Fantasy v.s. Reality. Dressing room Organization
it's been a CRAZY DAY! but uber productive. and well, sometimes that's as good as it gets!
I'm finally getting 2 seconds to sit down and blog and i CAN'T THINK OF A THING TO BLOG ABOUT!
it seems i have my best blogging inspiration in the morning.
by late afternoon, I'm apparently brain dead.
so bear with me.....
how about a look at my facebook status for inspiration-
Crazymamaof6- Lives in a home where organization is just a fantasy and adhd is our reality.
yeah, this was posted on a potty break this afternoon while my little sister was over, we were MOVING MOUNTAINS (of clean clothes) from the front room to the dressing room.( Dressing room....is also known here as the Family closet. but more accurately labeled as a failed attempt at being organized.)
so we were moving mountains, like the determined little worker ants that we are. when the kids demanded help cleaning the basement(aka the VORTEX), so they could have the previously promised sleepover as soon as the Vortex was clean .
and so naturally we live with adult Adhd (or ADD in my sister's case), she abandoned the mountain moving to help the herd overhaul the vortex. mostly just directing them to work together.
i was distracted as usual looking at all the loot I've previously purchased that i have sitting new in the bag at the end of the clothes sorting counter.
In order for everything to fit in the Dressing room, i have to PURGE HUGE AMOUNTS OF STUFF! the kids clothes bins are already full, and yet they have HUGE stacks of stuff, that doesn't fit anywhere in their bins or in their section of hanging space.
Clothes that are the right size. that look decent. but when they are all clean at the same time, we have TOO MUCH of everything.
ever wonder why? while cleaning and organizing I've had lots of time to think about where I've gone wrong...
because-
-i buy too much of everything.
-i have alot of kids.
-i don't do laundry often enough so we have enough to get by without doing laundry.
- I bought it cheap, so i bought alot!
-some were hand-me-downs from cousins. or given back from my hand-me-downs.
-i continue to buy new even though we have an abundance of outgrown clothes from
siblings.
so I'm slowly but surely purging.....
-EVERYTHING i don't love.
-everything that is holey or worn out.
- everything that is outgrown.
- everything that isn't actually ours (like grandma's clothes that have made it home with us.)
-if it's just total crap, i just chuck some of it.
All of the good stuff is going to a garage sale where everything will be DIRT CHEAP to get rid of it, and whatever is left after that is going to be donated somewhere.
So ideally after all of my purging, and getting rid of, i will (ideally) have a manageable amount of stuff to work with. not so much that there isn't' room for it all, and not so little that i have to do laundry every day for the kids to have clothes to wear.
i'm still realistic about my habits and limits.
I'm thinking...3 weeks worth? is that too much?
at this point i have 2 months worth of clothes for everyone without ever doing a load....Ok so maybe not that much, but it's excessive. Thus laundry mountain.
so anyway. i fantasize about a clean organized home where i can manage all that i have to.
as always my adult Adhd gets in the way. but if i purge enough it can be managed ideally.
NOW, the basement is mostly done. thanks to my sister and her ADD and the herd of kids.
it's not QUITE DONE for the sleepover to happen tonight. but i foresee a sleepover with at least 6 extra kids sleeping over sometime in my VERY NEAR FUTURE! a deal is a deal.
maybe i should finish this dang long post and go hang up some clothes, or purge more of the crud i don't need anymore.
i have a question for you....REALLY, HELP ME OUT HERE! please?
how many sets of clothes do you have for each kid in your family?
or if you mix and match,
how many shirts and how many pants do you have for each person?
how do you store your seasonal clothes? and where?
what about the clothes that you are passing along to a sibling? how do you store them? do you save clothes to pass along?
spill it. seriously i need all the help i can get.
and maybe when the dressing room is finally organized and maximized I'll treat you to a blog photo tour of it.
© 2009 crazymamaof6
15 comments:
I sort through our clothes after every season. Dr. Hubby is the worst to try to hold onto his clothes...he currently has 36 shirts for work...24 for workin' on the farm...and I pulled 43 to give away. He made me put the 43 in an old suitcase in the basement in case he needs them! Argh!
I would say I have a week worth of clothes plus 3 nice outfits for special occasions. Manga Dork has bottoms for 2 weeks and enought shirts for eternity. The 2 little ones probably have enough good outfits for one week and one week of play clothes. Good luck with your clean out!
The boys each have about 4 pairs of shorts (because those can be ideally worn 2 times without washing), 3 pairs of pants, Gavin actually has more because of hand me downs. And then they each have about 8 or 9 shirts (both short and long sleeve), then they only have 3 pairs of pj bottoms, whether they are shorts or pants and they both wear plain white t's to bed. Since I only have 2 the summer stuff is in the dresser in their room and winter is in the playroom dresser. I have it so I can go a week without washing. Then they each have one set of church clothes. 1 pair of flip flops for each, 2 pairs of tennis shoes, and 1 church shoes. All the stuff from Corbin waiting for Gavin has gone into those nifty space saver bags, seriously love them!!
first i need to say i am totally jealous that you have a family closet, that would make my life so much better.
second be sure to tell me when you have said yard sale.
i need to go through the laundry monster and see what fits for school but the girls pretty much have a week of good clothes and a week of "play" clothes. we do mix and match. seasonal clothes are supposed to be in rubbermaids but those have been stolen to put sewing/craft items in since i lost my sewing/craft room to daycare (it is my front room). so they are pretty much in piles in my room. clothes get passed along as long as they make it through.
Are you sure your not a hoarder? Just kidding of course because I don't even know you, but your stories remind me of a hoarder(remember a while back your too many shoes and no matches story)?
