Here’s a fun Fabulous Find for you today. It’s the My Toy Tote, a unique new product created by a mom for other moms, and serves multiple uses for kids, parents, grandparents and child care providers alike.

The My Toy Tote™ Portable Toy Chest was designed to keep all toys contained in one easy-to-carry pail. It makes it simple to  transport small items from place to place and makes toy cleanup a snap. Little toy parts, puzzle pieces, collectibles, cards and more are all contained in the My Toy Tote, keeping things nice and neat for kids and parents.

Video clip under…

Lightweight and easy to carry, it is a great mother’s helper, keeping children’s items in an easily accessible container. The My Toy Tote was invented by a creative mother for easy use by parents, grandparents and kids alike. It is ideal to tote kid’s favorite toys and belongings to a playmate’s or grandparent’s house, or a daycare home. The My Toy Tote is 12 inches wide and 11 inches deep and is the perfect size for a child to keep their favorites possessions. The My Toy Tote comes in an attractive bright yellow color, with cute colorful graphics and is equipped with an “EZ-Off” lid that is secure yet simple enough for a child to open.

The versatile My Toy Tote is also ideal for storing and carrying toys for pets and the beach too. The My Toy Tote sells for $7.99 and is available at: http://argeecorp.com/HTML/mytoytote.htm

Organizing tip for the kids’ rooms

Kids grow out of clothes faster than we can buy them. They also love a certain toy one week and then the next week they say it’s “babyish”.

Use one for toys & one for clothes

Instead of letting outgrown clothes and toys take over the kids’ rooms, keep a box in their room to put these items in. As soon as they try on a shirt and it’s too small, toss it in the box. If they see a toy they don’t want anymore toss it in the box.

You can keep this box either in their closet or under the bed. When the box is full, take its contents and donate it or put it away in the attic/basement for the next child. Later, put the box back when you are done.

Doing this on a consistent basis will help to control the outgrown clothes and toy clutter.

Do you have jumbled kitchen drawers that get you frustrated every time you try to cook? I love to cook and be in the kitchen, but I enjoy it even more when my kitchen is organized.

This Hold Anything Drawer Organizer from Oxo is the perfect solution to those messy drawers.

Make your drawers clutter free with the OXO GOOD GRIPS Hold Anything Drawer Organizer. This versatile Drawer Organizer has movable dividers and movable bins so you can customize your drawer to fit your needs. From your kitchen junk drawer and your desk drawers to crafts, sewing, garage and more, everything has its place.

Arrange the movable dividers to accommodate larger items like notepads, scissors, tape measures, pin cushions, pens and pencils, and use the movable bins to organize those small items that often get lost in drawers, such as batteries, safety pins, change and paper clips. The Organizer fits most standard drawers and with non-slip feet, there is no shifting or sliding in your drawer.

Features and Benefits

* Movable dividers pinch and lock into place
* Movable bins accommodate small items like paper clips, safety pins, keys
* Non-slip feet prevent Organizer from shifting in drawer I
* Includes 5 dividers and 4 bins for versatile storage

Please see Part 1 in our Creating an Organized Kitchen series.

For the daily cook, an organized kitchen is a must. If you are in your kitchen everyday, there are some basic rules that I feel are necessary, so that you can get meals cooked fast and make clean up a breeze. Who knows – maybe more people would become daily cooks if their kitchen was organized in a way that really worked for them instead of against them.

When I organized my kitchen from what I learned by reading Confessions of an Organized Homemaker, cooking was more fun than it had ever been! I could cook a delicious and healthy meal in under 30 minutes and I could clean up as I prepared the meal, which made clean up no big deal.

Here are some basic rules that are important for the daily cook to follow when organizing the kitchen: (Information gathered from Real Simple Magazine, Organizing from the Inside Out and Confessions of an Organized Homemaker.)

* Keep necessities within easy reach
* Use under-cabinet space
* Put the walls to work
* Center your kitchen
* Only keep items that you use
* Use the right containers

Let’s start by going over what “centering your kitchen” means. (You can use these tips for the other cooking styles, that we will go over in the coming weeks, as well.) This one little rule of thumb that I learned several years ago, changed the way I cooked. Previously I always organized my kitchen with how the kitchen was set up. I never really took the time to organize it how it would work best for me, which possibly meant storing some items in unconventional places.

Here are some different centers that the daily cook might have:

* Mixing center
* Sink center
* Refrigerator center
* Cooking center
* Food serving center
* Food storage center

So, the first thing you need to do is decide what centers your kitchen needs. Then get some boxes and label them with each center. As you are purging and sorting items in your kitchen, the items you decide to keep will go into these separate boxes. You should also have several other boxes: goes in another room, donate, sell, throw away. If this seems like way too many boxes to you, instead of having separate boxes for the centers, you could put a blanket down and designate separate areas of the blanket for the zones. It’s up to you.

