Tidy Tip Tuesday: Winter Storage

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“Mom! I can only find one of my gloves! Have you seen my hat? I don’t see my scarf anywhere! Mom!”

 

Mornings are rough. It’s hard to get kiddos to eat breakfast, get dressed, brush their teeth, comb their hair, and get out the door in a timely fashion.

 

Now, add Minnesota winters to the morning blur!

 

Depending on the ages of your kids, it can take up to 20 minutes to put on snow pants, a coat, hat, scarf, mittens, and boots!

 

Desiring a peaceful morning routine, I set out to organize our winter gear. Maybe then I would no longer hear, “I can’t find my ____.”

 

Solution:

 

  1. Purchase three baskets to place in the entryway closet.
  2. Sort them by scarves, mittens/gloves, and hats.
  3. Hang each child’s winter coat and snow pants on their designated hook with snow boots placed neatly underneath. 

Displaying coats and snow pants on appropriate hooks with snow boots underneath proved to be successful but the entryway continued to be a chorus of, “I can’t find my ____!”

 

“All the hats are in this basket!” I said proudly. But this only led to the basket being dumped upside down in search of the specific hat each child was looking for.

Determined to try again, I tried this approach:

 

Solution:

 

  1. Buy more baskets so each family member has their own.
  2. Sort scarves, mittens/gloves, and hats by person it belongs to. 
  3. Have each member of the family go through their designated items. Encourage them to keep only what fits and what they truly wear.
  4. Place “keep items” back in their own basket. 
  5. Donate the rest of the items.

This approach = GAME CHANGER!

 

Our entryway continues to be chaos due to everyone wanting to talk at the same time! However, winter items get put back where they belong and are no longer disappearing! Hurray for getting out the door on time and without yelling!

 

Want a solution to the winter gear headache? Grab a basket or box for each member of your family and try this quick and easy approach!

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