Category: One Step At A Time

Organizing Toys: One Step At A Time: Making A Start

Organizing Toys

With Christmas nearly here, I used my one step at a time approach to start organizing our toy room. It’s not finished, but at least I’ve started – have you?

With Christmas fast approaching, the impending influx of more toys has me in a state of panic.

I have been very tardy about sorting my son’s room out since we moved what remained of his toy clutter from the old toy room (now a martial arts room) to his bedroom.

It all got piled in one corner, then overwhelm kicked in so I kept putting off the inevitable as the thought of starting such a task that seemingly had no end in sight was no fun at all.

Anyway with my new ‘one step at a time‘ philosophy, I have allowed myself to make a start on the room with no expectation of finishing it in the same sitting – phew. That’s a load off.

So I did. I decided to spend half an hour – I had a bit more time than usual – as it was a Sunday, so I took up a load of empty boxes from my stash along with a trash bag and set to work.

 

 

I actually dragged my son along to help although his idea of helping was to play with the toys at the bottom of the chaos that he hadn’t seen for a while. Anyway he was there to say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to which toys he wanted to keep.

Stupidly I didn’t take a ‘before’ picture – doh. I think I was so impressed that I’d taken the initiative and actually started that I got carried away!

Anyway I set the timer and off I went. At one time, each type of toy was contained in its own storage bin or box but things had not been put back hence the mish mash of mess that remained.

I took one box at a time and allocated each toy to either the trash or a box with that type of toy – so Power Rangers in one, one off items in another, Gormiti in another, Bionicles in yet another – you get the idea.

Boxes Of Toys

It went quite well so at the end of the 30 minutes I had a bag of trash and lots of boxes of more organized toys.

Trash Bag Of Toys

Toys All Sorted In Boxes

And More Boxes

I’m still left with this lot which looks pretty bad but believe me, I did get through quite a few boxes of chaos.

This will have to wait for my next ‘one step at a time’ session, but it’s OK because at least I’ve started and that has been a long time coming. Have you?

Ready For Step 2

Organizing Kitchen Cabinets: One Step At A Time: Today It’s A Shelf

Organizing Kitchen Cabinets

This is the story of one kitchen cabinet shelf being organized after a Christmas shopping trip to a supermarket far, far away!

I live in the middle of nowhere in the Spanish countryside. I miss flavored crisps, decent chocolate and exotic (!) foods such as coconut milk! So as a Christmas treat, my friend and I took a 5 hour round trip to the coast to a shopping mall to stock up on some goodies.

Of course we found ourselves in a few clothes stores before finding our way to the supermarket, but we got there eventually and boy did we shop!

This was great until I got home at 10pm and realized that the kitchen cabinet was so disorganized that there was no way I could fit anything else in. So I left my new purchases on the countertop until the morning and then got down to the business of decluttering and organizing the one cabinet shelf that I needed sorted to be able to put my shopping away.

 

 

This is what I was starting with. Not a pretty sight is it!

Organizing Kitchen Cabinets

This is what I needed to add onto this shelf:

My Shopping Spoils

So I emptied everything onto the countertop …

Empty Out The Chaos

… which left a clear shelf:

An Empty Kitchen Cabinet

I checked all the best before dates and piled up the ‘out of date’ things as I went along. What a waste.

What A Waste

I gasped (!) at the 3 bottles of mixed herbs I didn’t know I had and at the fact that they weren’t even in the spice cupboard. Poor show Chloe!

Duplicates - Too Many Mixed Herbs

I grouped like items together as I put them back in the cabinet and placed the things to use up first at the front. I did have a look around for anything I could use as a tiered or helper shelf but nothing came to mind. After the declutter and organization it turned out I didn’t need anything anyway though!

I Grouped Like Items

I’d purposefully stocked up on stock flavorings so as these are quite small, I corraled the oldest in a plastic container with other packets and started off my ‘excess’ pantry storage in a bookcase I’d moved out of my home office the other day.

Lots Of Stock Flavors

Corral Stock Flavors

Excess Storage

I thought I was finished but didn’t like the wall of coconut milk blocking my view of the things at the back (see above) so I moved them around a bit.

Finished

Look at all that wasted space at the top. If I’m ever short of cabinet space that will be perfect for an undershelf basket or helper shelf.

So there you have it. I’m getting organized at home – one step, shelf, drawer or space at a time. Please join me and share your successes.