Decluttering the Nursery

As a homeschooling family with six kids, most rooms have to serve dual purposes.  The dining room also houses the shelf of "small piece" games that get destroyed in the toy room.  The hallway has a bookshelf of school materials and a dry erase board.  The family closet has the printer and the kids' school computer.

Perhaps the biggest dual purpose room, however, is in fact one of the smallest.  It is the nursery.  When we had no babies, I decided to move my library to the nursery so that we could create a family closet in the much larger room.  Then along came baby number 6.  So we had to figure out how to squeeze a baby and all his stuff into an already small room filled with bookshelves of school materials, craft supplies, scrapbooking materials and a guest bed.

We had it all fitting and nicely organized.  But that was before the little man was actually born.  Then reality hit and the chaos and havoc of the constant influx and outgrowing of clothes and toys hit.  Add to that 5 other kids getting books and craft supplies out and "putting them away".  Nine months later, the room was a disaster.  I regret that I did not take "before" and "after" pictures, but I will post a picture for fun. 

Helping Mommy clean my room

 

I spent the day reorganizing the baby section.  I put the infant swings in the (buried behind a large mirror) closet and got the crawler/toddler toys out.  I got all the blankets returned to their tub.  I went through the 5 baskets of baby clothes that I could never find anything in because most were too large or too small.

I set up 5 drawers, 2 laundry baskets and 2 bags to properly sort the clothes.  I used 4 of the drawers to sort his currently fitting clothes.  One drawer I devoted to a sampling of the next size up clothes, allowing me to easily access some larger things easily should he grow without me noticing.  (That may sound silly, but this has been crucial to me in the past.)

I sorted the rest of the next size up clothes into one of the two bags.  In the other bag I put the few larger items that I love enough to hold on to long enough for him to grow into.

The two laundry baskets were used to sort items that are too small.  One is the "give away" basket and the other is the "I just can't part with these yet" basket.

I placed his toys in a plastic basket and have another for diapers and a third for board books.

I sorted bags of clothes that had been given to him and never gone through, as well as a few bags that had accumulated for my other children.  I was able to stash away several items for future use as well as, and perhaps more importantly, get rid of many items.

I tidied up and put all the craft stuff away, straightened up the overflowing bookcase and cleaned off the guest bed.  Well, I tidied the guest bed, stacking the plastic tubs of craft supplies on top.  Once the cradle is out and the crib is in, the craft materials can be stored under the crib.  The baby doesn't actually get to play in his room.

I must admit that I did not finish organizing the school stuff in the room.   That is a decluttering project for another day. 

I am linking this up at A Slob Comes Clean.  Check out other decluttering posts for ideas and suggestions.