Storage Solutions
Cookie Magazine Editor-in-Chief Pilar Guzmán Blog

• Designate a basket or bin for each kid, with his or her name on it. Kids love personalized anything and will be more likely to deposit jackets, backpacks, and hats in a basket that’s their own.
• Create a communal shoe bin by the front door if you have a no-shoes rule in your house. A heap of shoes is still a mess, but at least it’s a contained (as opposed to an all-over-your-entryway-so-nobody-can-walk-in) mess.
• Install low hooks, so kids can learn to hang up their coats, lacrosse sticks, and rackets rather than tossing them on the floor.

• For easily misplaced items—keys, cell phones, wallets, watches—create a ledge or designate a dish where they’re always deposited. The key is to make the space small enough so that nothing else (i.e., the dozen or so catalogues you receive monthly) fits on it.
• Hang the two to three handbags you have in your current rotation on hooks, so everything from the supermarket discount card to the class list can be easily transferred from one to the other.

• A few of the right catchall bins (not so big that you can’t find anything; not so small that you can’t fit anything into them) for toys, blankets, and musical instruments go a long way.
• If you are in the market for new pieces of furniture, go for coffee tables and sideboards with drawers or shelves. It’s great to have games and blocks at the ready--you just don’t need to look at them when they aren’t in use.
• Choose soft baskets made of woven felt or malleable straw for unstackable or otherwise unwieldly toys or games.
• Create a “way station” bin, preferably with handles, for items that belong in other rooms. When you have a moment (ha!), you can distribute these items to their rightful homes.

• When shopping for storage containers, let go of the fantasy of hyper-order (i.e., “two-inch action figures will go in this box; horses will go in this box”). The looser the categories—“guys” or “blocks,” say—the saner you’ll be in the end, and the more your kids will be able to maintain order themselves.
• Showcase whatever they are into. If it’s costumes, keep a coat rack in the corner of the room. There’s no sense in fighting the phase. All you can do is help keep the clothes from landing in a heap at the foot of the bed.
• Use clear plastic containers or bags that can be hung on hooks for small parts or figures. This way, if they’re looking for the green guy with the cape, you won’t have to wade through the abyss of an opaque box—you can simply hold up the clear container for a quick search-and-rescue mission.