Now on to purging and sorting the kitchen. These 2 steps can happen simultaneously.

Go through every drawer and every cabinet and as you look at each item ask yourself some questions:

* Do I really need this? – It’s easy to collect things in the kitchen, like having 5 can openers, 7 whisks, 22 spatuals, etc.. Only keep the items you really use. Also, get rid of the bulky appliances that when you first bought it, you just knew you were going to love it and well, you ended up using it once.
* How long has it been since I used this? If you use it once a year for holidays, try storing it elsewhere so you can free up some extra storage space. If it is used a few times a year to daily, then keep it in the kitchen.
* Which center does it go in? If you decide to keep it, decide which area it is used in and put it in that box or spot on the floor for that center.

It really helps to have someone do this with you. It will make it go so much faster. You purge and then when you figure out where it goes, hand it over to your organizing partner. They can do the leg work for you, while you do the decision making. (Bribe them by promising to make a fantastic dinner after you are all done!)

Here is Julie Morgenstern’s No Brainer Toss List:

* Chipped or broken dishes, glasses, and mugs.
* Duplicate sets of items.
* Pots, pans, utensils, and bake ware that are burnt or rusted.
* Excess stemware.
* Excess plastic containers, bags, and jars.
* Ugly souvenir glasses and mugs. (My side note: unless you love and use them. We have a few of those and nobody better toss them!)
* Plastic tumblers, if your kids are all grown up. Save a few for the grandchildren is you have any.

She also suggest getting rid of fantasy items, and storing sentimental items. If you were dreaming of becoming a gourmet cook at one point in your life and then later realized that’s just never going to happen, then get rid of the items that you bought which you know you will never use. As far as the sentimental items, you do not have to get rid of those, but if you never ever use them, then store them safely in your attic or garage. They can still be special, but there is no need for them to take up precious kitchen space, which is often so limited in the first place.

Here are a few other basic kitchen rules that are good to follow:

* Try to keep counters clear of decorative items for the most part. This will simplify the preparation and the clean up. Who has time to clean and dust all the knickknacks in the kitchen when they get splattered with oil and food. I sure don’t!
* For items you use daily or several times a day, store them with the one-motion storage rule. Meaning that you can open up a drawer or cabinet and it is right there. You do not have to move anything out of the way to get to it.
* Store things at the first-point of use. Let go of what you are use to: storing all the food together, all the pans together, all the dishes together. It will save you time in the kitchen if you think outside the box a little.

Now on to centering the kitchen. I will list some possible items that you would have here and also the best place in the kitchen for the specific center to be. Now all kitchens are different, so you will have to play around a little.

The Mixing Center - It should contain anything that you use when preparing food for baking, or oven food that requires some mixing first.

* containers of flour and sugar
* baking powder
* baking soda
* spices (the ones you mainly use for baking)
* extracts
* seasonings
* powdered sugar
* brown sugar
* shortening
* a mixer
* food processor
* measuring spoons and cups
* spatulas
* wooden spoons
* mixing bowls

The mixing center is best set up between the stove and the sink. Why? Well for a number of reasons. When you are done with the mixing spoon, you can easily drop it into the sink of hot soapy water you already have gotten ready. (This makes for super easy clean-up!)

The Sink Center - Think of all the things you need the sink for. The daily cook spends a lot of time at the sink for things like washing fruits and veggies, filling up the juice pitcher with water, cleaning (obviously ). The sink is pretty much the center of the kitchen where alot of things happen. Most likely most people don’t put a whole lot of thought into this area, but the sink should be just as organized as the rest of the house.

Here are some items you might consider storing near the sink: (Remember, these are just ideas. Do what works for you!)

* knives and peelers for veggies, cutting boards
* can opener (for opening soups, juices, etc.)
* teakettles, saucepans
* glasses,pitchers
* colanders
* cleaning supplies
* you could store the veggies that do not need refrigeration in baskets or bins near the sink
* dishtowels
* bowl for collecting scraps and trash (Rachel Ray does this on her show. What a great idea. I love her!)

Here are some miscellaneous tips that I thought were very helpful:

* While you are preparing dinner, have the sink filled with hot soapy water. When you are done with an item, throw it in the sink. It will start washing itself and make clean-up a snap!
* One thing I really disliked doing was clearing the table after we ate, then I read this tip. Use a dishpan to set the table and clean up. Before dinner, load all the plates, silverware, napkins, etc. in the dishpan and take it all to the table at once. When it’s cleanup time, load all the dirty dishes into the dishpan. This eliminates extra trips back and forth. It also makes it easy for hubby and kids to help!
* Try to start dinner with an empty dishwasher. Either empty it first thing every morning or while your dinner is baking.

