Tip for Organizing a Boy's Bedroom

My favorite part of Dylan's room

After a couple Christmas's and birthdays, organizing toys for my little boy, who just turned 3, quickly became a necessity.  I'm not a fan of toy boxes unless we can keep the toys separated by type.  We do have 3 round, blue tubs from Wal-Mart that we use in place of a toy box.  Two tubs are full of cars/trucks/tractors and one tub contains costumes (swords, masks, etc.).


Storage area for his larger vehicles

My favorite storage area in Dylan's room is the one we created out of crates sold during the back to school sale at Wal-Mart.  I bought six crates last year once the prices were marked down.  I just bought three more this week at normal price, which was under $4 each.  Dylan got a few more large vehicles for his birthday so we needed some extra space.  My husband zip tied (if that's a word, ha) the crates together, horizontally and vertically.  The crates fit perfectly in Dylan's room in the small area next to his door. 

Letters we painted ourselves and signs that were bought as decorations for his birthday party

 Last year, we bought and painted the wooden letters above from Hobby Lobby.  However, the wall looked really plain.  This summer for Dylan's birthday party, I ordered the signs in the picture with his other party supplies.  The signs are a very thin plastic.  After using them for the party, I found that they looked great under his name. 

Organizing Electronics

 I found this cute shower caddy on clearance at Wal-Mart this past week for 50 cents.  I bought three of them figuring I would find something in our house that could be organized better.  So far, I've used one.  I found that my digital camera and video camera and all the necessary cords fit perfectly in the shower caddy.  This was pretty exciting for me because I'm always looking for my digital camera and the cords.  Now, I no longer have to search the house, everything I need to capture a special moment is in this caddy which is in the closet. 

                                                                 I'm linking up to

Why a Plan is Important

Image Credit

I have always considered myself to be a planning and scheduling type person.  But over the past year, that seems to have changed.  When I worked full-time and part-time, I guess I didn't really get to schedule my day.  I had to go to work and the rest of life had to revolve around that.  Anyway, I felt like I was a scheduled person.  As a stay at home mom, I actually get to decide each day what the children and I will do.  For the past year, I have for the most part just let life happen while we are at home.  I feel that God is leading me to become a little more organized in the months before we begin our new life as homeschoolers.

While many people have jobs outside the home and do not have much flexibility in their day to day schedules, there is still a lot of planning and goal setting that can (and maybe needs) to be done to help realize dreams and enjoy your life to the fullest.  My husband and I have noticed that if we do not have a plan, not much will happen.  Some areas where we are in need of plans are 1) saving for retirement, 2) having date nights, 3) physical fitness and healthy eating, 4) chores for our children.  I am sure there are other areas where we need to establish a plan in order to achieve our desires but these are the areas that the Lord is placing on my heart.

I have felt God pushing me in this direction.  If you do not have a vision and make plans to accomplish the vision, years down the road you will still be wishing for something that you do not have in your life.  I hear people say often that they wish they had more money for retirement and were thinner or healthier.  In order to achieve those goals, you must plan.  

Proverbs 6:6-8

New Living Translation (NLT)

⁶ Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.

    Learn from their ways and become wise!

⁷ Though they have no prince

    or governor or ruler to make them work,

⁸ they labor hard all summer,

    gathering food for the winter

Proverbs 21:5

New Living Translation (NLT)

⁵ Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity,
    but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty.

Hair Bows - Need or Want?

I was telling Dale how glad I was that I remembered (thankful for reminders from God!) a week before Easter that Dasia did not have a hair bow for her Easter dress.  This was after I had just driven about an hour to buy ribbon to make her hair bow.  I was shocked when he informed me that hair bows were not needs but wants.  I still don't agree with that statement!  Anyway, I'm sure that having a matching hair bow for Easter morning is much better than a stressed out mommy when she realizes on Easter morning that none of the bows will work.