Getting Control of the Stuffed Animals

My kids love stuffed animals, plus they're fairly cheap at thrift stores and yard sales. The downside is that a love of stuffed animals x 4 kids = one mom driven crazy. There were stuffed animals everywhere, we tried different things to gain control of them, even making them give up several, but little by little more animals entered into the home. A friend recently blogged about her daughter's b-day present, they had made her a cage for all her stuffed animals. I found several ideas on Pinterest, this tutorial was very similar to the one my friend made. I've been trying to use things I already have, so we were going to use wood we already had on hand, but I didn't have bungee cords. We decided to stop into the thrift store first on our way to town for the bungee cords. I found this tri-fold chalk board for $4. With a few modifications this could easily become the cage.  

We cut four pieces of wood, one to brace the back and 3 for the front of the cage. We were trying to figure out the best way to attach the bungee cords when I saw this post where Ana used elastic instead of bungee cords. I have plenty of elastic since I buy it at thrift stores. We cut 4 even pieces of elastic and secured them with big thumb tacks, something I had on hand from another project.

Then we filled the cage with stuffed animals. I'm amazed that my children didn't point out that there's plenty of room to add more animals.

The cost of the entire project was $5 because the wood was free from my Gpa.

Lego Organization

We were struggling with the overflow of Legos, the constant battle of the Lego brick left on the floor that naturally a shoeless foot would always find. I decided during Christmas break my boys and I would tackle this problem. Before their Lego bricks were held in a 41Qt clear tote.

 

In the Christmas aisle we found these AWESOME ornament totes. They work perfectly for separating Legos. Of course it took many hours over two days to get it completed, but it has been well worth it. My boys are able to find parts for a particular creation a lot easier. The downside, we still have the forgotten Lego brick on the floor. 

Memory Boxes

Everything in my house has its place, however it doesn't always get put back in a timely manner. I have keepsake totes for my kids, but they're in our crawl space so I don't get to them often. I end up with piles of kid artwork and school work in my bedroom. A friend suggested this pin to me. I knew it was exactly what I was looking for!! Since I don't share my kiddo's names online I can't show you theirs, but here's mine. 

 

I bought the file boxes from Office Depot when they were having a great deal...50% off. I don't own any of those fancy cutting machines, instead I found a font I liked and had the kids choose their scrap book paper and then printed their name backwards on the wrong side of the paper. I cut their names out and then Mod Podged them on the inside of the tote. 

Each of the family members have files that relate to their needs. Here's an example of my son's.

 

Of course this is before I started to file away his paperwork...it doesn't look as organized with all the different size papers peeking out of the folders, but its functional and better than what I had before. The nice thing about these totes is I can store them in my closet and have easy access to them, so ideally no more piles of paperwork on my window seat.