The Refrigerator Center – This is another area that I didn’t put much, okay any, thought into organizing. I mean who organizes their refrigerator?! Well, now I do and I wouldn’t go back.

Here are some refrigerator organizing tips:

* Designate different shelves for different things. Like top shelf holds dairy products, bottom holds leftovers, etc.
* Make a sandwich making kit. (I love this tip!!) Just get a square rectangle container (that you have already checked if it will fit) and fill it with all your sandwich making stuff – like condiments, lunch meat, cheese. We started doing this years ago and it is so easy to pull out the container, make a sandwich and then put it back.
* Use the same size containers to store leftovers. They will stack easier and neater and make more room for other items.
* Put apples or oranges in a bowl in the refrigerator instead of the little bins. I had to do this so that my kids would actually SEE the fruit. They kept telling me they would forget the fruit was there. Well now, they have no excuse. I also did a little expermient to see if the fruit lasted longer in the bin as opposed to the bowl and for my fridge, there was no difference. Ofcourse mine does lean on the cheaper side of the refrigerators.
* Make a point to go through your refrigerator once a week, preferably before you go to the store.

The Cooking Center - This center is at the stove (I know, duh!). It is best to have this center right by the mixing center, but it may not work that way for you. Just be creative and work with what ya’ got!

Here is a list of items you might store there:

* pots, pans, skillets
* cooking utensils (wooden spoons, whisk)
* bakeware
* potholders
* cookbooks
* griddles
* cooking spray and veg. oil
* spices used for stovetop and oven meals
* salt, pepper
* cookie sheets
* muffin tins

As you can see there are several items that you will need in the mixing center and the cooking center, which is why it’s ideal to have them next to each other. You will whip up a batch of cookies in the mixing center, but then you’ll need the cookie sheet to bake them. Just do the best you can.

The Food Serving Center – If you have a buffet then that is the obvious best choice. I don’t because of space issues, so I use the second pantry in my kitchen.

Here are some items you might store here:

* serving platters
* place mats
* napkins
* tablecloths
* serving utensils
* breadbaskets
* salt, pepper shakers
* candlesticks

The Food Storage Center – This could be a pantry, cabinets, or a cabinet you bought because your kitchen has no storage (believe me, we have moved 5 times in 7 years. I’ve had some awful kitchens!).

Items that go in this center are:

* canned goods
* boxed foods
* bottles
* paper products
* cereal
* snack foods
* bread

Well that does it for the centers. I’m going to go ahead and stop here since I have given you alot of information. Next week, I will discuss some items that are great to have in the daily cook’s kitchen. Then after that, it’s on to the Sunday cook.

Pictures: IKEA, Real Simple

Keeping your kids’ spaces organized is one of the biggest issues I hear from parents. They have so many toys, clothes, papers and treasures that is can seem impossible to find a place for everything.

Here are a few quick tips for keeping those kids’ spaces organized so everyone can find what they need:

* Put up a cork board in your kids’ rooms to display their artwork instead of letting it take over the refrigerator. Kids are proud of their work and should be able to display it. This way everyone is happy.

* Have the whole family do a 5 minute quick clean every morning and night. This helps control clutter. Keeping a house looking neat should not take hours and hours. Preventive maintenance is the key.

* Add hooks over the bathroom door or mounted on the wall or door for robes and extra towels. It makes it easier for kids to hang up their things as opposed to a towel rod.

* Store all your childrens’ crafts in the place where they like to do them. If that is at the dining room table, then put all their paints, crayons, coloring books and paper in a plastic cart with drawers or if in a hutch. There are many decorative organizing items that would look great in the dining room or kitchen. 15 minutes before dinner have them clean up the table and put all the items back in the appropriate drawer.

* Use shelves instead of toy boxes to store your kids’ toys. This way they can see all the toys they have and this will put an end to digging through the toy box and emptying all the contents on the floor.

* Give each of your kids their own basket or container for the bathroom. Have them store all of their toiletries in there. When they are getting ready in the morning or at night for bed, they take out their basket, use what they need, put everything back in and store it under the sink. It helps keep those bathroom counters clear of clutter.

Do you have any tried and true tips that you use for your kids’ spaces? If so, send them on in!

If you have young children, most likely they don’t have 50 pairs of shoes. But even if they have four pairs of shoes, creating a place for them to keep their shoes organized will help teach them early about organization.

