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juststartn Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 17 2007 Location: Oklahoma
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 3:00pm | IP Logged
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Not sure if this belongs in here, but since it has to do with clothing, and storage...
A)my dds (almost 9, almost 7, and almost 5) share a room. And a dresser. Unsuccessfully.
B)they have destroyed said dresser
C)I am unwilling (and unable at the moment) to even consider purchasing another dresser for them to destroy
D)they *do* have too many clothes, and I am going to be weeding thru them this next week (we have company this weekend, or I'd be doing it tomorrow)
Now, having heard all of that, what do you recommend? I am going to junk the dresser. I have been considering the rubbermaid tubs, one for each, that can/will be stored under their bed (they have a bunk that they share--the two youngest on the bottom, oldest on top). The bunks are higher off of the ground than normal beds, as these were from the barracks and DH got them for free (solid oak, too!). So the tubs I am talking about, don't mean the small narrow ones, I am referring to the bigger ones. They fit very wel underneath the beds...
Do you all think that that would work? I'm just tired of hearing about drawers that don't work, are too full, etc, etc, etc. And finding clean clothes shoved under the bed, in the middle of the bedroom trampled, stuffed in their toy box or closet...
Rachel
__________________ Married DH 4/1/95
Lily 3/11/00
Helena(Layna) 5/23/02
Sophia 4/19/04
John 5/7/07
David 5/7/07
Ava Maria, in the arms of Jesus, 9/5/08
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JodieLyn Forum Moderator
Joined: Sept 06 2006 Location: Oregon
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 3:06pm | IP Logged
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well having the totes under the bed will keep too much else from getting under there..
But they won't work any better than drawers..
can't you just hear the same thing but instead of drawer it'll be tote.. the lid won't go on, it's too full, I can't get my tote under the bed, I can't get my tote out from under the bed, mom he jumped on it and broke my tote, clothes dumped on the bed or on the floor because it's sooooo hard to pull it out and take the lid off.. not to mention they'll pull stuff out to get to other stuff and leave it laying everywhere just the same.
__________________ Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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trish Forum All-Star
Joined: April 11 2007 Location: Canada
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 3:10pm | IP Logged
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I hope you can find a solution and then let me know. I have the same problem with my 4, 6, and 9 year old sons!
__________________ ~ Trish ~
Wife to Les
Mom to 8 Wonderful Kids
+AMDG+
Saintly Soaps
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Willa Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 28 2005 Location: California
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 3:12pm | IP Logged
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Can you keep some of their clothes in another closet or box somewhere less accessible? I do this with my 6 year old and (delayed) 9 year old. I have a little set of drawers where I keep their play clothes, and I keep the number of clothes streamlined so it's only enough for a few days. So the drawers don't get jammed and overstuffed. They can pick out their own clothes after they bathe, etc. Then when we are going out or going to mass I help them pick out what they are going to wear from the boxes which are stored on a shelf in my bedroom. I usually keep the clothes that I want to sty a bit nicer in these boxes.
As they get older and better able to handle their own things you can change the arrangement. Historically people got by with only a few outfits; I think it simplifies things if you have a handful (but having a handful makes it seem prudent, to me, to have a couple of extra clean outfits put away just in case the washer breaks down or we have a GI virus run through the house).
__________________ AMDG
Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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anitamarie Forum All-Star
Joined: Oct 15 2008
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 5:06pm | IP Logged
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My first thought about the tubs was that everything will get jumbled up and you'll end up eternally searching for underwear, socks, the favorite shirt. Is there any way you could put smaller "sub-tubs" in the larger one to prevent that? I think Willa is onto something by only keeping a handful of clothes in the room. Good Luck with this one. It seems to be a never-ending battle.
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mellyrose Forum All-Star
Joined: May 12 2006
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 5:09pm | IP Logged
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Last January, we got rid of dressers and went to baskets on a shelf. You can see a picture here.
This has worked great for us. There's a bin for underwear, a bin for socks, a bin for play shirts, a bin for plain shirts (no logo, picture, etc.), a bin for shorts, a bin for pants and a bin for pjs. Each boy is responsible for putting his own clothes away after I do the laundry.
In the year plus we've had this system, I haven't had any problems. The best part is that it is easy to sort the clothes because each "category" has its own bin.
Hope that helps!
__________________ Melanie in AZ
Colin (11/00), Nate (05/02), Lydia (04/07)
My Little Patch of Sunshine
Pictures of our Life
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wahoo92 Forum Rookie
Joined: Sept 30 2006
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 7:18pm | IP Logged
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Perhaps you could get something divided into five or so shelves, such as a sweater holder you could hang in a closet or one of those rubbermaid small drawer sets for each girl. Put a complete outfit-socks, unders, top/bottom or dress/leggings in each drawer/shelf. One additional shelf/bin for extra socks/unders/and a sweater/sweatshirt or two. Done. This would mean that you would have to purge to that point and out of season clothes would be kept elsewhere. I have friends who use a similar system successfully by hanging all clothes in closet grouped as outfits-they just lay accessories/socks/unders on top of main outfit. Bulky, I would imagine, but they say it works great.
