I am not sure how our linen closet became our game closet, but somehow it did, with half the linens in the linen closet and the other half in the boys bathroom. In the boys bathroom, I also put homeschooling books and toiletries too.
The main problem was the games were hard to take out and put away. Some were too long and you had to take out other games to wiggle the long ones out. Then no one wanted to put them away. It just wasn’t working.
Change Locations?
So one night last week in bed I was pondering how my life in the morning was so much easier now that I moved my Tupperware to a new cabinet. I started to think about where we could move the games. Suddenly I thought – The boys bathroom.
Maybe that doesn’t make sense at first, but we have great cabinets in there and I thought, if I rearranged stuff, I bet it would work!
I was so excited I did it first thing the next morning once the boys were off to school. I took EVERYTHING off the shelves. Got rid of some games and puzzles, kept only a few homeschool stuff I love. (I am not homeschooling anymore, but kept some math facts learning stuff and history stuff my boys love. )
Did my idea work?
Then I rearranged. The long games fit under the sink – I was not planning on putting games there, but they fit and I put the one we love and would be hard to replace in the middle in case there was a leak. But honestly my sanity is worth risking losing The Boy Scout Monopoly Game.
The rest of the games did not all fit in the bathroom, so about half went back in the linen closet. But there was plenty of room for all the linens now. Also the vacuum is easy to get out with no games on the floor!
The homeschool stuff I kept fit nicely behind a few short games. The top shelf has toiletries and cleaning supplies. I have boys so there is not a huge need of room for these things.
We also have 2 drawers I didn’t take pictures of, all we have in there is spare toilet paper. (Though I did throw away a pull up that has probably been in there for 2 years!) So when the boys get more stuff they can put it in there.
All in all I am thrilled with how it turned out. I am a bit bummed all the games are not together, but it isn’t hard to check both places to find a game. At least now it is easy to get them out.
What did I most learn? Think outside of the box. Things don’t have to stay where you have had them for the last few years. There may be a better place to move them and that will make your life easier!
Love your blog! I just became your newest follower! 🙂
http://purplebookbloggingmommy.blogspot.com/2011/03/staying-organized-cleaning-and.html
I must say the games look great and they fit! But I don’t hink I could put them in the bathroom I can’t get out of the box. Happy Organizing!
I love it! I love finding new/better ways to organize stuff. And I love reading about others organizing!
Looks great!
Great thinking! Overall being open to changing the way you think or I think has been a very important part of organizing. Obviously 53 years of thinking the way I have been has not been working!