When it comes to organization for kids, there is one word to remember: SIMPLE. The shoe storage solutions that you have in place for your child, should allow them to be able to put their shoes up and get them out by themselves.

Here are some ideas for storing childrens’ shoes:

Under the Bed Shoe storage: There are some great products on the market for under the bed shoe storage for kids. They have a handle and a clear top, which allows for easy access and is easy for them to see their shoes.

Underbed Shoe Organizer – With Sewn In Fabric Shoe Dividers. No Cardboard!

Small Shoe Rack: Not only can they see their shoes easily, but it makes it easy for them to put away and take off.

Whitney Design 2103 Stackable 2-Shelf Chrome Shelving Unit

Hanging Shoe Shelf: You can use the bottom half to store their shoes where they can reach and the top half for items such as sweaters or pants.

Whitney Design Hanging Shoe Storage – Natural Canvas

Shoe Cubby: This is another item that makes it easy for kids to put their shoes away.

ClosetMaid 8505 15-Cube Organizer, White

I do not recommend shoe containers because not only can the lids be difficult to take off, but most children will not want to take off a lid and put it back on just to get a pair of shoes. Remember, simple is the key.

It’s amazing what can get lost in the pantry. It’s also amazing how much food goes to waste when the pantry is not organized. Food always ends up getting pushed to the back and forgotten. The kids may also throw that box of crackers back in there and forget to close up the package. That’s money down the drain when half the box-of-crackers go stale.

Before

Some kitchens have more than one pantry. If you do, then one of them may be your snack pantry which holds all the chips, crackers, drinks, peanut butter, dried fruit and fruit snacks. Everyone’s snack pantry will hold different types of snacks and items, but no matter what yours holds, it can be organized.

Follow these steps on how to organize a snack pantry and put an end to wasted food:

Step one: Sort through all the items in the pantry.

Empty the contents of the pantry one shelf at a time. Group all like items together and throw away anything that has gone bad. You can do this whole process on the kitchen floor.

Step One: SORT

Step two: Clean out the pantry.

Pantries are great at collecting dust and food crumbs. Wipe down all the shelves first and then sweep out the bottom. You will want your new organized to pantry to start off nice and clean.

Step Two: Clean out and wipe down shelves

Step three: Take a look at your inventory and decide if any pantry storage needs to be purchased.

If you would like a uniform look to the inside of your pantry, then you may want to store several items in matching containers. You can buy inexpensive storage containers that will look great and will also help your food to last longer.

You may also want to purchase storage bins for smaller items and also to keep similar items grouped together.

Don’t forget to measure the height and depth of your shelves so that the storage items you purchase will fit. Bring the measurements to the store with you and measure the containers also.

Step Three: Purchase storgae if necessary

Step four: Decide where everything is going to go.

Items that are not used everyday or that are very light weight like bags of chips can go up on the top shelf.

Store snack items that you want your kids to be able to get themselves on a shelf where they can reach it.

The bottom of the pantry can be used to store heavy items like coke bottles or gallons of water.

Step Four: Decide where items will go

Step five: Fill the storage containers you purchased.

You can put crackers and cereal into a sealed containers so they will stay fresher longer. Remind those in your family that putting the lid back on when they are done is important. If they don’t, they may have to eat stale cereal! Yuck.

Fill the rest of the containers and group like items together.

Step Five: Fill storage containers if needed

Step six: Put everything back in the pantry on the designated shelf.

This is the fun part. Your pantry is starting to come together!

Step seven: Label the shelves if you desire.

By labeling the shelves, family members will know where everything goes. They can put back what they got out of the pantry in the right spot. They can also help put up the groceries and they will know exactly where to put things.

Step seven: Label shelves if needed

Step eight: Schedule regular weekly maintenance to keep your pantry organized.

In order for the pantry to stay organized, you will have to go through it on a weekly basis and tidy up a bit. Things may have been placed on the wrong shelf by accident, lids may not be on tightly or there may be some items that need to be thrown away.

Congratulations! You are done and you now have an organized snack pantry that the whole family can enjoy.

After

The first step in organizing a room is to Define the Space. The next step? Sort through all of the clutter!

This is the stage that takes the longest and where people tend to get stuck most often when it comes to organizing a room. This is what happens: you decide you are going to organize your bedroom closet. You pull everything out, start trying to decide what to do with all the stuff piled on your bed, shock and awe hits when you realize how much stuff you had crammed in there, and then you close the door and sleep on the couch.

There is a method to the madness when it comes to sorting through the clutter. You need to have a plan and you need to know what questions to ask as you handle every item.