Good luck.
Sarah
herdingturtles101.blogspot.com
__________________ Sarah
Ellie,11, Madeline, 8, Lucy, 5, Evelyn, 1
herdingturtles101.blogspot.com
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teachingmyown Forum All-Star
Joined: Feb 20 2005 Location: Virginia
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 9:19pm | IP Logged
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My girls are the same way. We do keep trying with the dressers, but it is frustrating. The big plus is that they wear mostly dresses. The dresses hang dry in the laundry room and almost never get taken to the room until the girls are getting dressed. I keep all underwear, tights and socks in drawers in my room. Otherwise I would be washing them over and over.
Other than that, they each have a drawer. Then there is a pajama drawer and a pants drawer.
Everything is a struggle, isn't it?!
__________________ In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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LeeAnn Forum Pro
Joined: May 25 2007 Location: Washington
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Posted: Feb 20 2009 at 9:30pm | IP Logged
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If you have the wall space, and can simplify the wardrobe, I would recommend pegs on the wall, perhaps even inside the closet (if you have one). Baskets for the underclothes. Not the collapsing accordion style pegs, but rather the straight line Shaker pegs. Then you can skip the hangers and drawers altogether!
The other thing that helps is taking away all the out of season clothing (I keep some in zippered bags that bedding came in from the store) up on the top shelves of the closet or in your own room. The less there is to get into, the less mess.
Only now my 11 year old has become interested in taking care of her clothing, and still not perfectly. The others....big mess makers!
__________________ my four children are 17, 15, 11 & 8 - all now attend public school - we read many 4Real recommended books at home
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Rachel May Forum All-Star
Joined: June 24 2005 Location: Kansas
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Posted: Feb 21 2009 at 10:02am | IP Logged
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LeeAnn wrote:
If you have the wall space, and can simplify the wardrobe, I would recommend pegs on the wall, perhaps even inside the closet (if you have one). Baskets for the underclothes. Not the collapsing accordion style pegs, but rather the straight line Shaker pegs. Then you can skip the hangers and drawers altogether! |
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Wow. This is sheer genious.
For next seaon's clothes I've been using those document boxes like they sell at Staples. Each kid has his own and I control access . These are just for things like dresses from last summer which might still fit in the Spring or handmedowns that they might grown into soon.
Good luck!
__________________ Rachel
Thomas and Anthony (10), Maria (8), Charles (6), Cecilia (5), James (3), and Joseph (1)
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trish Forum All-Star
Joined: April 11 2007 Location: Canada
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Posted: Feb 21 2009 at 10:26am | IP Logged
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Lots of good ideas!
__________________ ~ Trish ~
Wife to Les
Mom to 8 Wonderful Kids
+AMDG+
Saintly Soaps
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Erin Forum Moderator
Joined: Feb 23 2005 Location: Australia
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Posted: Feb 21 2009 at 3:16pm | IP Logged
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Rachel
My irl friend (who has 11 dc and was having BIG problems in this area) has all the clothes in HER room. At one stage they had a pigeon hole cupboard in the dining room, every night she placed out a set of clothes for the next day for the children. This worked really well for a while. Perhaps you could keep those bins in your room.
Jodie, you make me laugh, you soo get it.
__________________ Erin
Faith Filled Days
Seven Little Australians
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Martha Forum All-Star
Joined: Aug 25 2005 Location: N/A
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Posted: Feb 21 2009 at 7:26pm | IP Logged
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I don't do dressers, not even for dh and I.
I get those rubber maid 3-drawer storage units.
They fit very nicely in a closet and the drawers are deep/wide enough to hold more than many dresser drawers
2 or 3 drawers for each child.
all shirts/dresses are hung up.
bottoms in one drawer. (if giving 3 drawers ea. one is for long pants, the other for shorts)
undies and PJs in the other.
all the kids' socks are kept in a bin in the shoe closet
__________________ Martha
mama to 7 boys & 4 girls
Yes, they're all ours!
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juststartn Forum All-Star
Joined: Jan 17 2007 Location: Oklahoma
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Posted: Feb 21 2009 at 9:22pm | IP Logged
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Well, I know I am going to be purging the clothes. Have to. Cannot stand the prospect of having to wash everything *again* because it has been tossed onto the floor, walked on, walked on again....
Once I downsize the number of clothes, the totes, well, there wouldn't be so much in there. Socks aren't in there anyway, the girls share their underwear (the girls wear approximately the same size, which works well for socks and underwear).
There isn't a place to put them elsewhere. I do NOT want the children in my room....long story, ain't happening. Honestly, if we go with totes, then at least we can just throw them in and slide them under the bed. I'm not asking for folding, just contained .
It shall be...interesting.
Rachel
__________________ Married DH 4/1/95
Lily 3/11/00
Helena(Layna) 5/23/02
Sophia 4/19/04
John 5/7/07
David 5/7/07
Ava Maria, in the arms of Jesus, 9/5/08
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