Better late than never!

Yep, I'm late as usual. I may have a teensy problem with that, but such is life. Sarah at Thrifty Decor Chick is hosting a "Declutter and Organize" party. I have been looking forward to this since she posted about it several months ago. I LOVE to declutter. In fact, frequently I get in trouble around here for getting rid of stuff (crap) we don't need. I've learned to be creative in my throwing away of happy meal toys and chuck e. cheese paraphernalia. And as for hubby's stuff...I just steer clear of it...I learned the hard way. My family does not share my affinity for decluttering. The picture above shows some of my favorite containers. They came in a set of three for about $10 from Ikea. I think I have 3 sets...I love them. This is above my computer desk and holds all related stuff. I am all about hiding the clutter in pretty boxes or containers!

This is probably one of the best things I've done to keep clutter under control. Having a family of six is great, but it also lends itself to quite a bit of clutter if not kept in check. This is our shoe basket. It sits right by the front door, in plain sight....no excuses to leave your shoes laying around. And believe you me...we have lots of shoes. I used to worry that having it right out in the open wasn't very pretty, but it is so worth it. In fact, I actually like looking at that basket full of shoes. For some reason it warms my heart to see all those shoes piled up. Maybe it's because they remind me of the people I love the very most in the whole wide world!

This is my girls' room. Whoa...we have alot of toys and a lot of pink! (btw, the other lamp is out in Dad's shop for repairs) These canvas storage cubes rock my world. They are cute and functional and hold a TON of stuff. And they come in all kinds of fun colors and patterns (Target & Lowes have the best selection). The shelving unit with the plastic bins is not my favorite thing, but it definitely does the job of corralling all those toys.

My dear sweet sister made this bookshelf for us many years ago. She saw one in the Pottery Barn kids catalog and thought, hey I can make that. And she did. She has a shop full of power tools and she is definitely not afraid to use them! You can't really tell in the picture, but the back is made of beadboard...so cute! Not only is it cute, it is extremely functional. It holds lots and lots of books, of which we have many. Plus, I am sure it cost her next to nothing to make and the one in PB kids is about $250 and it's not even that big. Whooty-whoot-whoo!

Oh dear! Can I tell you how much I despise stuffed animals? ALOT. And what have we here? Oodles of stuffed crap that my daughter just can't live without. So, what do you do? I am highly opposed to pet nets. They only make the ugliness of it all...more ugly. What's a girl to do? I'll tell ya. Get yourself to Target and look for something super cute to house them all in.

Above is the before, and here is the after :

Aaahhhhh.....so much better! Thank you Target, thank you.

Uh oh, I think I am passing on my shoe addiction to my daughters (age 1 and 3). Can I tell you how much I HEART these over the door organizers??? I have one on just about every door in my house. They are very versatile too. Think outside the box. Don't just use them for shoes. They're also great for craft supplies, pantry items, collections of small toys or trinkets, baseball cards, accessories, jewelry, bath items, etc. The possibilities are endless. Be creative.

In my 8 year old's closet, I've used it to organize all of those lego instruction booklets. It also houses the boys' magazine subscriptions. Just roll them up and pop them in. Easy and accessible when you need to find a certain one.

Ok, speaking of Legos...I have a problem I need some serious help with. See all those boxes? That is about half of what we own. Yeah, I know...crazy! But they are the most played with items we have. The boys LOVE them and so does daddy! Back in the day when we only had a few sets, organizing them wasn't a problem. Now I feel like the whole house is being taken over by legos. HELP!

Most of these sets are put together, but there are extra pieces and lots of older sets that aren't put together...culminating in a BIG HOT MESS! I need some suggestions. I've tried a few things, but nothing seems to work very well. It would be nice to have them organized in such a way that it would be easy to find what you need, but still have them out of the way.

HELP!

Please, any ideas would be welcomed and appreciated.