pages.

Of course, there are movies, DS, Leapsters.

And there are always gifts handed out throughout the trip.

Traveling can really be a fun thing.
(It can also make you want to stick your head out the window like dog and scream.)
I mean when else do you get to spend 9 hours with your family.

I linked up with We Are that Family for WFMW. Go check her blog out!