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<\/p>\nWhile I may not be a great decorator, I am an avid organizer.\u00a0 I like cute little baskets and putting like things together and finding a home for everything. \u00a0I can go through my house and pick everything up and get it put away in no time which gives the illusion of a clean house.\u00a0 I\u2019m a tidier, not a cleaner.\u00a0 I could go eternities without vacuuming or dusting (I\u2019m very lucky that hubby cannot so often takes these tasks upon himself).\u00a0 There are two general areas, though, that I find overwhelming to keep tidy: the playroom and laundry (I\u2019ll save that one for another day!).<\/p>\n
The house we were living in when Honeybun\u00a0was born had fairly small living spaces and by the time she was 18 months and we moved, she had taken over our living room with her toys and books.\u00a0 When we picked our house in Dublin, we were fortunate enough to have enough space to have an almost dedicated playroom (it was also our dining room but we rarely used it for that purpose and kept the table shoved in the corner with the leaves removed).\u00a0 The nice thing about our Dublin playroom was it was right off the kitchen so I could hear them playing while I cooked.\u00a0 It also had doors so I could easily close it off when the chaos got too much or if we had unexpected visitors.\u00a0 The only problem we had was the girls were not keen on being in the playroom by themselves and the toys tended to migrate to wherever hubby and I were (usually the kitchen or family room on the opposite side of the kitchen where TV and computer were).<\/p>\n
When we moved into our current house in Florida, we decided to dedicate the largest family room off the kitchen to being a playroom\/office and keep our large TV and couch in what should be the \u201cformal\u201d living room.\u00a0 This arrangement has worked out perfectly for us.\u00a0 Generally the toys stay in the playroom and the girls are great about entertaining themselves while I cook or use the computer.\u00a0 The only problem we have is the girls\u2019 bedroom is on one end of the playroom and our room is on the complete other side of the house so anytime we need to attend to them in the middle of the night we risk stepping on a myriad of toys which are constantly splayed all over the floor.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m working really hard with the girls to keep their playroom clean, though.\u00a0 I\u2019ve arranged my playroom similar to how I used to arrange my classrooms and try to also have the same rules.\u00a0 I\u2019m trying to get them to put away things when they are done before moving onto something new but this is hard as I\u2019m not always right with them while they play.\u00a0 What I have found helps with clean up, though, is labels.\u00a0 I label where each toy or type of toy should go.\u00a0 This helps even the youngest child learn how to put things in the proper place instead of just piling everything haphazardly (it\u2019s also really helpful when well-meaning babysitters, grandparents and husbands try to help clean up too!)<\/p>\n
I’ll admit the labeling process can be a little tedious. \u00a0I do mine by taking pictures of each item then making labels with a picture and name of each item. \u00a0The dual labeling helps Honeybun\u00a0with her sight words and helps Sugarplum know where things go by matching the pictures. \u00a0I then affix\u00a0the labels to either the bin (if it will stick) or directly to the shelf with clear contact paper. \u00a0The contact paper makes the labels like a sticker and my girls generally don’t try to take them off (though we did have a friend come over once and remove every label!)<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t expect our playroom to be fully cleaned up all the time, we do an all-out clean up about once a week.\u00a0 I let the girls pick a CD and I decide how many songs they have to clean up (based on how big the mess is and how long the songs are).\u00a0 I am trying really had to get them to take responsibility for their own things so don\u2019t usually put things away but I do help guide Sugarplum to finding the correct place and keeping her focus. \u00a0Honeybun\u00a0has become really efficient at clean up time so long as she\u2019s not in an argumentative mood.\u00a0 I usually entice the girls with some kind of reward after clean up, generally something they would get anyways like a chance to go swimming or ride bikes or have dessert.\u00a0 And if all else fails, just pulling a trash bag out of the cupboard is a very mighty incentive!<\/p>\n
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<\/a>This is our current play room. \u00a0I brought back Honeybun’s\u00a0armoir from her room in Dublin (where they notoriously don’t have closets) and use it for dress-up clothes. \u00a0All the other toys have a home in a bin or on a shelf, each with it’s own label so the girls know where to put everything away.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"