Off-season clothes.
Have you looked recently? Some of those clothes piled up in the middle of your child's bedroom floor may be leftovers from summer play and not suitable for school or fall. Be ready with
Ziploc® Brand Big Bags to store unnecessary and out-of-season apparel. Launder items before storing. Once filled,
Ziploc® Brand Big Bags fit neatly under a bed or on a closet floor or shelf.
Small furry things.
Too many stuffed toys making a mess? Give the smaller toys a sweet place to rest their weary bodies by placing them in those shoe organizers that hang on the inside of a closet door. Your children will enjoy seeing their heads popping over the top of the sleeves whenever they open their closets. Or hang a toy hammock in your child's room and place the overflow of stuffed animals there. Sling it low enough so your child can reach it.
Sports equipment.
The
Ziploc® Brand Big Bags are great for storing the equipment of the season—balls, mitts, bats, etc. Keep the supplies for individual sports in their own bags for fast pickup when the carpool honks. And store a few extras in your own trunk—they'll always come in handy!
Artwork.
With September comes the onslaught of lots of wonderful school art projects, which can quickly invade the house faster than an army of ladybugs. Get them under control by storing them in a
Ziploc® Brand Big Bag (XL or XXL) after you've had a chance to lovingly admire them.
Action figures.
Macho action figures need their own impenetrable fortress. Keep them all together in their own "tank"—a fishing tackle box or tool chest (depending on the size of the collection).
Doll clothes.
Ziploc® Brand Containers with the Smart Snap® Seal are the perfect size for those triple-zero sized clothes! After just a little nudging, my daughter now loves to lay her doll clothes neatly on top of each other in her personal
Ziploc® Brand Container to store in her bureau drawer. My daughter also likes to decorate the exterior of her "doll closet" (a
Ziploc® Brand Container) according to the season.
Jewelry.
Small chains and pairs of earrings fit easily inside the individual cups of an egg foam carton. Gently stab the back of pierced earrings into the foam to secure them. Consider cutting off the top and laying the carton inside a drawer out of sight.
Cosmetics.
When it comes to cosmetics, introducing your daughter to
Ziploc® Brand Containers should be a rite of passage! My daughter keeps all her various nail polishes (usually neon colored!) in a large
Ziploc® Brand Container with the Smart Snap® Seal; the transparent plastic allows her to see quickly what color she wants to use. She also likes
Ziploc® Brand Containers for keeping her eye shadows in one place—a tip she taught me!
Comic books.
Comics, fashion magazines and such can live under your child's bed in low-lying cardboard boxes. Entice the pizza store to part with some clean pizza cartons.
Baby clothes.
So tiny—and so easy to lose! Keep those freshly laundered baby T-shirts and booties in
Ziploc® Brand Storage Bags. The bags are also good to keep your socks in pairs.
Video games.
Purchase a rolling cart with drawers to house the video game set and all the games that go with it.
Dirty laundry.
Every kid needs a hamper—some place to throw his or her dirty laundry. Put a designated box or basket in each child's room. And make a rule: dirty clothes that are NOT in the hamper DON'T get washed! If your children enjoy having their own towels, etc., consider assigning a color to each child.
Socks.
Socks need a bag of their own! Keep a
Ziploc® Brand Slider Storage Bag with the Smart Zip™ Seal in the laundry room for socks without mates. When the mate appears, you can quickly find its match. Or, consider mesh bags in different colors for each child's dirty socks. The socks can be washed and dried in the bag and returned to your child's room for sorting and storing.
Remote control.
Adhere a piece of stick-on Velcro®* tape to the back of the remote and another piece on the side of the TV. It's no guarantee that those little hands will actually put it back there, but it stands a better chance.
Extra junk.
Top a plastic wastebasket with a round vinyl table top to make a bedside or chairside table. It can double as hidden storage. Once the kids start entertaining their classmates, they'll be set for tea parties and after-school visits.
*Velcro® is a trademark of Velcro Industries B.V.