There are certain logistics in my house that need attention. I don’t know if it is just me, or having seven children, or too much stuff — but I need a new system. A plan. A hug.
Here they are — in no particular order.
1) Shoes. We have a teeny entry closet and enough shoes to outfit an army. Sandals. Flip-flops. Crocs. Tennis Shoes. Sport Sandals. Ballet shoes. Boots. Church Shoes. All times nine. Well, all except the ballet shoes. I have no idea what to do with all these shoes. Besides our current strategy of throwing all the shoes into the closet, creating a pile as tall as Elijah and quickly, and I mean quickly, shutting the door.
2) Recycling. In our city they only pick up recycling every other week. We produce a fair amount of recyclable products. In fact, it is slightly funny to watch us haul not one, not two, but three or four loads of recycling down to the curb every other Tuesday. Honestly, by the time the end of the two weeks is coming I tend to just chuck the glass into the garbage. I’ve got an order in for the recycling can from the city. But, sigh — I’m sure we’ll fill that as well.
3) Papers. Papers. Papers. Homeschooling, bills, mail, catalogs, drawings, maps, construction paper — it never ends.
4) Email. My inbox currently? 1037 new messages. Seriously. Now, before you think that I am insanely popular, let me tell you that in that group are probably 52 messages that I really need to read. Then they get lost. In between my notification for winning 2million dollars, and the ad for Kohls and Bath & Body, and the freecycle notification, and the facebook status replies, and sigh…
5) Samuel. Laugh — here’s my logistical prob. We have no way of properly gating our stairs. The stairs leading downstairs have a gate bungee corded to the one side. The stairs up? I have no way of gating them. And now, Samuel’s new obsession is climbing those stairs. In the time of writing this post we’ve had to retrieve him from the 3rd step going up five times. And, I’ve only been writing ten minutes. How do I gate those stairs?
6) Laundry. Feel free to read any of my previous posts regarding laundry. Hold on — I need to go grab Samuel — okay, back. My new solution to laundry is to have laundry day on — Monday, Thursday and Saturday. I can wash and dry, but I need to develop a love for folding and putting away. I’m learning patience and perseverance.
ok. There you have my logistic dilemmas for the week. I‘d love to hear how YOU handle these constant needing attention areas. As the years go by I’ve learned to throw and donate more and more things. Anyone need any shoes? 😉 I’ve got some extra….
23 comments
I know how you feel (well minus 6 children) but I mean about needing to address certain issues in the house! What about bins for each child in the foyer/mudroom where they can have a choice few pair of shoes…then all others must go to their room? Easier said that done right?
As far as the stairs, I do the very same thing with Christian because my computer room is right at the base of the stair-the wooden ones, not the nicer carpeted ones. Jason had to custom build gates for ours so they would work with our balisters…maybe your hubs is handy too?
Have a good weekend!
P.S. I won 2 million dollars too! Weird!?
Must be our lucky week: I won a million British pounds. Just had to send my info, including SSN, to a Yahoo address. I’m sure the money will be here any day now.
Can you use one of those shoe organizers with all the little cubbyholes? Or is the problem that the shoes wouldn’t be put into them, anyway? My family of three has a pile of shoes by the door. I set up a couple of wire cubes, but no one puts their shoes in the cubes. Being perfectionistic about it was causing me so much stress that I decided that wasn’t a battle worth fighting.
I’ve taken the opposite approach to laundry: I do one or two loads a day, so it never piles up too much. But I’m with you on needing to develop a love for folding and putting it away.
Oh bless your heart…I wish I had advice for you!
Enjoy your weekend <333
We have a shoe organizer (one with lots of pockets that hangs over the door) on the door right when we come in. We also have one over our bedroom closet door for my other shoes. (I tend to have the most shoes). I have heard that people put them in pretty baskets, but the thought of the dirt on the bottom of the shoes touching all the other shoe surfaces makes me cringe. Just one of my things. LOL.
Hey girl,
We are in the same boat!
I too need to find a laundry system for our family of 8!
They shoe closet has seen a better day!
Just pick one thing and get it done,then work on the next.
If you look at it all at once it can feel overwhelming!(then you never start) eekkkk!
