The Attack

Thankfully I am still alive after the attack today. Where was the attack? In the Kids' room. Yes, dresser drawers and other areas desperately need help but "it" has been bugging me every day. Each day I would look at "it" and sigh, grimace, moan, and tell the kids that "its" day was coming to an end soon. The day finally came.

After 162 days of accumulation, playing, and cleaning up but not really putting toys away where they really belong/stashing...there was a growing mound in the corner of the room. Yes, I have worked in there to reorganize. I even bought a new bookcase to accommodate our growing collection of libros and to hopefully help that area look nicer. But in the busyness of these past weeks and with my limited ability to get around, that area has become an eye sore, a disaster, a mound of stuffed animals, cars, wagons, strollers, dolls, a total hazard.

Phase 1: My first area of attack was under the bed. Armed with my vacuum, I starting pulling out the bins. I found about an entire box of loose (unused) Kleenexes, a hand full of dust-covered hairbands and lots and lots of dust bunnies. I got that all cleaned up and it felt good. I moved a rolled up carpet we had stored under the bed to make room for their wagons and cars to be parked under the bed on the end.

Phase 2: Now my plan was to re-evaluate the bins' contents and move things around so they fit better. I brought the "stuffed animal bin" (one of them) out to the kids to pick some to get rid of. I know, I know, silly Mami! After asking them 3 times in desperation, they did manage to cull some and they were put aside in a pile. Now most of the animals they want to keep fit inside the two bins. Oh yes, that was with the help of creating a new "dolly bin" specifically for the girls' collection of dolls that were strewn about and tucked here and there.

Phase 3: Get rid of little baskets that I thought the kids would play with but have just become an excuse for clutter! Now that the under bed area was in good shape, I parked all the cars and wagons...including the empty wagon which is now providing a home to an airplane and bus. This is dual purpose - the kids don't have to dig as far to get those items and then they will be informed that those items need to be put back into the emptied wagon each time (rather than park it under the bed filled to the brim with junk.)

Phase 4: Dollies - the kids really do play with these and enjoy them immensely. They are valuable. Problem: Disorganized and kids constantly asking me "Mami, where is ______ de mi muñeca?" "Oh honey, I don't know! Where did you put it last???" And so the story goes. Well, it was time to deal with the problem. I dumped the three bins of miscellaneous doll stuff out and sorted...blankets, pillows and the like in one pile; clothes, socks and shoes in another pile; pacifiers, bottles, and other doll paraphernalia in another pile. Each has it's own bin now rather than a huge mess! I will be marking all of these bins hopefully with a picture of some sort!

Phase 5: To be continued. I was exhausted and the kids were tired and hungry so I put the room back together as best as I could and decided maybe I can attack it again sometime!

Don't worry, I plan to have a very thorough overview with the kids about what goes where and what does not go here or there. Now that I am getting around better I plan to do better inspections too. They really had been picking up pretty well but things seemed to get really out of hand after I hurt my foot. I have tried and am continuing to try to help them by creating concrete areas for items to go. Today's attack helped and it will be fantastic if I can work in there tomorrow too!

Hey, if you have any great ideas whatsoever, please be sure to pass them on!