In no way shape or form do I have a history of being organized, together, tidy, or prepared.  It has served me fine in my 31 years and now, now it is time for a bit of change.  Just a bit mind you.  I am okay with flying by the seat of my pants most of the time.  Disorganization means you always have too much stuff in your car, which means you always have an extra outfit on the fly.  It means that you are used to the chaos and can whip up a meal when you haven’t made it to the grocery in far too long.  It means being able to step over the madness that is “creatively” strewn over the craft room floor and be okay with simply grabbing the wheel and pulling it over to calmer, quieter location of the house to begin.

But now, it seems with five sets of snow gear in the rotation now it was necessary to make a plan.  And plan I did!  A bin for each family member, a hook for each one of us, and there you have it.  This is a picture of what it ACTUALLY looks like.  I just snapped it this morning and minus the few items drying by the stove, this is reality.  I believe I can call this system a success.  I purchased three of the boxes at Jo-Anns and just painted a square with chalkboard paint for a name.  The other two I found a craft fair and they are so beautiful that I couldn’t bear to paint on them.  They are just perfect the way they are.  Lee and I can remember whose is whose I am quite sure.

In another corner of our world is the growing stack of artwork.  With two boys constantly pumping out all sorts of gifts, keepsakes, masterpieces, and creations I needed some way of taming it all.  For the past year I had been tossing everything we felt was worth while into a bin.  Last night, I got a wild hair and a minute to sort, separate, reduce, and label and there you have it.  My boys art; 2014 in a nutshell!

HOT PARTY. ?!?!?!!?  Let’s pause on this.  The back of it is a reindeer.  DADEL is Daddy Lee… for anyone curious.  The top left is a ferris wheel and the top right is one of Rowan’s famous spider people.  This particular one is in it’s web.

While I do embrace my free-sprited way of life (read-messy, messy, messy), it certainly feels good to have a few pockets of organization in our days.  Makes me wonder what else could I do that in a simple way would ease transitions and lessen the chaos.  Any ideas for me?  What systems work for you with your family?