I raised five kids, a tough partnership for anyone; I was devoted to it, and it will be the most delightful, relevant role of my life. Furthermore, applying the promising mother and stepmother enterprise, continues throughout your lifetime: they never really leave. My children and I share the most crowning and heart-felt relationships that anyone could ever experience. This is a deep love.
Nonetheless, my residence accumulated clutter; and as I bustled around the house, growling at the kids to pick up their toys, shoes, games, car keys, wallets, and things I couldn’t repeat or pronounce, I therefore hit upon a nifty thought. How about tote bags?
I acquired eight impressive totes, and had each family member’s name engraved on them, and added tote bags for my pets. I had a two-story home at this time; hence, I would line up all the tote bags on the stairs. When the family arrived home they would leave their keys, shoes, books, and miscellaneous junk into the totes. This method worked! I was so excited; whenever they would grab their tote bags and head upstairs, I made sure this became a habit with them.
Tote bag, pictures from Flickr.
It seemed that every morning everyone was demanding to find their keys. "They’re lost!" the kids would scream; my husband could be heard eagerly condemning the poor dog. Those days are over. I tell them, "Guess what? Your keys are in your tote bag, along with the cell phone and your smelly sneakers and everything you can put in your purse." The boys are still searching for their rank-smelling sneakers, though, as they presumably didn’t place them in their totes. Getting yourself organized, teaches your children the concept of organization. At first, it seemed so difficult for them to "GET IT" but, as Tim Gunn would say, "Make it work!"
After they emptied the contents in their room, they would bring the tote bags back down. The now-empty tote bag would be returned to the stairs; I told them to leave their car key and whatever else in their tote for the following morning. While I was tidying the house, I would pick up the miscellaneous articles and sort them into their totes.
My dogs would have more toys strewn all over the house. I would pick up their toys and put them in their tote bags; in seconds, most of the time, they were scattered all over the house again. They fancied their toys where they can see them. That inspired me to laugh, which blossomed into hilarity. Rearing a family is rewarding and when you can find compact ideas to make your life easier, why not?.
You can carry your dog with a tote bag. My dog always goes with me when I run errands, and she jumps inside her tote the minute I put my shoes on..
Pictures from Flickr
My husband made wood containers with a lid, for the kids’ toys out in the back yard. Clutter is one thing however, I can’t describe how often I would get out of bed in the middle of the night in total darkness and trip over things, it could be just about anything–this is outright dangerous. Well, luckily I created a new family tradition. The family that totes together, stays together in a tidy house.