Anyway I have 3 boys, so I have a lot of stuff passed down from one boy to another, and I have this problem with wanting my boys to look a certain way, which is not white trash, so I buy too much for this reason! It's my excuse and I'm sticken to it!
I have absolutely no advice and I wish I had a family closet because my bathroom is the family closet and it's not big enough.
Now that you mention it, I need to go back to my attempt to organize because it's all on my bed!!
My boys of course are simple, shorts and t shirts. I find the older they get, the less hand me downs they get. I put hand me downs in tubs and label them by size. When the tub is full, it's full. No more clothes. I put church shoes, sandals and cleats in a tub as well and pull them out as needed. Tennis shoes are usually pretty thrashed.
It must be in the air because I was purging today as well. I have stacks of clothes that need to be sorted and put into tubs. I guess there is always tomorrow.
Taylor has 10 pair of shorts. But some of those are like basketball shorts that he also sleeps in.
Connor probably the same.
They both have about 15 t-shirts and polos.
Church clothes - 1 suit each. Taylor has only two white shirts and one other pair of pants. Since he's a deacon he can only wear white shirts. I make up for it in ties. Connor has two pair of pants besides the suit ones, and about 4-5 shirts.
I put the clothes Taylor has grown out of that I'm saving for Connor in a rubbermaid out in the garage, labeled with what size it is. But lately I've gotten rid of some stuff instead of keeping it. Some things I just know I won't want to see Connor in. And I have some clothes of Connor's that I need to give away, which if I bring to bunko, I won't let you take any home ; )
Luvpilot is putting cupboards in my laundry room this week so I can be more organized - yay!
Oh and you know if I had girls I would totally have a clothing problem at our house!
I'm always purging and always have a bag to go to donation. Of course, there are lots of hand-me-downs that I put in labeled boxes in the hall closet so they are accessible. I'm so sick of those hand-me-down boxes and love when I don't need the smallest size anymore. If I had girls, I'm sure the clothing would be quadrupled! They get a few new things for school every year, but we get rid of some of the old so that the new will fit in their dressers.
Julie, I'm like you, I have clothes coming out of my ass! The only difference is that I only have 2 kids so it is much more managable. I have their summer stuff in their dressers right now and I have the fall/winter/spring stuff stored in bins in the closest and will rotate those clothes as the weather changes. I have started selling the old clothes that the kids have outgrown on Ebay. I make a nice little profit and I am not completely overwhelmed by all of the clothes.
~shannon
First-I HATE doing laundry. I have to do at least a load a day to keep up on the laundry sometimes more. I have one bin for each of them that we rotate winter/summer clothes in, if it looks like it's not going to fit them that particular season we get rid of it, sometimes I can save something of Emily's for Katherine but it's usually just the dresses.
I remember how much laundry we had at our house growing up (there are seven kids in my family), so I feel for you, it was very overwhelming for my Mom and I don't think she ever got on top of it, we at some point had to start doing our own laundry, I was prob. 10 and I know that helped my Mom a lot.
OH HOW I HAVE MISSED READING YOUR UBER-FANTASTIC BLOG.
NOW I AM RIGHT HERE WITH YOU ON THE MOUNTAINS OF STUFF AND SHOPPING TOO MUCH, BECAUSE REALLY, WHEN IT IS ON SALE, DOES IT MATTER IF YOU ALREADY HAVE 14 OF THEM AT HOME?
I HAVE NO IDEA HOW MANY MIX AND MATCH ITEMS I HAVE FOR EACH KID. TOO MANY.
AS FAR AS PASSING ALONG CLOTHES, WELL, I SAVE THE GOOD ONES IN THE VERY TOP SECTION OF MY LITTLEST ONES CLOSET AND DONATE THE REST. IT GETS TOO DARN CRAZY AND I NEED TO PURGE MY WHOLE HOUSE AGAIN AS OF NOW.
I LOOK AT IT THIS WAY... SUMMER IS ALMOST DONE AND IN TWO WEEKS I WILL HAVE FULL DAYS TO ORGANIZE AND THROW AWAY WITH NO ONE HOME TO SEE WHAT I AM DOING!
LOVE WHAT YOU WRITE LADY!
My son has like 8 shorts, and 6 pants, and like 20 shirts. My hubby and i have about 2 weeks worth of shirts, but only like 4 pairs of pants for him and like 6 shorts, 4 pants for me. Pants and boxers of the hubsand is always the tipping point for when to do laundry. I (mostly) do laundry on sundays during the NASCAR race.
hmmm. i think i'm the last person to ask. 1. i have no kids. 2. i have about 85 pairs of shoes and i fill one walk in closet by myself and 2 other non-walk in closets. i think i have about 20 jackets/coats alone. that's not including my 2 dressers. good luck!! ;)
I have no help to offer. I'm in the same boat as you. And not only to I keep buying them new stuff, but the grandparents can't control themselves either. Even when I have a mountain of laundry there still isn't room to get it all put away...and between them that's closets and three dressers. *sigh*
Clothes are seriously my biggest problem. Because I am soooo unorganized. I have clothes that don't fit X but are waiting until they fit X. ANd I don't know where to put them. SO they end up on my bedroom floor. ANd my house is too messy to ever find what I need. ANd my 3 year old doesn't have enough clothes. ANd the girl above her is 8 years older. No hand me downs. SO she lives in a bathing suit. WHich is fine for summer. But she will be starting pre school soon. And I don't have the cash. BEcause I have a teenager. ANd now I am ranting. WOo hoo!
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