home organization – BabyCostsMoney

Monday’s Mama is Legit My Hero.

Published on March 26, 2018March 25, 2018 by Darlene DeeLeave a comment

This Monday, I am excited to introduce you to Leah Martin. Leah is a Colorado blogger (like me!) and she has all the secrets of living clutter-free with kids (not like me!). She and her husband have three kids under five. She writes about living a full life with less at Less in the Nest.

Read her blog. Follow her on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. It might change your life. I have definitely changed my buying habits so I can have less stuff. Less stuff means less cleaning. Less cleaning means more time.

Now I just have to figure out where to put all the crap we already have.

Leah even explains WHY kids create so much clutter. She writes about other things, too. She shares great DIY instructions and interesting recipes and writes awesome articles about parenting. But I am OBSESSED with her ‘less in the nest’ philosophies.

Enough about me, though. Leah was kind enough to answer some questions about Colorado and clutter.

1. What is the coolest thing about Colorado? What is the most annoying thing about Colorado? What is the Colorado-est thing about Colorado?

Getting to go to the mountains whenever we have a day or two free is definitely the coolest thing about Colorado. The culture and the economy revolve around the outdoors. The most annoying thing about Colorado is that it’s hard to breathe! These high altitudes make for less oxygen, and as a bad side effect, the air quality is not good a lot of days. The most Colorado-est thing about Colorado is that the first snow is a big, exciting event. People literally mope around all fall until that soft powder falls. I’m talking, standing on street corners with signs to protest the lack of snow kinds of things. And when that first snow comes, it’ll probably melt the next day.

2. Your blog is awesome! I love the idea of having LESS in my nest. I cannot even believe how many boxes we moved from Virginia to Colorado. What can I do? Donate all of it? Please help.

Aw, thank you! And congrats on the move! I remember when we moved a few years ago, I was shocked by how much stuff we had. There are lots of outside-the-box ways to donate it in Colorado. You can print off a label and ship it to the Goodwill in Amazon boxes. You can even call Arc and they’ll come pick it up for you! But if it’s junk, just toss it (as bad as that sounds!) Once, we put my husband’s beloved recliner in the driveway for pickup. Arc showed up, took one look at it, and turned around. When my husband got home that day, he couldn’t believe his chair was still sitting in the driveway!

3. Everyone outside Colorado wants to know: are people here walking around high all the time? What are your thoughts on the legal weed?

In my little pocket of suburbia, I don’t notice legalized marijuana at all. But really, people already do dumb enough stuff without it.

4. It’s the PTA Bakesale: homemade, store bought, or NOPE?

I’m a “homemade” in my mind, but since baby #3 was born, it’s more realistically a “nope.” And also, we’re going to homeschool, so I’m the parent, the teacher, and the association.

I want to be like Leah when I grow up.

Storing the STUFF.

Published on July 10, 2017July 10, 2017 by Darlene Dee17 Comments

Where does it all come from? I am writing a blog about literally all of the stuff we buy for this baby and I STILL DON’T KNOW where it all comes from!!

Ok, some of this stuff was given to us (and we are very grateful), but that alone cannot possibly explain what is happening here.

For the first time since we moved into this townhouse nine years ago, we have had to rent a storage unit nearby to help store all of our crap. Yes, it’s all mostly crap. And it is definitely not worth the cost of the storage unit. But it IS cheaper than marriage counseling.

I’m joking.

No, I’m not.

Due largely in part to some very good things — my son moving back home and going back to school nearby but of course needing some closet space of his own, my oldest daughter going away to school and packing up a bunch of her things in boxes that we have to put somewhere, being lucky enough to have a little surprise Babystar but needing to pack up a lot of breakables that were previously stored all around the house — we ran out of room in our not-that-big townhouse.

I blame the baby. We were always able to make room before, but now we have to be really careful where we put things. Plus she needs a room (even though no she doesn’t because she sleeps with me). Plus she has way more stuff than the rest of us (and it’s all sticky).

Example: Her things take up FULLY HALF of our already-small townhouse patio, and she is only 1/5 of our family. Size-wise, she is only like 1/20.

I don’t even want to talk about our living room.

So, yeah. The cost of the storage unit is ALL ON HER.

I paid $35 to open the unit, and it will be $127 per month. (I actually did this last month so I already paid $127 for June.) Going forward, I’ll add the recurring charge to her monthly food posts. Baby costs MONEY, y’all.