It’s also a good idea to enlist the help of a friend or family member. Be sure it’s some who is good at making decisions and someone who is not afraid to tell you to get rid of that shirt you haven’t worn in 15 years!

Here’s how to sort through the clutter:

1. Gather your supplies.
You will need four boxes labeled keep, throw away, donate/sell and belongs in another room. It’s also a good idea to get you a big glass of water and put on some music that gives you energy. You are going to need it when you are sorting through years of stuff.

2. Start at one corner of the room and work your way around.
Don’t start hopping from one end of the room to the other. If you start at one corner and work your way around, you will be less likely to get distracted by that broken lamp you love that’s on the other side of the room. Wait to deal with that when you get to that side. There is such a thing as organized chaos when it comes to sorting through the clutter.

3. Handle every item once.
This is better known as the rule OHIO or only handle it once. Pick up each item and make a quick decision. If you agonize over each item, you will eventually get burnt out and not finish sorting through everything.

4. As you handle each item ask yourself some of these questions:
*Is it garbage?
*Does it need to be repaired?
*Has it been more than a year since it has been used?
*Do I use this item in a different room? If so, put the item in the “belongs in another room” box.
*Is the item actually used and enjoyed in this room? If so, put it in the keep box.
*Can this item help someone else?
*What is the worst that could happen if I get rid of this?

5. After you are done sorting every item, distribute the boxes.
Take the trash box and put it next to the trash can. Put the “belongs in another room” box and the “donate/sell” box in another room to deal with later. Right now your main focus is the current room you are working on. Don’t let yourself get distracted.

Now that you have sorted through every item in the room, you are ready for the next two steps: assigning items a home and choosing the best storage solutions. I’ll cover those in the next few days.

Before you even touch one item in the room you want to organize, you need to give that space definition.

What does that mean exactly? Well, it means evaluating your needs. By asking yourself some simple questions about the space you want to organize, it will really help you decide the purpose of the room. It will also make it easier to get rid of the items that are not helping you fulfill that purpose.

Here are a few questions to answer before you do anything else:

1. Why do you feel this room needs to be organized?
2. What bothers you most about this room?
3. What do you like most about this room?
4. What activities go on in this room?
5. Who primarily uses this room?
6. Do you have enough light in the space?
7. Does the décor bother you?
8. What pieces of furniture would you like to purchase?

Giving your room definition will help you to create and organize the room you have always wanted.

Keeping kids spaces organized can be extremely frustrating for parents and kids alike. It’s a space that is always changing as they grow. It’s also a space that can keep us guessing and experimenting until we get it right.

Here are 10 tips for organizing kids spaces:

1. Use shelves instead of toy boxes to store your kids’ toys.

This allows kids to see all the toys they have. Using shelves will put an end to digging through the toy box and emptying all the contents on the floor.

2. Put up a cork board in your kids rooms to display their artwork.

This will keep it from taking over the refrigerator. Kids are proud of their work and should be able to display it. This way everyone is happy.

3. Give each of your kids their own basket or container for the bathroom.

This container is for storing all of their toiletries. When they are getting ready they take out their basket and use what they need. After they are done they put everything back in and store it under the sink. It helps keep those bathroom counters clear of clutter.

4. Store all your kids’ crafts in the place where they like to do them.

If that is at the dining room table, then store all of their craft supplies in a hutch or nearby cabinet. There are many decorative organizing items that would look great in the dining room or kitchen. Fifteen minutes before dinner, have the kids clean up the table and put all the items back in the appropriate place.

5. Have the whole family do a five minute quick clean every morning and night.

This helps to control clutter. Keeping a house looking organized should not take hours and hours. Preventive maintenance is the key and kids should take part in the responsibility.

6. Install hooks on the wall or door for robes and extra towels.

Make sure that the hooks are at a height where the kids can reach. It makes it easier for kids to hang up their things as opposed to a towel rod.

7. Give each child a treasure box.

They can store their most prized possessions in there. Kids accumulate a lot of miscellaneous items that are special to them like rocks, feathers and small toys. By keeping them in a treasure box, it not only limits how many items they can keep, but it keeps all of them in one place.

8. Create a special place for reading and relaxing in their room.

Kids love having special little areas like a reading nook. All you need is a bean bag and a book shelf filled with books and you have a place they can go and relax. You can even join them if you would like.

9. Use bed risers to raise the height of their bed.

This allows for more storage space under their bed. You can store baskets full of toys, dress up clothes or video games under there. All they have to do is pull out the container, get what they need and push it back under the bed. This makes for easy clean-up too.

10. Consider purchasing a loft bed.

If your child has a small room, the bed can take up half of the space. With a loft bed, you can use the underneath section for a desk, shelves, dresser or secret club house.