I go through sprurts of feeling like a mouse on a tread wheel.
I’m getting better at deligating tasks to my kiddos!
I will keep you in my prayers!
Big families….are work, but its so worth it! Lean on God…he WILL help!
Peace and Love,
Georgiann
Laundry and shoes, yep, we have that problem here. There are 7 of us and we live in a small double wide trailer. The way I organize shoes is we throw them into their cloests, 2 girls shoes in their closet and 2 boys shoes in the other. I will be honest, I am very HAPPY if all their shoes are in there, even if they are not neat. I think I need to do what you are doing as far as laundry is concerned, I hate folding and putting away too : )
Hey, I recognize a couple of those shoes…we have that same set of turquoise flipflops and those orange/blue croc flipflops…how’d they get way up where you are? Lol!
K, I can’t really help you, bc I only have two older ones and they now pretty much take care of themselves…the only thing I do now is everyone’s laundry at the same time (but their dirty clothes have to be in the hamper by washday if they want them washed)…but here is a thought for folding that an older mom taught me when mine were still itty bitty babies that as an older mom now, I will pass along to you:
As you fold each item, say a prayer over the owner of the item and make it relate to the clothing item…such as socks: “Dear God, make my sons path smooth and bless the road ahead of him”…and as you are looking for a sock’s match, “Dear God, be with my daughter’s future husband, wherever he might be now, draw him ever close to you and when they come together, may they be unified in you as one…” sometimes I pray over the future mate for a while as I look for that lost sock…k, a shirt, “Dear God, may the heart that beats under this shirt be filled with Your Holy Spirit, hiding Your Word within”…oh, and I love folding my son’s boxers, “Dear God, keep everything tucked inside these here boxers in a manner pleasing to you, may they never come off at inopportune times, may these boxers keep the treasure within until in your perfect timing…”…you get the picture…sometimes it takes me a really long time to fold underwear as you might can imagine…anyway, sorry to be so long, but it has made all the difference in folding over the years! God bless you, sweet Mama (oh, and I did think of you when posted today, lol, glad you enjoyed it!!)
I only had six children…the first four were under seven…so here what I did…for what it is worth.
We have always had stairs…I love the gates that allow you adjust to the opening, without screwing into the wall…tension instead…when in despair, we have used a small trampoline over the opening..laying on the stairs, because they couldn’t crawl up it. I had five boys!! The girl was the biggest one to climb on everything.
Laundry…in our house once you are 11 you start doing your own. I have always done it on one day a week, and towels on another. It makes for one long day, but it is finished!!! That is how my mom did with a family of six.
Remember they grow fast and before you know it you will be finished with these high physical energy years!
Blessings to a precious mother..oh I am enjoying the Mommy Piggy Tale post and those barbies were never played with much…antiques now!!!
Oh- I completely understand!! All those shoes & laundry & papers…. I’m glad I’m not alone. 🙂
Jessica
Ok, I only have 3 kiddos 🙂 but here’s some of what I do . . . I have a large galvanized bucket by the back door (inside), when they come in the house, they know to put their shoes in there. (it’s usually shoes they wear on a regular basis-stuff they don’t wear a lot I keep in the closet) and the bucket is cute! goes great with my house! —
Recycle: We don’t even have trash pick up (we live too far out), so I got two of those big plastic tubs (you know the ones w/ the rope handles that you can get @ the dollar store?) put small holes in the bottom (rain water) & put them on the back deck. That way they are easily accessible but not in the house!
ok, there’s my two cents 🙂
I only have two children, but no storage in my house! I find it hard to organize because I just want to buy more “things” to help with the problem and they usually just make it worse. I wish I had some advice, but at least all of those shoes and clothes mean your children are healthy and able to put them on and run around! Good luck and make sure to post your answers to the logistical problems you are having!
