WFMW - Organizing Kid's Dresser

Works for Me Wednesday is being hosted by Don't Try This at Home week while Shannon is Uganda. Head on over there to find over a hundred other tips. While you're out blog-hopping, stop by Shannon's at Rocks in My Dryer to read about her experience in Uganda; she's there for 10 days with Compassion International, blogging about her experience. You can find a listing of the other bloggers, with links to their blogs about their Uganda experience, here. Each person has their own unique way of telling the story. Once you've read their stories, hop on over to Compassion International and sponser a child. Now for the tip...

For the last several weeks, I have been sharing how I organize my kids' things. I believe this will be my last post in this series: how I organize my toddler's dresser.


Take one ordinary dresser showing plenty of wear.

Except that it isn't so ordinary. The top slides over and down between the wall and the dresser to reveal a changing table. Isn't that cool? Since Josh is still in diapers, we leave the top open. Some day, we might actually close the top but leaving it up is easiest.

The top drawer is already partioned off into three sections. It's the coolest thing. I keep diapers on either side; you can see that they fit perfectly. I keep extra packages of wipes, Balmex, hydrocortizone, and a thermometer in the middle section.

That top section and Organizing Junkie gave the idea of how to organize the rest of the dresser: use dollar store baskets! They fit perfectly, three across. Each basket holds a specific item; I've labeled the photos to show you.

The next drawer down holds overalls/one piece outfits, pants, and shirts. I store the pants and shirts with the folded side up which allows me to see all of them without having to lift up stacks to see what's under the top layer. This really helps keep the baskets neatly folded.

The bottom drawer holds the baby blankets that we still use and outerwear (heavy sirts, vests, jackets we do't use every day).

Josh's dresser always looks this neat. The baskets help keep like things together and keeps piles from toppling over int drawers that are oversized for baby clothes. Everyone can find clothes for Josh, even the kids. Before I started using the baskets, his dressers were a wreck and we had to rummage through everything every time we needed to find somthing for him to wear.

My Beautiful Decluttered Table

Only 10 days left until Christmas and I still haven't gotten all the decorations up yet! Normally, I like to decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving but I haven't been the least big motivated this year. I found a little bit of motivation today.

There's this blog I like. In fact, I think it was the first blog I ever found and read. It's called I'm an Organizing Junkie. Every so often (twice a year, I think), she holds a 30 Day Organizational Challenge where all the participants take 30 days to organize either a whole room or a small space. Then they post before and after pictures and answer some questions on their blogs for all to see. The winners get some cool prizes and my awe at their wonderful, new, organized spaces. Well, I didn't have a blog so I couldn't participate in the contest. Today I was thinking about the most recent challenge and thought I'd challenge myself to a Super Small Space Organization Challenge and post about it for motivation. So, here's my side table:

This is the before photo: This table is a magnet for just about anything. It's also where two of our three laptops get placed when not in use. In the space between the couch and the table, there's a bunch of paper trash that missed the can and a huge tangle of laptop cords.

Here's the after photo with our little Nativity set up. Isn't it just beautiful!

Here is an overview of the whole area. Each basket holds a laptop and its cord. No more tangled mess of cords! The baskets are from the dollar store...an idea I got from Laura, the Organizing Junkie. Thanks Laura!