Organise a Toddler Wardrobe

It seems as though I'm re-arranging things in Miss S's wardrobe every few months. A good idea when you have a toddler who grows out of her clothes so quickly, but time-consuming sometimes. This little clean-up took about a half hour, so it was one of the quickest organising jobs I've done around the house.

Here is what her wardrobe looked like a month ago, coming up to the end of Summer.

It probably looks fairly neat & tidy but on closer inspection....

you can see the tshirts are almost overflowing (& getting squashed & wrinkled) & the clothes on the bottom 2 shelves had to be rolled up so they could fit (more wrinkles!).

Her shoes were in a drawer with the socks & tights.




This wasn't going to work with all the thick, warm clothes for Autumn/Winter that we needed to accommodate, so I  changed things around a little. This is what the wardrobe looks like now...

All the coats, cardigans & knitwear are now hanging on the top rail (coats to the left, cardigans & knits on the right),
with dresses, skirts & long-sleeved tops hanging on the bottom rail (skirts, then tops, then dresses L-R).

Miss S's Winter hats & scarves are top left, Summer hats & caps are top right.
Shoes are on the middle shelves & the white box in the front has her brushes, combs, hair detangler, lint remover & other bits.

One of the drawers now has all her leggings, jeans, shorts & tracksuit pants. I've folded them & "filed" them so everything is visible. It's practical so Miss S can see everything at a glance.
I'm encouraging Miss S to choose which colour pants she likes to wear. I'm finding that this is a good way to teach colours to a toddler!
There are a few rolled up leggings because they're the ones Miss S wears around the house (they're the ones that are damaged or have stains that I can't remove, so she can get as dirty as she likes in those ones!).

Another drawer has pyjamas & singlets.

The other drawer has her socks & Winter tights, & I've put her photo albums on one of the shelves.

A toddler girl's wardrobe is quite involved, as there are also accessories to consider. I've thought of a way to organise hair accessories & I'll hopefully share that in a post very soon.

Not bad for half an hour's work. It could be better but in about 6 months I'll be doing this again, so I can spend a bit more time on better organisation then.

How have you organised your toddler's wardrobe?

Storing your Batteries

I saw this great idea on Pinterest & thought I'd do it for myself, & share. Definitely not a new idea, but a very practical one for organising your batteries.


This is how I have been storing my batteries (in an old paper bag from a store):

I removed all the batteries from their packaging:

& placed them in this very handy container:

They're so much easier to access now, & I know when I'm running out so I can buy more.

I had this container lying around the house, but you can buy similar containers with compartments at Howard's Storage World & Ikea.
You can also use this type of container to store buttons, tea bags, kids craft supplies, nails & screws, makeup, hair clips & so much more.


Do any of you have any practical ideas like this that you'd like to share?

Toy Storage - by Age

As my Little Miss is accumulating more & more toys, I've had to think of a way to store her toys but be able to access them if I need to. The big & bulky ones have been dismantled (where possible-some can't be pulled apart once they're assembled!) & put in large garbage bags with a sticker on the bag with the name &/or description of the toy & put away. The smaller ones (which I want to be able to access) I've decided to organise into plastic tubs, by age. That way, when we have younger kids that visit, we can easily grab some age-appropriate toys for them to play with.

Here's how I've organised the toys:

Wash &/or wipe the toys.

Write the age range of each toy (usually found on the box or packaging) on the bottom of the toy with a permanent marker/texter (I don't use stickers in case they get peeled off & end up in a little one's mouth). I usually write the age range on each toy when we first get it, before throwing the box away.

If there's nowhere on the bottom to write the age range, I write it on the side or somewhere else inconspicuous

I bought myself a whole lot of these great tubs from Bunnings. They come in different sizes, they're stackable, they have wheels & they are cheap. Perfect for storing all sorts of things

This particular size cost just under $10. 

So far, I've labelled the tubs with the ages:
Birth - 6M
6M+
12M+

Little Miss is at the 18-36M stage, so she's currently using her toys in that age range.

The toys' age ranges are sometimes quite broad. As an example, for toys that are recommended for 6-36month olds, I've put those toys in the 6M+ tub. That way, I know they're safe for children 6 months & over, but may not be safe for any children younger than 6 months.

I filled the tubs with the toys, stacked them & stored them in the garage. Out of the house but easy to get to if we need them.
Once we've finished using the toys again, they can be stored in the corresponding tubs easily because of the age range printed on the bottom, rather than trying to guess which tub they go back into.

I've found this storage system is working well for the moment. However, I'm not sure how many tubs I'll end up with in a few more years!

Organise your Greeting Cards

There have been times when I've found myself with a beautifully wrapped gift but no card to attach to it, & then I've had to rush off to a newsagency/shopping centre/supermarket to buy a card. I decided that, whenever I find beautiful cards whilst I'm out shopping, I'll buy them & keep them for future use. Those unique hand-made cards that you find at markets & at small gift shops are my favourites.

The challenge is, how do you store them?
I came up with this idea:

I bought this white box at Officeworks (a set of 3 different sized boxes cost about $20 - this one is the largest in the set). You can use a shoe box or any other box you may have around the house that is big enough to fit greeting cards.

I also had some previously used plastic A4 dividers

& I removed the old yellow labels from the tabs. I cut the dividers to size, so they would fit inside the box. (You can use traditional cardboard dividers if you like). 

I put a blank white sticker on each tab & hand wrote on each one.

Then I sorted through all the cards, grouped them & put them in the box.

I ended up with these groupings:

Baby (includes Christening, Birth, Baby Shower, Mum-To-Be, etc)

Birthday

Easter & Xmas

Get Well Soon

New Home

Sympathy

Thank You

Wedding (includes Kitchen Tea, Wedding, Engagement etc)

Various (any other cards, including blank ones)

& one for Stickers, Seals etc

You can label your dividers any way you like, depending on what cards you have.

I hand wrote on the tabs to give them a personal touch, rather than using my trusty labelling machine.

I did, however, use my machine to label the front of the box

It's neat & compact & stackable. Very practical!

The box is organised well enough for me not to have to spend too much time searching for the right card. Of course, there are cards that I can't buy in advance (eg. kids age birthday cards, Anniversary cards, Farewell cards, etc), so those cards won't be stored in this box as I'll buy those cards when I need them. But for most other cards, this storage box works quite well. 

I'm still trying to work out a good way to store my wrapping paper & ribbons, but I'll be sure to let you know if I come up with a storage idea for those. Feel free to share if you have a great idea that works well for you.