Oh, my mother can’t STAND having shoes by the door! I always kick my shoes off upon coming indoors; she solves the problem by chucking them into my room. *sigh* That’s one way to deal with it I suppose! 😉
Love your blog!!! I only have 4 children, but I do laundry on Mon, Wed & Fri. It works out reat for me and the kids even know that they are responsible for bringing their stuff to the laundry room b4 10 am! As for shoes, I do best with leaving them in the garage at all times.
our shoes are all over the place! we usually end up with a pile at the bottom of the stairs. my pile in the bathroom. shaun’s is by the kitchen entryway. and the girls have a bucket upstairs with shoes in it. for sure NO order in that!!
my email is the same too. lol. it’s insane!
i’m probably not much help with anything to you. i’m trying to figure out how to manage the five under five! 🙂
i feel the same way… and there are only four of us. ; ) ha ha. i do a little load of laundry every night so its not a beast by the end of the week… i’m sure that’s highly undesirable for most, but it works for me. for email, i have two different accts. one for only blog related stuff and one for everything else. it helps me differentiate between real life and blog life. : ) i’m certain you should be the one giving us tips on this stuff. i’m clueless. : ) such a CUTE CUTE CUTIE he is!
Totally feel the same way about shoes…..Its a very rainy day here so blog hopping is the perfect activity. Hope you will visit me…I have a great giveaway that I am drawing for Sunday.
Teresa
This gave me a much-needed laugh (and smile) this evening. I am right there with shoes, laundry, and papers. Packing for church camp tonight & in over my head! Thank God for grace. Lovely blog.
So now I feel as if I don’t have a thing to do! Wow, I’m stuck on the 1037 emails…I mean really? Crazy!
Laundry – my 10yo and 4yo collect all the dirty laundry in the a.m. and start a load, at lunch when the other kids are helping make the meal those two girls move it from the washer to the dryer, later in the afternoon one or two kids are on “laundry” for their afternoon job lists. At that point, it gets folded and put away. Other than the fact that things sometimes end up in the wrong drawer, it works well for our crew of 9.
Shoes – we do limit the number of shoes… For the most part, our kids have a pair of tennis shoes, a pair of flip flops and a pair of church shoes. I always have one child at least once a day straighten the shoes – BUT if I find some child is consistently not lining their shoes up on the shelves they get an extra job.
Paperwork – good luck on that one. It’s the bane of my existence. 🙂 Well, not quite but close. One thing that helps is when I’m on the phone (although I’m not on much) I straighten and throw paperwork. Someone told me once that clutter is procrastination – and that’s definitely my problem. If there’s a pile of paperwork it’s because I’m procrastinating dealing with it.
Sorry to be so long winded but maybe something here will help. 🙂 Or we could just trade paperwork, laundry and shoes for a week??!
I love that wild haired kid!
These are such amazing and comforting words of Scripture. Praying!
Romans 8:26-27 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.
Prayer Bears
My email address
Maybe it isn’t as much a problem of GATING THE STAIRS as it is a problem of TYING DOWN THE BABY… Nah, I’m just *cough* kidding *cough*.
Shoes? We have a set of “shoe shelves” right by the back door. Everyone can keep 1 pair of shoes on the shelves. Their other pairs of shoes must go into their bedroom closets.
Laundry? Definitely must teach the children the art of folding and putting away. Even if the folds aren’t quite as perfect as mama’s folds, it is a GOOD job for the children. Our children start folding and putting away the kitchen towels and wash clothes when they are 2-3. Then they move up to the bath towels. Then they move up to their own clothes. The pinnacle of professional laundry folding is when they learn to “properly” fold papa’s t-shirts. He is one picky papa, when it comes to folding his t-shirts.
Stair Gates? I think you should show us a picture of the stairs, because I bet one of your readers may have had to solve this problem themselves. Let’s get the creative minds together because this one needs to be solved quickly.
In-Box? Mine sounds exactly like yours, incl. the Kohls and Bath & Body ads.
Paper? No answers here. My Paper Piles for a family of 14 are completely overwhelming.
Be BLESSED!
Laurel 🙂
well I can just imagine the shoe mess with kiddos…my hubby leaves enough around to drive me crazy. What about a basket or line of baskets…one for each member of the family. If it gets filled, they have to pick some up to make room for more? I am the same exact way about laundry…don’t mind doing the loads…but I really have a hard time folding them and putting them away. or sometimes they will get folded and sit in the basket until they’re all worn and dirty again. 🙂 your little one is a cutie!