Happiness Can Be Bought... at the Dollar Spot

I love Thursdays. My mother-in-law graciously entertains my son during the afternoon and I get to run errands, go to scheduled appointments, and sometimes I even get to go to TARGET by myself! It is truly magical.

Sure, we make other (multiple) trips to Target during the week, but there is something to be said about not having a little guy tugging on my pant leg trying to will me toward the toy section as quickly as possible and then, when he gets there, refusing to leave until he admires and touches every single toy. On Thursdays, however, I am free to browse the aisles and linger at the alluring Dollar Spot. This, my friends is my shopping weakness. I can easily spend a half hour or more digging through the bins and snatching up little treasures. Today for example, I came home with the following:

Three pairs of cute socks, a fall burlap banner, some packages of paper straws, chalkboard coasters, 2 rolls of twine, 2 packages of mini clothespins, and some chalkboard picks. I have a plan for the twine, mini clothespins, and fall burlap banner and socks are pretty utilitarian, but the paper straws, chalkboard coasters and picks were complete impulse buys. I have no plan, they have no purpose (yet!) but I'll add them to my stash of things that make me happy and will eventually find their way as party decorations and... they were a dollar!

Happiness can be bought in the Target Dollar Spot.

The Bin System: Organizing My Child's Messy Room

My three year old's room is always a mess. It doesn't matter if I spend two hours or two days straightening everything up into their assigned baskets and on their assigned shelves. If he is allowed to play for fifteen minutes, my hard work is instantly undone. I don't know if I should scream, laugh, or cry.

I came across this post yesterday and found it to be an interesting perspective:

 

While I can't imagine tossing all of my son's toys, the idea of living a simpler life (with less items to create less mess) is appealing. Instead of sending his treasured items to the curb, I've decided to try an out of sight out of mind approach that I hope will help control the clutter. I'm calling this idea "The Bin Project."

 

I've gathered bins (with lids) in various sizes and each bin will house a different type of toy. For example, all of his Disney Cars will be kept in a bin, all of his Trash Pack figures will share a bin, Jake and the Neverland Pirates toys will call another bin home, etc. We already sort the toys by type, so this part isn't exactly new. The difference will be in how the toys are accessed and the frequency in which toys will be available.

Once the bins are assigned and filled (and labeled in the near future) they will be placed on a storage rack in our basement storage room. Two bins can be "checked out" at a time and taken into my son's bedroom. He can keep the bins in his room for as long as he wants, but if he wants a different bin, he must first place everything back in his bins and exchange one of his bins for a different bin on the storage rack. I'm also thinking that there needs to be some sort of limit on how often bins can be exchanged, but I haven't worked that out yet.

Here is the progress that has been made so far today:

 



These items are ready to be transferred to the basement into the toy storage area. It will undoubtedly take me a few more days to sort through the rest of his items and start our new Bin System, but I'll be sure to write about the progress (and pitfalls) along the way.