How I keep Maverick {and all of his crap} ORGANIZED

The only 'toy' box permitted in our living area. If he has too much to fit in here...he has TOO MUCH.

Today I'm going to share with you how I keep my sweet little bundle of joy from completely over-taking our house with All The Stuff.

I've become an Olympic medalist at organizing our 1,200SF abode...and over the past year with all the EXTRA stuff we've taken on thanks to Maverick, I think I've earned a gold medal. At least when it comes to our closets and dressers and drawers.

Here's how I keep Maverick and his stuff neat and organized.

DRESSER:

Top Left Dresser Drawer
Here's where I keep the socks Maverick is currently wearing + slippers/booties. The shoes he wears every day are in the kitchen in the metal 'shoe bin' but these are the shoes I don't want to forget about because they're coming up in the next size. I make sure he tries them on every once in a while so he doesn't outgrow them before he's ever worn them!

Top Left Middle Drawer
This is a drawer I didn't anticipate being quite so...full...and insanely useful. Everything from gas drops to ibuprofen in there and I can honestly say we've used EVERYTHING stored in this drawer at least once. I like to keep it tidy like this so everything is easy to find.

Top Right Middle Drawer
I keep a jar full of diapers on top of the dresser but this is where I hide the diapers and wipes we use day in and day out. Some people might not like opening a drawer every time they want to grab a diaper, but this is how I've done it since Day 1, so it's really no different than reaching for a diaper in any other location. And I like that they are HIDDEN. Extra boxes in different sizes are kept in the closet and the basement.

Top Right Dresser Drawer
This one changes with the seasons...a month ago there were trunks and sunscreen in here...now we have winter hats and mittens. I like to go through everything pretty regularly so I know what he has, what fits, what is *going* to fit, and what he might need. Then if I see something on sale when we're out and about...I know if it's necessary or not.

Left Middle Drawer
Pajamas, pants, and a couple sporty 'outfits,' that currently fit. Josh hates that I call things outfits, but I what I mean by that is...it's something that came with matching pants and a top and they only make sense worn together.

Right Middle Drawer
Short sleeve, long sleeve, and a couple outfits that all currently fit. Maverick probably has the most stuff in this size because he wears his clothes for so long! Some of this he's been wearing since May/June (and in baby-years that's a long time!). In May I realized that he'd been wearing most of his clothes since Christmas...so he has a fairly 'complete' wardrobe in each size because he wears each size for more than one season. 

Bottom Left Drawer
This is the drawer that's 'coming up.' It's 12-18 month, 18 month, and some 18-24 month stuff. As you can see...we're heavy on the Christmas pajamas (oops!) and not much else. After going through this drawer today, I realized I should be on the lookout for good deals on 18-month sized stuff. And it's always good to know what size to tell the grandparents for Christmas. :)

Bottom Right Drawer
This dresser is amazing for so many reasons, but the fact that I can buy ahead when I find great sales and store clothes up to 4T is probably my favorite. In here I have piles of 24 month, 2T, 3T, and a few sets of 4T pajamas. I'm a huge sucker for pajamas...especially if I stumble upon something with a raccoon on it. 

CLOSET: 

Outgrown clothes are stored in the canvas bin. Each cubby has a 'theme' and I store whatever makes sense together in that cubby. Space heater, humidifier, diaper/wipe storage, swimming/bath time stuff, sheets/changing pad covers, and shoes he will grow in to (there's a paid of mini-Superstars back there that I got for less than $10 at Kohl's!) are basically what's kept in here.

This divider system is still really working for me and I like that when I buy a sweater for Christmas 2018 on SUPER-sale...I can 'file' it away in the right section. It makes it easy to see what's 'coming up' or what he hasn't worn in a while if the seasons have changed. There are only a couple things I've purchased in advance that he never wore...for example, I went a little overall crazy at Overflow while I was pregnant because baby overalls are just the cutest freaking things...then I realized, I don't really like Maverick in overalls. Like...something about them aren't his style. I know that seems insane to say about a baby...I have just never liked them on him! But when you buy stuff for 50 cents, it's not a huge deal if the kid doesn't wear a couple things.

This precious little dresser is way more useful than you would think. I go through it every couple of months to clean it out...but for the most part it's all really important stuff that's in there! Manuals for every. single. baby. thing we own. Papers from every doctor visit...cards from special people, the vintage Halloween costume I'm putting together...it will probably be the first piece of furniture to leave this room if we ever have to put another baby in here, but it's full of important stuff we need! The second drawer was full of everything I needed to feed Mav in the middle of the night, which was handy. The bottom drawer is full of all the notes and cards we got from showers and when he was born. And the small cupboard door is where we keep extra outlet plugs, garbage bags, and the monitors we never need because our house is so small. ;)

BOOKS AND TOYS:

At this point, Mav doesn't really 'play' in his room. On occasion I pull something out of this box to keep him entertained for five more minutes if I'm getting ready for church and he's not cooperating...but for now it's just full of cute raccoons and a couple antique tractors. Again, the rule is...if he starts to accumulate too much stuff that it can't fit in this huge toy box, he has too much! And it will be time to take a garbage bag of goodies to Overflow.

My baby's library just keeps growing and I am so happy about it!

This whole shelf has gotten a bit harder to 'style' but I'm doing my best...there are books stacked behind that raccoon but we make sure to rotate through them all. We'll be reading these books for the next eight (ish) years, so it's a darn good thing we have some variety. ;)

My attempt at hiding some of the primary colors I detest. ;)

The books on this shelf are ones Maverick won't be able to touch/read/enjoy until he's old enough to stop eating them...they're Little Golden Books from when I was little and a couple are from when my mom was little, I think!

To keep things fresh, I pack seasonal books away with my decorating totes...it means we have more room on the shelves up here, and it's that much more exciting when we pull the special Christmas books out AT Christmastime. :) A kid can never have too many books, right?!

My overzealous helper (yes that's him climbing up my backside to stand and 'help' me).

One last thing...every time he 'outgrows' something (Bumbo, swing, jumper) it gets cleaned and goes down to the basement to a labeled tote. I imagine the next time we have to do this whole baby thing, it won't be quite as 'easy' as life is right now with just Mav...so I'm trying my best to help future Mollie. All his clothes are folded and labeled in a tote, bottles, binkey's, swaddles are all packed away too...the baby-days are definitely gone so that's a little sad, but not having a colorful bouncer in my living room or a huge carrier sitting in my kitchen makes things less sad. ;)

How do you organize your little ones?? Specifically...HOW do you pack away the swing and all its parts?? Because I am STRUGGLING with that thing downstairs right now. Sure, all the bars come apart...but it won't fit into even the biggest tote I found. So if you've read this far...help.

MmB