I had 2 things I really wanted to complete this week (bills and Cy's portfolio) and 3 things I really wanted to organize this week (toy closet, files, school closet). I didn't think I could do Lisa's Summer Clean-up Challenge because I didn't have a "room" to tackle...but I have these closets I had planned .....so I'm going to say I qualify to play. OK Lisa? ::snort::
This is the toy closet. 
I should point out that this closet is really big and my kitchen would be much bigger if they hadn't built this walk in closet. ::snort:: This is also the movie closet and costume closet. I want to organize all three areas of the closet. The videos are not terribly out of order. I need to continue to think of the best way to organize the costumes. The toy mess was a priority. It will make life much easier and efficient if the boys can pick things up quickly. I'm all about preparing for an easier school year next year. ::snort::
I should point out that this closet is really big and my kitchen would be much bigger if they hadn't built this walk in closet. ::snort:: This is also the movie closet and costume closet. I want to organize all three areas of the closet. The videos are not terribly out of order. I need to continue to think of the best way to organize the costumes. The toy mess was a priority. It will make life much easier and efficient if the boys can pick things up quickly. I'm all about preparing for an easier school year next year. ::snort:: Monday, I told Nolan and Zander to go through all their toys and throw out anything that was broken. Anything they no longer played with was to go in the Goodwill box. While they did this, I balanced the checkbook and paid bills. They found a 13 gal garbage bag of broken toys. They also "organized" everything. They had 3 rubbermaid-like tubs that had become overwhelmed with the amount of toys being placed in them (See photo above!).
Today, I had all three of the youngers take every toy out of the closet again, while Stacia napped.
I found a 13 gal and a yard garbage bag full of toys. We also FILLED our geocaching backpack - from cache to cache.
I found a 13 gal and a yard garbage bag full of toys. We also FILLED our geocaching backpack - from cache to cache. Then we sorted toys into categories (dinosaurs, ocean animals, puzzles...). 
I'd done all of THIS before...but Darshia had inspired me. I hadn't figured out how to make it EASY for the boys to KEEP it organized - and therefore I keep doing the above things every 3 - 6 months. Today, I took a picture of each group of toys. I made labels with the title AND picture of what goes into the bin. 
The boys know exactly where each toy goes. I know where each toy goes. Company will know where each toy goes.....AND I'm supposed to be doing lots of visual clues for Nolan's processing problem according to the therapist at the rehab center. This makes us all happy! 
I'd done all of THIS before...but Darshia had inspired me. I hadn't figured out how to make it EASY for the boys to KEEP it organized - and therefore I keep doing the above things every 3 - 6 months. Today, I took a picture of each group of toys. I made labels with the title AND picture of what goes into the bin. The boys know exactly where each toy goes. I know where each toy goes. Company will know where each toy goes.....AND I'm supposed to be doing lots of visual clues for Nolan's processing problem according to the therapist at the rehab center. This makes us all happy! About those costumes....I'm wondering if something like a suit bag would work. Put a costume and it's accessories in the bag, zip it up and hang it up. What have others of you done with something like this? I currently have them hanging in the back 1/2 of this closet and have bins above on a shelf for accessories. The problem is that the costumes are always in a heap......
