Kids’ hats and gloves all over the floor and never handy when they’re needed? They need a home.
Today is one more simple system in October’s series, Simple Systems: 31 Small Ways to Reduce Decision Fatigue.
Setting up simple systems will make life run more smoothly. It might even help things get done and put in their homes. That’s the goal anyway.
Simple Home System: Coat closet storage for kids
Drawers in the coat closet keep kids’ stuff corralled but easy for them to access – and put away.
With 5 kids, we have a lot of hats, gloves, scarves, jackets, sunglasses, flashlights, and all sorts of little accessories. Finally last year, I knew I needed to make an easy-to-use home for all the little things, because a simple basket didn’t work for us anymore. Having a home for things is really the essence of organizing. It’s not being cute or matching or labeled – it’s dedicating a certain space for certain things.
And if you can reduce the number of steps or decisions it takes to put things in their homes, the more likely it will be that your system will work, as it’s a way to reduce resistance.
Pieces of this system
2 Sterilite 3-drawer bins with each person’s name written in Sharpie on the handle (Sharpie will come off with Magic Eraser if I ever need to change them up).
Gloves, hats, wallets, sunglasses, and any other little accessories they want to keep can quickly and easily be tossed into the right drawer, ready to go the next time and easy to be found.
They are also easy for the toddler to empty all over the entryway, so I’m thinking this system will work even better for us when we’re out of the drawer-emptying phase, but even so it gives us all a clear place to put things away when we find them and a first place to look when the kids want their hat or whatever else they decide is needed.
We also have a tall laundry hamper next to the drawers that holds outdoor things like bike helmets, tennis rackets, balls, and baseball gloves.
Just having a home for things that is easy to toss things into makes it so much simpler to pick up, even if those things still end up all over the place. There’s always afternoon pick up time to get things to rights again.
And in the coat closet, the doors can close and hide all those things from public view.
How do you store kids’ outerwear?
Simple Systems
Index: “Simple Home Systems”
First: “What Is a System?” & “What Is Simple?”
Previous: My purse
Next: Making a grocery list
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