Baskets Change Everything

A year ago I moved across the country with my wife and daughter. I boxed up everything we loved to ship across this big beautiful land and gave everything else away. I let go of half of our belongings and I vowed to never let my house accumulate that much clutter ever again. But how could I make that happen, especially with a four-year-old? I needed a system. I needed baskets.

Here are the top 5 uses for baskets in my new home.

#1 Toy Baskets

Toy baskets are the best. Kids don't need to place their things neatly on a shelf or search through a huge toy box when they want a specific item. You can put toy baskets in the middle of a mess and throw things in, easily move them from room to room, and put them on shelves to make use of vertical space. We like to rotate toys from our daughter's bedroom to the living room and baskets make the switch a very simple process.

#2 Art Basket

If your child is anything like mine, a scribble on a crumpled page can become a masterpiece that must never meet the recycling box. After trying a few systems the clear winner for storing art in our house has been a basket. A square-shaped basket from Ikea can hold about a year's worth of art, which saves a year's worth of headaches deciding where each piece should call home. Once it's full we file our favorites and recycle the rest.

#3 Library Basket

We go to the library weekly and we often check out 15 books at a time. The most fun part of the library is picking the books, the worst part is finding them all over the house to return. Enter the library baskets. I have one beside the couch in the living room and the other in my daughter's bedroom. These baskets are quite far away from our bookshelves so it's rare that a book from home gets mixed in. Now, all it takes is a quick check to make sure we have the right books and we're out the door!

#4 Clothing Baskets

My daughter always had trouble opening and closing her antique dresser drawers and I was nervous about the dresser falling on her, even though it was bolted to the wall. When we moved I decided to try a new system and I'm in love. You guessed it, baskets. Cheap, safe, and best of all time-saving.

With three large square baskets lining the bottom of her closet on a shelf she has one for shirts, one for pants, and one for pajamas. A basket on top of the shelf holds underwear and socks. Dresses and sweaters are hung in the closet.

Now my daughter can easily dress herself. As a bonus, when I do laundry I take the baskets to where I fold and fill them there. Rolling clothes keeps them wrinkle-free and easy to find.

#5 Donation Baskets

In each bedroom I have placed a basket for items to be donated. This has proved to be a great way to keep the Marie Kondoing continuously flowing in our home and has helped my child let go a little easier. She knows that if she changes her mind the items will be in her basket until donation day. To be honest, knowing the decision isn't final helped me too, as I'm far more likely to put an item in knowing that I can fish it later if I miss it.

A Transformation

Baskets have transformed the look of my home and the calm within my home. Things are easy to put away, easy to move and easy to find. So easy a four-year-old can do it. Now I spend less time nagging and more time having fun. Baskets truly are a parent's best friend.

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