Closet Tops and Liturgical Boxes

One of the biggest problems I can think of when it comes to being a homemaker is organization. Whether it's organizing toys that get played with everyday, stuff that stays stored most of year or the food in the refrigerator that needs to be used before it spoils, organizing is just a fact of our life at home. This post was inspired by my in-town friend, Barb. I wanted to show her some of the organization going on over here and how I tackle what I think is one of the biggest hurdles in organization... using space efficiently.

Closet Tops

Closets are some of the biggest space wasters. Oh sure, you can go to a contain everything store and have them design you a perfectly organized closet that utlitizes every inch of available space but that's probably not going to happen for most of us whether it's because of finances or simply the fact that our needs change pretty rapidly and our closets have to be flexible (or the fact that those stores are like catnip for moms and should be avoided to save husbands from having to call out the search and rescue teams). One area that I know is a huge space waster is the top of the closet. It's not easily accessible enough to use for everyday storage space and you can only pile stuff up so high before it comes tumbling down on top of you.

Here is what we have been using for a few years now and it really works for us:

I call it a shelf hutch. I'm sure there is a professional term out there and probably an official trademarked thing that is sold in that Can't Contain Yourself place. I think I got these at the local Bullseye store a long time ago and repurposed them when we moved here. One of these 3-shelf storage organizers will make two hutches if you use the inner dividers as outer legs. Does that make sense? Something like this might work too. The new top shelf is used for keepsake boxes that don't come down very often and below can be used for accessible storage that my kids can reach themselves. Obviously, if your little ones are still very little, that's not going to work for them. You might consider using it for clothes storage while putting their toys on the bottom of the closet.

Liturgical Boxes

Below is our front hall closet. We've had the shelf hutch there for a while helping with paper and puzzle organization. Then I came up with an idea for storing our monthly feast day celebration statues, knick-knacks, mantle decorations, candles, etc.... I purchased 12 photo storage boxes like these in assorted designs from the craft store and labeled one for each month. If you need bigger boxes, look for CD & DVD storage boxes. I packed up everything that is specific to that month's liturgical days. I pull the current month's box down and leave it more easily accessible on a lower shelf with the other boxes stored up higher. I love this system because it puts a limit on what I can save. If I can't store it in the box, then I have to pare down.

I don't yet have all of the boxes packed with everything I might want them to hold (I expect that to take a full year plus) but you can see here what it looks like in our July box. Our chalice and prayer to the Most Precious Blood along with our St. Anne holy card and display stand. I have room to add some seashells and the black lace, too. Some statues, like the St. Anne statue we like to keep out all the time, but others, like our St. Nicholas and St. Patrick can go in the boxes for rotation keeping them fresh and new.

Speaking of boxes... one thing I have learned is that for my family is that toy boxes, baskets and buckets just don't work. Like I was saying about the liturgical month boxes, a lid creates a natural limit that some of us need. A drawer serves the same purpose by creating a definite closed space that is small enough to maintain easily. The same thing that makes baskets great for book rotation or school work organization, namely, the fact that you can see their contents easily is the same reason that they don't work for toy storage around here; they become catch-alls. Toy baskets and buckets in my house end up with a perpetual case of the stomach flu. (Sorry, that mental image is Husband's doing. He often reminds the children that dresser drawers can't throw up so they shouldn't look like they're trying to!)

Now an open bin can work for us provided it has a closed space to reside in like the ones below. I am a firm believer in labels even for see through containers and especially for closed containers. I don't own a label maker mostly because I like to print them up myself. They can be functional and pretty too! The ones below are attached with Velcro sticky-back tape so that they can be changed up should the contents of the bins change.

You will notice the two open shelves where Superman is in a fierce yoga tangle and some other things are piled on top of Fr. Dowling's vestment box. I intentionally left those two spaces open so that we could see the difference ourselves between open spaces and spaces that could be contained. We wanted to see if we needed the space for anything that might not fit in a bin. I'm not sure what we will ultimately decide, but right now I am leaning towards getting two more of these things. (You can find those cheaper at your local Bullseye store, btw! The only thing I don't like about them is that over time they will get floppier, but they still stand up enough to do their job.) 

All of the children, but BigBoy especially, love knowing where to find their toys and also where they go when it's time to clean up and that makes all the difference in my little guy's attitude and cheerfulness when asked to do his chores.

P.S. This post isn't intended to claim that I have organization mastered or to make anyone feel bad who is still struggling to find what works for them. Simply to offer a glimpse at what works for us now, what hasn't in the past and what we've learned from it.