I have a dilemma...
A growing (almost large) family in a small house with very few closets dilemma...

We have been busy trying to make room for the little Ladybug and Doodlebug to move into a kid's bedroom and out of our bedroom. I now have an entire room worth of stuff that has no home. Everything from our office/schoolroom now has to be assimilated into our house. I have boxes of wrapping paper and supplies, computer gadgets, etc...

Here is the question: Where do you put things like wrapping paper?
I would think under my bed , but our bed sits on the floor, -- no underneath.
I would think hall closet but I don't have one. :-/
Is this question going to be too hard?

Will any of you who have creative ideas for storing things including, but not limited to, wrapping supplies, (in fact any and all organizing topics are welcome!) please leave me a comment at the end of this post or leave me a message in my chat box?
I'd love to have conversation with you and glean from some of your ideas.

Everyone who joins in this conversation and leaves me a valid email address will be entered into a drawing for 2 gently used books.

The winner can choose from two of 6 choices:

1. Your Clothes Say it for You by Elizabeth Rice Handford
2. Christian Living in the Home by Jay Adams
3. Training Children in Godliness by Jacob Abbot
4. Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley (Flylady)
5. I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris
(this one has our name in ink in the front cover but is in good condition)
6.What the Bible Says About Child Training by J. Richard Fugate
(This one is an older bookstore discard copy with an X on the bottom--but still in good condition)

Thanks to any of you in advance and please pass the message on...the more the merrier!

• Dec. 9, 2006 - Organizing
Posted by AmyD
Hello! We used to live in a large older house with three "barely enough room for hanging clothes" closets and now we live in a mobile home that has some larger closets, but still not nearly big enough. This may sound totally hilarious but last year I bought one of those plastic conatianers that holds wrapping paper, about six rolls, that is supposed to slip under a bed. Instead of it going under the bed, I turned it on its side and slipped it behind the couch. The wrap is much easier to get to there than it was in behind my clothes in the closet! :) Instead of an end table, at one end of our couch we have a dresser that holds all of the kids puzzles, card games, crayons, makers, craft supplies, bins with cassete tapes, scissors, etc. It just looks better than the plastic drawers/bins and still functions as an end table. We have cups on several tables & shelves and one on the kitchen counter with pencils/pens. The kids decorated the cups with contact paper. Since we don't have a room just for books/bookshelves, we have small bookshelves in many places around the house. In a way it works out best for us. One bookshelf holds science books/magazines, one history, and one is for chapter books. Our bedroom is the largest room so we have a tall bookshelf in there for the kids' school notebooks, textbooks, math manipulatives, encyclopedias, and other reference books. One year I bought an old trunk and some old leather suitcases at a resale shop. The trunk cost me about five dollars and the suitcases about a dollar a piece. I have the trunk at the end of our bed holding picture albums. The suitcases sit at the ends of the kids' beds - in those we have loose photos, momentos, stored seasonal clothes. My filing cabinet actually sits in a corner of the two younger boys' room. They found that since it is tall it is a good place for the hamster cages instead of on their dressers. That way the cat can't jump up there and tease the hamsters. I don't store away winter blankets. Those remain on beds all year. We just pull back the heavier ones and use only the top sheet in summer. We do cheat a little bit with holiday decorations and clothes waiting to be handed down. We now rent a small storage space for those things since we no longer have a garage or an attic. Our old neighbor actually discovered that he could widen the kids' closets since there was dead wall space next to the original closet between the rooms. Now that's an extreme for getting organized! :) But it was a solution for them that they could make work. Well, I hope I've given you a few ideas that might work for you. It's so hard to share ideas sometimes since everyone's house is different and also the things we have to go in them. Happy Organizing! Amy

• Dec. 9, 2006 - Thank you!
Posted by sunydazy
AmyD, Those are some great ideas! I do have space behind the couch that I could somehow utilize, and I hadn't thought of suitcases....hmmm...now I've got some things to think about. Thanks! This is going to be a challenge! :-D

• Dec. 10, 2006 - Organizing tips from Tonya...
Posted by Anonymous
Wrapping paper can hang in the closet with this organizer - http://hangercity.com/gifwrapor1.html And for winter clothes, blankets, extra pillows etc, I am a space bag junkie. Ryan's bed has drawers under but has a big open space between the drawers in the back, I can put at least 8 or so sleeping bags and space bags full of all kinds of things. They come out a little wrinkled a year later but I put a fabric softener sheet in the sleeping bags before putting them away so at least they smell good. I cut plywood to make a floor for our attic and filled it with rubbermaid containers for things that I don't need often but don't want to get rid of yet. I swear I am becoming mom sometimes! (Not sure if this would work in the Texas heat...hmmm) Or...you can send the kids a few at a time to me then you have extra room!! :)

• Dec. 22, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by foxvalleyfamily
I actually turned our old changing table into a 'gift wrap center.' I store the rolls of paper on the middle shelf ( they fit perfectly) and on the bottom I keep gift bags and a box with ribbons and bows , then a small pencil case with tape and scissors. We store the whole thing in our basement - next to our washer/dryer. Hope that helps! Michelle W.

Labels: Drawings and Contests, Household Helps