MAYDAY MAYDAY: Does anyone else live in a tiny house with a tiny person? How do you do it? Where do you put everything?

RAISING BABYSTAR: $19,311.45

CRIBS: Crib Edition.

Published on January 24, 2016April 23, 2016 by Darlene DeeLeave a comment

Oh, the weather outside is frightful. Winter Storm Jonas is keeping us all locked inside. It is getting a bit boring but the house is about as tidy as it gets. Well, except for the snow shovel and wet boots in a pile downstairs, but I’m not going to take a picture of that.

Instead I’ll photograph the nursery! Wanna see? How about I show you mine and then you show me yours? I always wonder where does everyone PUT everything. There is just SO MUCH stuff that appears with babies.

Babystar’s nursery used to be my home office, back when I had a job that did not involve diapers and I often worked from home. The room is quite small but the baby is also quite small so it works out quite nicely.

She has two mobiles because she has two older cousins. She likes them both. (Both mobiles and both cousins.) One is wind-up and one is battery operated. (The mobiles; not the cousins.) Guess which one mama likes best?

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The curtain is the same one that hung in the office window. That lovely vintage La-Z-Boy rocker recliner has lived in the basement bedroom for a while, purchased years ago from Craigslist. The side table, rug and pillow also came from other rooms in the house. The dresser/changing table was a gift from the grandparents. We love it, but it is missing a knob. I have the knob; I just have not fixed it. The metal bit that holds the screw fell out of the wooden bit a couple of months ago. I have other things to do. I will get to it. Or perhaps once Babystar is old enough, SHE can do it.

That Ikea trash can also came from another room. It is starting to be a problem though, because of the real-food poop smell. (I am soliciting suggestions. Help. What do you use for diaper trash in the nursery? Like for dirty wipes and stuff? No, I have not made reusable wipes yet. And now I am scared.) The wooden flower picture was made by my dad when I was younger, and hung in my bedroom for years. The Jenny Lewis poster was given to me by my BFF years ago and has hung in the office. (She met Jenny Lewis while hanging backstage at a show at Cat’s Cradle and they did whiskey shots together. My darling BFF got Jenny to sign this poster to me. I was invited that night too, but I had to work. I should have called in sick.)

I removed the door from the closet in the corner long ago. That used to be my craft closet. Now I have no craft closet but I also have no time for crafts. So it works out. I keep most ‘stuff’ in that closet and her dresser. It is only kind of organized. I find it impossible to be completely organized with all of Babystar’s things. Some of her stuff is too big for her; some is too small. It seems to cycle frequently, so I’m just rolling with it.

Top shelf is vintage toys that she is not ready for. Her older cousins love the castle, though. Oh, but she does play with the Ikea stacky thing up there. The next shelf has books and toys that were gifts or that belonged to me or her dad as a child, some other random gifts that are not all all safe for baby, and some too big diapers left behind by my sister last year that I will use eventually. Then we have a large, waist-high shelf full of things I use frequently. Receiving blankets, regular blankets, cloth diaper overflow, wet bags, extra wipes, wash cloths, and the baby monitor.

Below that is another large shelf containing crib sheets, changing table sheets, bath towels, and a basket of gifted shoes that will fit someday. Tucked behind this row is a pile of clothes that she ‘should fit soon’ (others are boxed in the basement) and a couple of baby carriers (currently the Moby and K’tan are back there). Then on the floor is a storage ottoman full of hand me down baby toys that I rotate and the large diaper bag. I usually use a backpack in lieu of a diaper bag so it only comes out for big stroller trips.

And while I am at it — what’s in the dresser?

The bottom drawer holds coats, shoes that sort of fit, hats, socks, and one-piece pajamas (though pajamas is such a loose term since she wears these around the clock). I have two cloth bins in there as impromptu dividers. One was purchased from Ikea years ago and used in my own underwear drawer and one came with some toys last summer.

The middle drawer is separated by pants, long sleeves, and short sleeves. These dividers came from the Container Store and I forgot to add them to the tally! $15.99 for two. I’ll add it today.

The top left drawer holds her cloth diapers. The top right drawer holds wipes, diaper creams, thermometer, coconut oil, baby powder, and Vitamin D drops. And probably a few other random things. I have two small square drawer dividers from that same Ikea set that I used in my own dresser.

There. Now please show me yours. Where do you put everything? How do you make it safe for baby? I have no idea what I will do once she’s really mobile.

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