Reclaiming Our Bedroom Part Two

Before our second was born, I thought I was so organized.

Actually I got organized quickly after a doctor's appointment at 35 weeks revealed that I was "ready to go" at any time. So we went through 3 years worth of clothes from our older daughter, rewashed them all, and put them in neatly marked rubbermaids.

0-3 mo
3-6 mo
6-9 mo
9-12 mo
12-18 mo Spring/Summer
12-18 mo Fall/Winter
etc.

You get the idea.

We have a decent sized master closet, so the neatly marked rubbermaids, were neatly stacked, in our neat closet.

Until one day I was downstairs and heard the largest thud above me. It scared enough that I actually gathered the girls and my cell phone and ran outside to call my hubby. I had to ask him who in the world he thought might have been in our attic and fallen through to our bedroom.

He immediately knew that our neat rubbermaids were no longer quite so neat. I made him stay on the phone with me while I crept upstairs to check out the situation. Sure enough, the stack had fallen and I had a good bit of resorting to do.

Pair that with the fact that just when I would get out whatever new size of clothes for Jade to wear, she'd only be in it for a few weeks and then already be ready for the next bigger size.

When I put Lily's clothes from last summer away (mainly 2T), I really didn't think that I'd already be digging into them this summer for Jade who is only 11 months.

Then we are also on a couple of people's hand-me-down lists, which I love...until I have yet another bag of various sized clothes to work into the mix.

There are also those fun moments when I find a random outfit in the back of the car, in an old diaper bag, left at the grandparent's house, or even Lily's MDO backpack when the season changes and she needs a new set of extra clothes. It never fails, never ever fails, that whatever little outfit I come across not only needs a good washing, but also needs to be put away in the rubbermaid on the very bottom of the stack.

So, the rubbermaids that once occupied our closet have somehow taken over our bedroom. I think I decided that as often as I was getting in and out of them, it was just easier to have them out in the open. The problem is that my two little helpers don't really read tags. The sizes/seasons are all mixed up.

Basically you have just read through my long list of excuses for why our master bedroom has been taken over clothes ranging from NB to 3T in various shades of pink.

Looks like there are 11 rubbermaids to sort through item by item by item.

I tell you...we really want a boy if we end up trying for a third, but with all of the effort that has gone into organizing girl clothes around here...I guess he'll just be wearing a lot of pink.

I have been putting off tackling this task for months. Then I read on BooMama today about her Before and After Bloggy Extravaganza. It was just the push I needed.


I'm embarrassed to post these pictures, but it is just the kick in the butt I need. Plus I needed another reason for my hubby to consider turning off my blog. The look on his face as he saw me taking these pics. Priceless.

So, here are my goals for reclaiming our bedroom:

1. Sort and reorganize 11 rubbermaids full of girl's clothing.

2. Find a place to stack them that won't endanger any of our lives.


Even if that just means a heart attack because of a loud inexplicable noise in the house.


3. Get this bassinet, and baby changing area out of our room. Seeing that we haven't used it in 9 months...I think it might be time.

There is even a basket of strange breast pump pieces that really need to go. Somewhere. Anywhere. Just not in my room for one moment longer.

4. Rearrange furniture to reclaim this space that our treadmill occupied until a few days ago. The only exercise it gave me was when I crawled onto it to give it a dusting every month or so.

While I'm busy making goals, let me wander downstairs too. Again, my husband is really suspicious about the fact that I'm taking pictures of weird things at 11PM.

5. I'd like to get my pantry drawers in better order.

I think the gestation period of plastic sacks is even less than that of rabbits.

6. Jerry recently reorganized these laundry room shelves. They sort of serve as an overflow pantry when I get too excited at Costco. He made a few comments that led me to believe he wants me to keep them organized. Labels. Labels are the only way that will happen. I bet I can find a good deal on labels at Costco.

I have until July 25th to accomplish all of this according to BooMama. However my goal is to have it all done by July 6th when we have Jade's 1st birthday party.

Because I know that all of our guests will march right past my precious baby to first check out my closet, pantry and laundry room shelves.

I just know it.

Well, BooMama went ahead and extended our little deadline by nearly two months. With all that extra time, you'd think that I would have put a few extra things on my list.

You'd also be thinking wrong.

But I am happy to report that I did accomplish all of my tasks.

The clothes. Oh, the clothes.

I designated the girls' playroom as the sorting area. First I went through each bin and pulled out what didn't belong in there.

That made quite a pile. Then I got everything folded and back into the right place.

These are the newly organized bins.

This is their new home. May they swelter in the Texas heat. I don't care.

Since the attic isn't easily accessible. I am keeping the bin for their current size/season downstairs and also the next size/season accessible (which really only applies to Jade) so when a cold front blows in, I know where I can find an appropriate outfit.

I was annoyed after all of this reorganizing to find a pile of different sized socks...some even without mates. Gasp. Socks annoy me in general. Seeing that it was summer, they got tossed in a bag in the garage, to be dealt with later.

I think an invention of disposable socks is in order.

After putting my Sharpie to work on all those bins, I sat down at the computer to make labels for all of the pantry drawers and shelves. While I was at it, I labeled all the bins and shelves in the playroom too. And then just to prove my OCD a little further, I labeled all the shelves in our master closet as well. Would you believe my hubby as 3 separate shelves for logo tees...he likes them separated by sizes...M, L, and XL. As if getting the laundry folded isn't hard enough...he can figure out what shelf it needs to go on. Jerry is great though, he loves all of this new order. And he is the resident laundry-putter-awayer.

Next on the agenda was to tackle the side of our master bedroom which in one corner previously housed our treadmill and in the other corner a bassinet/changing area for Jade when she was an itty-bitty.

Getting this project completed felt even better than tackling the mountains of clothes. It is now just a sitting area (ahem, dirty clothes gathering area). We moved a pair of bookshelves out of the playroom, where they should have never been anyway, into the other corner.

Do you dig all of our Cliff's Notes? How about my hubby's elementary Indiana Jones lunchbox?

Looking at all these bare walls makes me think I should have put "hang artwork/decor" on my task list.

We've lived here two years and our bedroom is the one room we really haven't decorated yet. Oh well, at least it is a little less cluttered now.

Thanks, BooMama. Be sure to head over to her site for more Before & After fun.