My house always feels crowded!!!

amother

White

Mon, Aug 14 2017, 7:21 am

Toys, blankets, bottles, sippy cups, baby bouncers, high chairs, boosters, strollers, car seats, disposables, mail, papers, clean laundry, dirty laundry, towels, art projects, crayons, markers, coloring books...all drive me crazy!!! BH I'm a mother (and a therapist) and so I have a lot of "stuff!" My house always feel crowded and I'm not a hoarder at all. I am constantly organizing and reorganizing (because there's always more to organize!) We do use a lot of plastic and disposables so I guess that does take up a lot of space but I'm really busy and can't be washing dishes or running the dishwasher 24/7. My house always feels crowded. Help!

pause

Mon, Aug 14 2017, 7:33 am

What helps me:
1) Make sure everything has a place that's out of sight. IOW, sippy cups don't "belong" on the counter. Even if they're out and being used 95% of the time, you still know that when you want to clean up and pack away, that they will be out of your line of vision.

2) As much as possible, put things away every night. Yeah, I know in 10 minutes in the morning everything is all over the place again, but it helps you feel like when you want to, you can get it all in order. And the image of a clean, uncrowded house can pull you through the day of the messy, crowded one.

3) Any large objects should have a designated spot. Ideally car seats belong in the car, strollers in an outside hallway or in the garage (depending on what kind of housing you live in), high chairs in the corner of the kitchen, boosters on the chairs where they're used. Something like a bouncer or exersaucer should also have a spot, an assigned floor space preferably in some corner. Even if you like to use it in the middle of the kitchen, when not in use you place it in its corner.

4) Cleaning up the house while kids are growing is like shoveling when it's still snowing. When I feel like all I'm doing is packing away and the kids unpack way faster than I pack away, I tell myself, this is how it's meant to be. I'm grateful for the mess because it means I BH have children.

Hope this helps.

zaq

Mon, Aug 14 2017, 9:31 am

What cannot be cured must be endured. If you have organized to the max as per pause's post, if you've hired whatever domestic help you can afford, if you're teaching your children and dh to do their parts, if you purge early and often (do you REALLY need all that baby paraphernalia or are you either reluctant to get rid of gifts or a sucker for good advertising copy?) then what's left is to revise your standards for the time being and accept that a large family with small children in a small house is never going to be as tidy as two adults in a big house can be. After your nest empties out you can go back to fulfilling your Martha Stewart fantasies. Something to look forward to.

amother

Tan

Mon, Aug 14 2017, 4:49 pm

Organizing is not enough. Purging every day is necessary.

Extra baby paraphernalia is more of a hindrance than a help if it's always in the way. Downsize.

Car seats must stay in the car. Strollers must have a shed outside.

Everything needs a place even those items that need to be set down for a while. So if there are papers that need to "hang around" for a week or you need to hold onto until the child forgets about it with a new craft that comes home, then those need designated spaces as well.
One for each child on the fridge with name plates. Must be sorted weekly.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.....psc=1

Each child needs a basket in the closet of keepsakes they're keeping like report cards or special arts&crafts. This way you have where to drop things in their designated space.

The sippy cups need a designated shelf or basket in the cabinet. Same for bottles. Extras make a mess only keep as many as you need.

Clean laundry stays in the clean laundry basket until ready to be folded and put away.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d.....lSrch
Foldable or travel type items are always neater so they can be folded and put away when not in use.

Dirty laundry must go in the hamper. If you need hampers for each room so that dirty laundry ends up where it needs to be then use over the door hook hampers.

Have a set of sterilite drawers or a wheelie set of shelves for all crafts. Make sure they're the right size and have separate drawers or shelves for the coloring books, paper, and one to add little divider baskets for makers, scissors and everything else.

And keep downsizing because new stuff accumulates every day.

amother

Brown

Mon, Aug 14 2017, 5:28 pm

Please try Googling Flylady or look for videos on YouTube by How Jen Does It. Both give excellent systems for keeping clutter at a minimum and a clean house through daily, weekly, and monthly routines. Personally, I feel this sort of domestic management should be taught in highschool, along with budgeting/financial management.

You CAN get things in order with discipline and routines. Not picture perfect, but in order.