Situation: Too many books and toys and not enough storage. All this clutter and the little girl could not decide what she wanted to play with.

Solution: We downsized the toy collection and got rid of the outgrown games and books. We also reorganized the closet which gave us a bit more room for extra items that did not belong loose in the room. The dog loved the new found floor space!

Situation: This long and narrow room had ample floor to ceiling and wall to wall cabinets but the toys were constantly out and underfoot. The challenge was that the younger child could access the older child’s toys and had not learned how to put them back into tubs. At the same time, she was quite young and only beginning to learn how to put things away for herself. Add too many toys into the equation and this room became a constant challenge and source of stress for mom.

Solution: Purge and sort through excess toys and donate to charity. Organize the toys by type and activity into plastic bins with lids that could not be easily opened by the youngest. Place her toys low and at her level and her older sister’s up and out of the way on the higher shelves. With snap lids that were not quickly opened, the young one could not easily dive in and dump all of the toys while no one was looking.  It was also easier to supervise her and keep her focused on one type of activity at a time. The older child now had her games and toys up where she could get to them as she wanted and knew how to put her toys away when she was done playing.

Situation:
A dining room that was transformed into a kid’s playroom. The challenge was too many toys. This created several issues which resulted in toys that were never put away.

1.    There were toys that were no longer used and taking up precious storage space
2.    With too many play options, the kids were bouncing back and forth between activities with no real focus
3.    Because new toys were constantly added without removing old toys, storage for every item was impossible, there was simply not enough space for everything.

Solution:
1.    We purged and donated toys that the kids no longer used.
2.    Keeper toys were reduced in half with half stored in the playroom for easy access and the other half stored in Rubbermaid tubs on shelving in the garage
3.    When the children grew tired of certain toys, they were rotated out or donated and replaced with a few of the ‘new’ toys from the garage tubs
4.    We placed toy collections with multiple small parts up high and out of reach of the toddler. He was able to play with these items only with supervision and when there was time to oversee that he put them back into their designated containers. When they were behind closed doors, he forgot about them anyway.
5.    I repurposed the shelving unit on the right in the ‘before’ photo and moved it into the hall closet where it fit perfectly without removing the shelf above and it became a very useful haven for backpacks, purses, shoes and craft materials.

( Move mouse over picture for after )

Challenge:
This is one of my favorite and youngest clients. She has the tendency to get overwhelmed by her clutter and become unable to sort through the mess on her own. She also has a self-admitted stuffed animal issue, meaning she has tooooo many!

Solution:
We managed to donate over 4 large bags of her beloved animals to the Police Department for the Sheriffs to keep in their car trunks and give to kids in distress. My client is now working her way toward living a clutter-free life and has told me that empty space is a good thing. How can you not love that? Add Space!

Testimonial:

“If people ever have a stuffed animal problem and need somebody to help them, I think Kathi is a good choice because she won’t let you make lame excuses. I used to think there was no such thing as too many and now I know that if you have over 100, you should really try to stop. It’s kind of like chocolate, it is hard to stop.”

LR San Diego