Last week I showed how I used to have to do a Dump and Organizing.  Because if the boys didn’t clean up during the day, things would get shoved in random baskets and buckets.  When I finally made them clean up after a few days or even a week we had to figure out whose stuff was whose!

So for this weeks challenge (which I actually did a few weeks ago, but am only posting now)

I came up with a new system.

I wanted to buy an organizer with 3 sections, one for each boy.  I thought I could put it next to my hutch.  But then I remembered!

Because I organized my Entertainment Center,

I had empty cupboards . (a small miracle)

So I organized the baskets in the bottom of my hutch so I could have the boys organize there instead of buying another storage system, use the one I already have!

and was able to clean them out.  I got 4 baskets of stuff down into 2.  1 is school supplies and the other is things we had saved from school last year.  I need them to go through that and decide what they want to keep and put it away.  Until then, those things are going into 2 boxes in the cupboards.

Leaving 4 empty baskets!

The big boys are not bringing tons of toys downstairs.  So they each get a basket.  If I find things laying around while I am cleaning, I put it in their baskets.  Then at the end of the day (or every other day) I say, “Empty your baskets”  and they do.  No more needing to dump and sort first!

Big Basket for T3

Since T3 has the most stuff, I have a bigger basket for him next to the hutch.  We try to bring it up each night, but sometimes it is every other day.  I have a bucket in the basket for legos.

We have been doing this a few weeks now and it works GREAT for the big boys. For T3 it would work better if we actually brought things up each night instead of letting the basket get so full it is overwhelming. But it is an improvement and I didn’t need another piece of furniture to do it!