Post-Vacation Restoration

Whew! Sorry for the hiatus. It wasn't planned. February vacation briefly took over my life.

But now vacation is OVER. Do you feel as desperate as I do to get your house back? I am not exaggerating when I report: I actually broke into a quick sweat when a tiny blond Girl Scout showed up to drop off my (massive and altogether forgotten) order. I was embarrassed to let her in (and oh, God, especially her tiny blond mother). I sat on the couch and ate half a box of Caramel Delights to recover from the shame.

And then, enough already. Time to harness the chaos, kids.

In this week of re-establishing control, you’re very likely to feel like throwing it all away. Do it! It’s the best feeling. I’ve been a woman possessed – bagging up old toys and outgrown clothes and worn-out shoes. I’ve hit three closets and the basement in two days. I even bullied my husband into admitting he won’t wear short-sleeve dress shirts because they look stupid. In the last year, he never even donned one of the 12 we stuffed into the bag. (God love people who lose weight and give you brandy-new clothes with the tags still on them. But please. Promise me you’ll actually look at what you’re taking before you stuff it in your own closet.)

Anyway, I’m thinking we should focus on kid stuff, because I’m sure you’ve all composed your last Barbie tableau and bent your last Wikki Stick for a while. While the spirit strikes you, grab a bag or a cardboard box and do it while your kids are at school. Work fast and whip up a purge session without the whiny protest over your shoulder. You know you want to … so do it, I dare you! I officially grant any parent who survived vacation (without enough snow to make them play outside) full permission. Give away or toss any toy you know they don’t play with, any set without all the pieces. Donate books they’re too old and smart for. Purge any Play-Doh that has dog hair in it. Test the markers and toss the broken crayons. I bet they won’t even notice what’s gone.

And here’s something else to think about. Studies show that children whose bedrooms are free of clutter and toys sleep better and study better. If you have more than one child, you know that once one kid’s room is trashed, they take the party to the next kid’s room to play. When it’s time to clean up, the toys are all but fused. Whose toys are whose? If you’re overwhelmed, imagine how your kids feel. Ugh. Then there’s yelling and crying, general pandemonium and exhaustion. Not good.

The easy answer is to keep toys grouped in one place, whether it’s a playroom, a family room, an unused mudroom or a spot in the basement (warm and dry required). Be creative with your space and commandeer a spot that makes the most sense for where and how your children play. Once the toys are corralled, maintenance will be simple, simple enough for most children to manage it on their own. As long as there is a spot for everything, you have half a shot, I promise.

When considering what kind of storage you need to contain the toys, games and books that survive the purge, keep in mind that shelves and the smallest possible modular bins work best for items like Legos, Barbie accessories, Little People, etc. Round containers waste space. Keep the heaviest items on the lowest shelves so no one gets crushed accessing the Hess truck collection. God knows they won’t ask for help …

Here’s the most important thing you’re accomplishing (other than restoring your sanity and sense of balance): You’re teaching your children that chaos is most definitely, 100 percent a temporary situation. When their spaces are calm and uncluttered, they have a chance to appreciate how great it feels. And even better, they have a chance to adopt it as a behavior, to commit it to memory and carry it forward into the rest of their lives.

So someday, when they’re the grown-ups at the end of their February vaca rope, instead of eating a box of cookies in a freakout, they’ll actually know what to do.

Small Spaces, Big Results

Small spaces – they are an organizing nightmare, right? Closets, cabinets, even the medicine chest … all at the point of bursting. How do you come to terms with these tiny Pandora’s boxes?

Use the same technique that high-end catalog artists and home stagers employ to make these small spaces look great while still performing the way you need them to in real life. First, take stock of all you have. Small items are the first things to go missing in packed spaces – pot lids, the tweezers, that other damn shoe. Pull it all out and really look at what you’re hoarding.

Do you have duplicates? Sort your collections down to what you use in a two-week period. If you have five roasting pans, leave one or two in your main pan cabinet. If you shop at BJ’s and buy eight tubes of toothpaste at a time, keep only one in the bathroom vanity drawer. If your closet is small (or you have to share it with your husband’s bulky-by-comparison pants, shirts and shoes), pull out all non-essential off-season clothing.

Take every opportunity you can to simplify your life, because simplicity is what makes a space pretty enough to photograph. Anything you haven’t needed in six months to a year (excluding seasonal and party items), go ahead and donate. Forget you ever owned it. Throw away old makeup, toiletries and expired medicine. Store anything you don’t use all the time, and be creative with your storage solutions. Annex a shelf in the garage as a pantry for bulk non-perishables. Put away your big pans till your next big party. Pack your off-season clothing in clear bins, unless you’re lucky and you’re going to Aruba in a few weeks.

Once you’ve pared down what you have to work with, it’s easier to make a plan for organization. Clearing space allows you to consider aesthetics, your personal style and most importantly, functionality. Keep out only what you need and what you love to look at every day. Create balance in your home and you will feel more at ease in your space. Balance makes small spaces sing.

Also – and this is important for sanity – be realistic and don’t try too hard. Remember that whenever you see a perfectly arranged shelf in the Pottery Barn catalog, someone has been seriously overpaid to painstakingly decide what would look just right in that spot. Though you might not go so far as to position your belongings – hello, obsessive! – you might be more likely to at least put things back when you’re done using them. When all of your stuff, big and small, is accounted for, life is more fun.

That’s better than a museum-quality room any day.