I often receive a common question on how I get my kid's to help out with picking up and lending a helping hand around the house. Well, it's not always simple, but I do what I can to make it easy for them to help, and as you will see in this post, great helpers they are! And that's because I equip them with some tools to keep their clothes nice and neat!
I am a believer that labels are extremely amazing tools in keeping any humble abode, an organized and tidy space. They offer short and sweet descriptions of item contents, making it easier to find things, easier to put things in their own special places and easier for all family members to keep their things put away as well! I also think that too many labels out and about in the home, may appear clutterish {which is my nemesis} and are best used either behind doors, with decorative containers, in a decorative way and in children spaces! Another question I receive frequently is "how" do I make all of my labels, so I will make sure in this edition, to share my step by step process of some uber adorable kid's clothing tags.
A family of five = massive amounts of laundry pileup. And more than any one single person should try to manage on their own. Therefore, I decided it was time to get my happy little helpers involved in the process. First important step - pair down. I also chatted through this a bit in my original post, and it really matters here as well, that there aren't too many articles of clothing clogging up the drawers. In this situation, less is more, and I promise my kids have never come home from school crying because someone picked on them for wearing the same clothes too many times in a row. Not day after day in a row, but week after week type of stuff. The two major benefits of kid's not having a massive clothes overload, is that it is less overwhelming each time an outfit must be put together AND they will actually fit into drawers nice and neatly. And don't forget, it's ok to swap out clothes seasonally if drawer space is limited!
So, now with the total amount of kid's clothing paired down, I got my kids involved in two easy steps. First, I created them some pretty snazzy labels for their drawer fronts. Yep, little pictures on each drawer, indicating the contents. This worked SO incredibly well that I am thinking of creating a couple of more for the ol' hubster... just kidding love muffin!
Here is the play by play of creating these awesome little clothes indicators:
First, I dug around on the Microsoft Clip Art Website to find the articles of clothing that I was looking for, and pasted them all into Microsoft Word:
And then I printed them out:
And cut out the specific clothing pieces to my personal liking:
From there, I traced a tag making rim, on the backside of some cute scrapbook paper:
I traced around the outside because I knew if I traced around the inside it would be too small to fit into the rim. So, I figured I would just trim down the edges a bit for the perfect fit. I also traced on the back of the cute paper {which was pretty girly flowers} because I didn't want to worry about pencil marks getting on the front side. I then cut out each tag from the scrapbook paper and glued them down to a solid sheet of cardstock to A: make them stronger and B: make the backing solid instead of pretty flowery:
Then, I ran the pieces of cardstock through my magical laminating machine!
Once they were covered in a protective film, I cut them out AGAIN:
Looking pretty fantastical already right? Oh, but I wasn't done yet! Next, I trimmed them down a bit {once I got the first one trimmed perfectly to fit inside the label rim, I used it as a template to stick to the tops of the rest to trim down, worked like a charm!} Once trimmed, I popped them inside the label rims and used my little scrapbook hammer to lightly tap the edges, which then secured the rims around the labels:
And then they were done!
Well, done being made, but now they had to be put onto their respective drawer fronts. We have drawers for PJ's, Socks & Undies, Long Sleeves, Short Sleeves, Pants & Shorts.
For my two older boys, who happily share their personal space, I used small Velcro pieces to affix the labels. On my one son's drawer fronts, I couldn't resist how perfectly they were going to fit right onto the drawer pull itself, so that's where his went!
First, Velcro. Second, Label. Third, there is none, you are done!
They fit oh so wonderfully on his drawer pulls, I just heart how they turned out, and so does he which makes it even more awesome and worth the time!
For my older son, he didn't have the same drawer pulls, so his went straight above the pull on each drawer:
And I don't think they are too clutterish or gaudy at all. In fact, the silver metal rim tag, actually gives it a nice finished look that really makes it look like they were meant to be there, and doesn't draw negative attention to the space!
Lastly, for my little one's dresser, which is in another room, I just punched a hole in the top and used some ribbon to knot the tag around his drawer pulls:
Yep, SO easy!
And again, cute enough to keep on display without screaming an eye piercing eeeeek!
So, what you all may be finding yourselves asking... cute Jen, but do they REALLY work?! And my answer to you... "Oh yeah baby!" These little labels are probably one of the most effective things I have ever done around the house to make life easier for us. My 3 year old puts away all of this own laundry, and also picks out all of his own clothes each day. Yep, I can't even get a grown man to do that, so for my 3 year old to be miles ahead of my husband, had my jaw dropping to the floor! Again, only kidding my love.
So, that was the first step, and earlier I had mentioned it actually took two steps to really make this effective! Step one covers the outsides of the drawers and step two goes to the depths of the insides. Scary right?
So here was my issue. My kid's knew where their clothes were meant to go, thanks to their sweet little labels, and since my older two can read size numbers on the tags, they would sort down the clothes to each kid, and then jam them inside the the drawers and run outside to play. Yep, they were getting put away, however, they would pull them out and go to school all wrinkly and stuff. So, I ran to the Container Store where I picked up this amazing new bff to my boys:
And at first I thought the $19.99 price tag was a little steep, but I was as desperate for a solution as Tiger Woods is for... well you know! So, I used my favorite online coupon finder website, and snagged 20% off plus no shipping since I picked it up at the store. And yep, worth EVERY single penny!
I would like submit this photo as exhibit A, a messy drawer full of short sleeve shirts:
Yikes, an organizing freak's nightmare. However, after a couple of quick seconds hanging out with the Flip and Fold laundry folder, the drawer quickly went from drab to fab. Enter exhibit B:
Check out all of that new found space! I mean really, no more downsizing for us! We have a laundry folder now, fill up those drawers! Only kidding! But really, the one stack had 7 shirts in it, and they were flat as pancakes!
Again, this is impressive stuff here.
And for your visual entertainment, I would like to submit exhibit C, a super quick yet absolutely amazing video, of my sweet and adorable little 5 year old, Peyton, folding his own clothes:
Pretty fantastic right?! And isn't the little man a cutie?! Stay away ladies, he is already spoken for! And what you didn't see in the video was his little bro was hanging out on the sidelines cheering him on!
Ok, my final kid's clothes drawer tip and trick for the day. Plastic storage baskets or empty shoe boxes. They make amazing sock and undiewear caddies. I would show you, but I have issues placing photographs of my little guys skivvies on the internet, so use your imagination and know, it's another easy peasy option that works like a charm with the little guys {and gals}!
Ok, my final kid's clothes drawer tip and trick for the day. Plastic storage baskets or empty shoe boxes. They make amazing sock and undiewear caddies. I would show you, but I have issues placing photographs of my little guys skivvies on the internet, so use your imagination and know, it's another easy peasy option that works like a charm with the little guys {and gals}!
So there you have it, in less time than I invested in typing up this blog post, I was able to serve up two simple ways to get our kid's a lot more involved with putting away their laundry. And what's great is their sense of pride when they realize how easy it is and how great their drawers look when they are all done. And if I can make my kid feel proud, while also getting dirty work done, then I am one happy mommy!
What about you fine folks? How do you get your little ones excited about helping out with laundry? Anyone have a fun game they play with the kids to get them to find sock matches? Share your dirty laundry secrets, I promise, they are probably the kind you will be excited your neighbors {and fellow blog readers} are chatting about!
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