For the Love of Boxes

I have a weakness.  I am a storage junkie.  Well, I'm a moderate storage junkie.  I do not own a Cricut or a Silhouette, nor do I insist on labeling every bin, basket, and box.  Honestly, I tried labeling everything neatly but the tornado that is my son is chaos incarnate.  I think the labels lasted a week before he had removed them all.  I gave up.  And, honestly, most of our things migrate, especially in the play room where collections grow and shrink perpetually.

Buckets and Green bins from Dollar Store

After reading many postings on Google Reader from organizing blogs ("iHeart Organizing" and "Organizing Made Fun" to name two of my favs), I ventured into the land of budget organizing.  I purchased bins and buckets from the local dollar store and found the perfect home for many toy collections.

The toy storage is made possible by the Expedit system from Ikea.  We have the older model, but love it nonetheless.  I am able to put things up high that I don't want the kids into and keep their stuff on the bottom.  It works great for us.  Some of the bins on our unit are from Ikea, but others came from the ClosetMade collection available at Target (purchased cheaply on sale).  It's a mishmash, but it works. This system allows a mess to disappear in seconds, which is a good thing since our room usually looks like this:

I was pretty proud of myself when we took a field trip to Ikea today and I walked away with only a set of the Glis small storage boxes for Anna's Legos and a set of miniature cutting boards.  I considered this a victory in attempt to bring fewer items into our home....until I decided we should head to Costco for another set of clear plastic shoe-sized storage boxes.

I cannot say how much I love these boxes.  They have been perfect for organizing Anna's art supplies and Legos (of which, honestly, she has an oversupply).  I wanted her to be able to locate what she wanted and then get them herself without having to ask for help or dumping small pieces (and or messes!) all over her closet and my kitchen.

I have also used these boxes to organize the hubby's space.  He collects things like old pre-paid cell phones, sim cards, and gadgets, not to mention what I perceive to be a lot of random junk.  Now his items also have a home.

Costco has the best deal on these boxes that I have seen at about $1/piece in a package of 14 boxes (with lids) and they are made in the USA!  Now, the boxes don't stack the greatest.  They do slide.  But, they function as I intended and therefore I was able to overlook this small inconvenience.

Getting organized does not have to be expensive, especially if you take the time to purge before you start shopping for a way to contain what's leftover.  The purpose of organizing in my home is to make our daily activities function more efficiently and neatly, not to simply make my home look pretty.  And, this can be done on a budget and without the latest labeling gizmos.  Get rid of stuff first, and then you won't need all those labels as you'll know right where to find something when you need it.

Holiday Home: Photo Tour

Here are some snippets of our home from the holidays. I  hope you enjoy!

The kiddos decorating our heirloom ceramic tree my mom painted back in the '70s.

My snowflake garland.

Felt "mittens" made by my cousin.

Bringing a little humor to the kitchen from the BEST holiday movie ever!!!

Dining room entry decked out.

Wreath decorated by yours truly.

Daphne, our elf, just hanging around.

Mantel garland.

The "Hall of Hallmark" sponsored by my wonderful MIL.

It's About That Time

....Yes, it's about time I wrote a new post.  AND, it's about time I explain just why I haven't posted in way too long.  This holiday season is a culmination of so many of life's events--the end of my cookie-eating, belt-busting season, the end of another great (and busy!) year, and the end of running around like crazy people attempting to start a new chapter in our lives.

We have been debating since September what to do about our lovely, though overly-large home and what it means for our lifestyle and sense of emotional and financial security.  Let's face it, we have the luxury of being in the middle class and having a choice in this matter, but that does not belittle that it was a difficult decision to make.  We have, indeed, decided to put our house on the market.  The fact is, that what we had assumed was our "dream home" does not fit our changing vision of what we want in our life.

What do we want, you ask?  Well, we want to maximize our savings while reducing debt (aka mortgage).  We want to decrease spending on outlandish energy bills required by soaring ceilings and two mammoth air conditioning units.  We want to decrease the time and energy required by cleaning and maintaining such a large property ourselves.  We want to minimize the spending on huge windstorm insurance bills and property taxes.  In other words, we want to downsize our home to upgrade our lifestyle.

We may come across as being insane.  Who wouldn't want a home with bedrooms for all, a guest room, a great location, a big back yard, a giant kitchen with granite countertops, lovely flooring, etc, etc, etc? Well, we are reaching the conclusion that we just don't.  We want to teach our kids that there is more to life than living in a beautiful home.  A home should work for you, not make you work more.  A home should bring us together rather than spread us apart and make us yell to be heard from one room to the next.  A home should be about the people in it rather than the stuff we fill it with.

We are working hard to make this house look like a home to someone else.  If it needs repairing, we're doing it now, and I'm not just cleaning, I'm detailing my abode.  I've moved past decluttering to donating, distributing, and selling the stuff that weighs us down. I'm desperately trying to remind myself with everything I touch, "You're going to have to pack and move that, you know.  This time, no movers to do it for you."  Funny how stuff seems way less important when you think about whether you want to pack and haul it yourself.  Then you realize how much stuff does, literally, weigh you down.

Every night (and throughout the day!) I say a little prayer that when our house does sell.  I just pray that when it does, there is a real home waiting for us nearby.