My daughter moved into her new place over the weekend and as much as I’m going to miss her I’m not going to miss the mess in her room! Now that I have this big old house all to myself it’s time to do some reorganizing and redecorating.
I helped with the move, Hailey and I actually took most of the boxes over on Wednesday and then the furniture got moved on Saturday. Today before the Super Bowl I went over to help them get the rest of the boxes unpacked and organize the apartment.
I’m an organizational freak. I need to know exactly where everything is at any time so when I first went into the apartment I started organizing, then I realized, if I put things where I would store them, Hailey will never find them.
As hard as it was I had to step back and let her unpack the boxes and tell me where things should go. I really tried to let her decide where everything needed to go but since organization is not her strong suit she needed some help.
Hailey is great at piling things on dressers and table tops “for now” but for now turns into forever so I had to help her figure out where they ultimately needed to be. She has a nice sized storage area so I kept gently reminding her that she can store things, like her t-ball trophies and all her stuffed animals. Not everything you’ve owned all your life needs to be on display. She was ok with it once she realized she didn’t have to get rid of any of it, just get it out of the main living area.
I also reminded her of the importance of storage containers. When we were organizing the bathroom she just kept throwing everything under the kitchen sink, tampons, hairbrushes, eyeliner, deodorant. I went and got some plastic bins and helped her sort items into the bins and put them neatly in the vanity. Hailey rolled her eyes while I explained how much easier it is to find things when everything isn’t just thrown in a huge pile, not to mention you don’t have to be afraid to open the vanity door.
All in all it went well, the kids are organized, they even have a little office area so they can find pens, paper and tape when they need it. Hopefully the little tips I taught her today will stick and next week she will still know where to find things.