cleaning – Page 4 – Plain and Not So Plain

large family organization tips part 5 the boys room

amy / 09/25/2013

Large family organization tips: the boys room

In our large family household, we have 6 girls and 4 boys. At the moment we have teenage girls in the basement, four little girls in one room, two little boys in one room and 2 big boys in a room.

This is the 2 big boys in a room.

As a mom of many, I have learned a few things about boys rooms in comparison to girls rooms over the years:

boys are messier
boys are harder on their furniture
boys don’t care to organize
boys will never clean their rooms unless made to
boys will throw all their clothing in the closet and be content to leave it that way
boys just aren’t girls

I am very content with my boys. They are growing up to be such strong, responsible, hard working men, I guess I can deal with ONE messy room in the household:)

This boys room is very small. We had bunk beds in here originally and a desk and that is about it. Not much else will fit. The problem with having bunk beds, is that when you have two full sized boys maneuvering around on them daily they are bound to get loose and start falling apart. I was repainting their room and had climbed up on the top of their beds and it was swaying—yikes. Time for some new beds. But what can you buy that is going to hold up to two teenage boys??? Not a whole lot unless you can get something out of stainless steel. Well we had to do what was close and that was something hand-made by Dad.

We also wanted something affordable and sturdy bunk beds were not on the list of affordable. I am thankful for a visionary husband to be able to design these plans in his head by suggestions from me of things to incorporate into the plans.

This is what we came up with. We did a loft style bunk bed on the top. Underneath we bought a wooden heavy duty futon for the older son. That way, one day the oldest boy will eventually move out and that will leave this boy alone for a few years. Unless he wants to start bunking with his toddler brothers, I think not!!! Then he can add a chair or something simple to sit at underneath.

We made sure to build something for each boys personal items right into the bed design. For the older boy, on the bottom, we made a small desk that he can put his laptop on and numerous “boy items.” Underneath he keeps his guitar cases.

On the top bunk bed, we didn’t want to have shelves but still wanted the son to have a space for his personal items. My husband made a built in desk. As you can see it is above his pillows and opens up to hold all of this items from his tablet to his toys. He then has a plug that goes into the desk and he can charge his tablet whenever he needs to.

As for clothing….

The boys closet. I love the idea of a family closet, but it just wouldn’t be a feasible thing to do in our family. So , I needed to find a way to organize my boys closets in a way that they would keep them clean. Have boys ….make mess.

My boys are not naturally inclined to organize their clothing, that is why I had to come up with a way, to be able to jut throw your clothng and be good with it. We don’t have dressers as they take up too much space, but we do have organizers.

For the most part the boys do hang up their shirts. On the top of the closet is the younger boys items. I use these metal 5 gallon containers that my husband got from his work and lay them on their sides. One bin is for socks and underwear and one bin is for pajamas. To the left is supposed to be a neatly folded pile of shorts or jeans, depending upon the season. It isn’t usually folded very neatly.

On the bottom, is the older boys clothing. He has a 5 gallon drum for his sweat pants and one for his socks and underwear. He then folds his jeans and shorts neatly and places them on the plastic bin rack.

The other item in their room, but is not pictured, is their entertainment stand with flat screen tv. It sits across from their beds. Holds all their media devices and remote control airplanes. We bought it from Craigslist and it ended up being from a family that we knew right down the street. I don’t do much decorating in this room. The boys have their posters and items that they prefer on the walls. I am okay with that. One less room to worry about.

Up next the little girls room

Large family organization tips part 4 the dining room

amy / 09/24/2013

In part 4 of our series, large family organization I will show you our dining room.

When you have a large family one of the requirements that you need, besides a 15 passenger van is a large table for everyone to fit around during meal times. This was one of those “expenses” that we bought brand new. We had used a table that had been given to us for years and when we were able to save up and purchase our heavy duty, commercial quality items for our home a new table was one of them. This was one of those items that I knew we would purchase once and have for the rest of our life.

What I love about this table is that it is rustic looking, which my husband likes as well as a bit of contemporary look to it, what I like. Plus it has natural scrapes and indentations on the wood, what my kids like.

Too many years went by, that I would freak out if someone accidentally scratched the table top. This was something I did not have time for. My television stand, as seen in our living room post, has similar wood qualities. I knew that with having so many people it was bound, along with the table to get ruined one day. I didn’t want to create that sort of stress in my life. So before we went and purchased it, I knew in my head what qualities I was looking for beforehand.

Another quality that a large family needs when purchasing an item is heavy duty, durable. That was a big component when figuring out what table to buy. I knew that I would have someone standing on it sooner or later. Doesn’t everyone’s child stand on the table? I needed something that wasn’t going to flip if someone stood on one edge of it. With these sturdy thick legs, there is no chance for that to happen.

Yes, this table passes the test for sturdy durable items for a large family.

The only thing that is left in this room is the high chair for the baby. eventually he will upgrade to a bench seat as a toddler.

We decided to not go the traditional route of dining room chairs, but instead opt for simple benches. I did not want to spend my days cleaning off chair rungs or picking up 12 chairs when it was time to sweep the floor. I had my husband make 2 benches for each side of the table. This was easier because it is hard to get into the middle of a bench seat while wearing a skirt:) We can easily fit 3 to a bench seat. We then have mini benches that can fit 2 people for each end. These were very basic shaker style benches to make. I wanted a heavy duty sturdy bench and could not find them anywhere. We had benches that we used for years and eventually they started to break and come apart. I did not want to see that happen with my benches. As with everything…. sturdy and heavy duty.

Our dining room also doubles as our school room. It is adorned with a world map. We have had many maps over the years, most rip and I have to replace quite often. This large laminated map I bought at Hobby Lobby, it has held up quite well for the last few years.

We also have a marker board for doing math problems on.

We are currently doing the 21 rules of this household by Gregg Harris

What I did was printed out each rule on a piece of cardstock and found a cute clip art photo to go with it. We then pulled one rule out each day and discussed it and gave real life examples of how we could follow it. Throughout the day I made sure to point out when we should have or did do that rule. It has been a great tool to go back and reference during the day if someone was being disobedient.

Here are the rules:

1. We obey God.
2. We love, honor and pray for one another.
3. We tell the truth.
4. We consider one another’s interests ahead of our own.
5. We speak quietly and respectfully with one another.
6. We do not hurt one another with unkind words or deeds.
7. When someone needs correction, we correct him in love.
8. When someone is sorry, we forgive him.
9. When someone is sad, we comfort him.
10. When someone is happy, we rejoice with him.
11. When we have something nice to share, we share it.
12. When we have work to do, we do it without complaining.
13. We take good care of everything that God has given us.
14. We do not create unnecessary work for others.
15. When we open something, we close it.
16. When we take something out, we put it away.
17. When we turn something on, we turn it off.
18. When we make a mess, we clean it up.
19. When we do not know what to do, we ask.
20. When we go out, we act just as if we were in this house.
21. When we disobey or forget any of the 21 Rules of This House, we accept the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Going over these with my children daily has been wonderful. At each meal I go through and point to all the rules that we have done and most of the children can say the rules. Even the 2 year old joins in and will say them.

My teeenage daughter and I had fun coloring in these clip art people. She enjoys coloring, I do not. I made sure to choose the ones like the light switch and such that had not much detail. She did most of the ones with lots of coloring.

We hung them on our walls with sticky tack. Did you know that you can get that at the Dollar Store now?? Whenever we hang things up with masking tape at our home, it eventually falls down. But when we use sticky tack, it rarely does.

That covers all the 21 rules for our household.

That was a simple room to do. Up next the boys room