Tame the Monster in the Closet

There's a monster that lives in my girls' closet. It hides in there and causes havoc and chaos by tumbling the clothes around and jumbling everything together or tearing everything to the floor. I know it is a monster, because MY beautiful girls would NEVER throw their clothes around in such manner just to make a mess.

The Closet Monster also plays nasty little tricks. He takes the clothes and moves them around so that Kira's clothes get mixed up with Marisa's clothes so that Daddy doesn't know which girl wears what outfit. They frequently end up wearing the wrong shirt (too big or too little) because the shirts are on the wrong side of the closet.

After several attempts and considerable consideration, I have finally found the solution to taming the monster in my girls' closet.

SHOE BOXES

Not just any shoe boxes, though, the clear plastic shoe boxes that can be purchased at the Dollar Tree (my favorite store).

I went to the Dollar Tree two weeks ago and purchased 14 plastic shoe boxes.

I brought them home when Randall was somewhere not here because he likes to tease me about my shoe box obsession. (I use them for organizing just about everything.)

I wrote on each shoe box with a Sharpee Marker --- One day of the week and the name of a child.

          Kira Sunday                       Marisa Sunday
          Kira Monday                      Marisa Monday
          Kira Tuesday                      Marisa Tuesday

You get the idea... Each child gets 7 boxes - one for each day of the week.

Then I gathered up all the wayward clothing that our monster likes to spread all over the closet and anywhere else in the house that he is able to sneak into without being seen (which is pretty much everywhere).

I sat down with my boxes and filled them up with one complete outfit for each day. Yep - each box has socks, panties, and an outfit that will fully dress each child without thought or consideration. Everything is properly coordinated so there is no need to hunt down anything. When it's time to get dressed, all I have to do (or Daddy) is go get the boxes with the proper day written on it.

On Saturday, laundry is done. Now, instead of hanging their clothes and putting them in the closet, I sit down with all the empty boxes and refill them. Marisa's boxes get 2 pairs of panties because she is newly potty trained and might still have accidents. I will be adding an extra box for each girl soon to put all the extra socks and panties in so they can be easily found if needed. There is also a basket for the extra clothes that don't make it into one of the weekly boxes - just in case we need an extra clean outfit for some bizarre reason. 

I can even hand Kira her box and come back later to find her fully dressed. She thoroughly loves having this new found freedom.

Now for a few pictures...