I think the battle began once we surpassed the quintessential 2 children and a white picket fence family ideal that supposedly every American family abides by. The battle I am referring to is the amount of stuff that accumulates in a home with 3 or more children. Yes, the battle began back then and has continued as we have of course added more children.
If I don’t keep a tight reign on this battle the “stuff” threatens to overwhelm us to the point that I just might lose a child in all the rubble. Am I the only one like this? I found out that I am among a tribe of mamas who have become creative and astute at minimizing and organizing hacks for big families.
Hack #1- Tote Boxes & Labels
We use LOTS of tote boxes and labels. I keep, attempt, desperately try to organize and label neatly though more often than not I feel like I am slipping while trying to climb a muddy mountain. We have tote boxes under the little one’s beds for matchbox cars, superheros, Paw patrol and even dinosaur toys. The idea is that the toys are stored neatly out of sight and are supposed to be organized so when it is time to play the items can be found quickly.
Hack #2- Keep Most of the Toys OUT of bedrooms
I mainly employ this hack for the little ones, they have a total of 4 small tote boxes (shoe box size) in thier bedroom with toys in them. Other than that toys are kept in storage. We, as many a large family I am sure, use our garage to aid with the storage of “stuff.” I keep tote boxes that are labeled in the garage and when the kids want a particular item (train toys for example) we pull out one of the larger totes, they play with the toys and then have to put them back in the tote box before asking for something different.
Hack #3- 2 clothes bars per closet
Many large families find that children wind up having to share bedrooms. Most modern homes have 1 simple bar per closet to hang clothes. However, if you add a second bar you can keep coats for cooler weather, play dress up costumes and the like hung up and chances are little hands can actually reach the bars to help hang things back up.
Hack #4- Buy LOTS of laundry baskets
I have a laundry basket for each bedroom. What that means is when the clean clothes come out of the dryer they are sorted by bedroom and then each child carries their own basket to thier own room and is responsible for folding and putting away thier own clothes. The baskets are then stored in closets and brought to mom once a week for washing.
Hack #5- Command Hooks
These things are an awesome acoutrement to the organized household. They are small, yet mighty and can hold heavier items. This allows for hanging everything from keys on the wall to coats behind doors. You can even line the insides of your cupboards with a few and hang up measuring cups and spoons to free up drawer space.
Hack #1- Tote Boxes & Labels
We use LOTS of tote boxes and labels. I keep, attempt, desperately try to organize and label neatly though more often than not I feel like I am slipping while trying to climb a muddy mountain. We have tote boxes under the little one’s beds for matchbox cars, superheros, Paw patrol and even dinosaur toys. The idea is that the toys are stored neatly out of sight and are supposed to be organized so when it is time to play the items can be found quickly.
Hack #2- Keep Most of the Toys OUT of bedrooms
I mainly employ this hack for the little ones, they have a total of 4 small tote boxes (shoe box size) in thier bedroom with toys in them. Other than that toys are kept in storage. We, as many a large family I am sure, use our garage to aid with the storage of “stuff.” I keep tote boxes that are labeled in the garage and when the kids want a particular item (train toys for example) we pull out one of the larger totes, they play with the toys and then have to put them back in the tote box before asking for something different.
Hack #3- 2 clothes bars per closet
Many large families find that children wind up having to share bedrooms. Most modern homes have 1 simple bar per closet to hang clothes. However, if you add a second bar you can keep coats for cooler weather, play dress up costumes and the like hung up and chances are little hands can actually reach the bars to help hang things back up.
Hack #4- Buy LOTS of laundry baskets
I have a laundry basket for each bedroom. What that means is when the clean clothes come out of the dryer they are sorted by bedroom and then each child carries their own basket to thier own room and is responsible for folding and putting away thier own clothes. The baskets are then stored in closets and brought to mom once a week for washing.
Hack #5- Command Hooks
These things are an awesome acoutrement to the organized household. They are small, yet mighty and can hold heavier items. This allows for hanging everything from keys on the wall to coats behind doors. You can even line the insides of your cupboards with a few and hang up measuring cups and spoons to free up drawer space.
Of course I can’t give out all of my life hacks in one post, but hopefully if you are able to gleen one or two ideas from this list you will be able to get a head start on organizing that chaos of a big family.
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