Clutter Wars

I saw a sign on Pinterest the other day:

I love that! It really helps me put the messy state of my home into perspective.

My natural tendency is to be an organization nut. I know I'm a nerd (my husband tells me that all the time), but I feel a strange sense of satisfaction when everything is put away in its own special spot. When things start piling up, it doesn't take long for me to get irritated.

Now that Cameron is a toddler, I'm realizing that the days of having a neat, tighty house are long gone. It literally takes seconds for her to pull out every single toy from the basket in our family room. Isn't it amazing how quick their little hands can move? At first, I trailed behind her trying to pick things up as she went, but I quickly learned I was fighting a never ending battle.

Rather than get frustrated, I've resolved to make my best attempt not to contribute to the mess. So whenever I see an opportunity to make a home improvement that can assist with the clutter, I'm all over it.

Coats, were the most recent offender in our clutter wars. Our hall closet is tiny and just doesn't have enough room to hang everything. Running up and down the stairs to grab coats out of the upstairs closet was getting exhausting, and those coats were definitely not making it back up to the closet when we got home. The result: coats were starting to pile up all over the place. I love the idea of a mudroom set up, with lots of hook and cubbies, but unfortunately our house just doesn't really have the space for something like this.

Photo courtesy of ana-white.com

So instead, we decided to hang some simple hooks on the wall behind our garage door. And to make the space a little more kid friendly, we added a second row of hooks at toddler level. Now Cameron can pick out what coat she wants to wear and she can help hang it up when we're all done.

Simple, yes. But we did what we could with what we have, and for the most part our coat clutter in check. Now rather than worry about coats cluttering up my life, I have a little more time to figure out how to encourage my children to make memories that are a little less messy!