Stash boxes - a great way to contain the clutter
Fri, Mar 31, 2006
Cleaning, Home Organization, Kid Bedrooms, Kid-Friendly Solutions, Products I Like
In an ideal mothering world, I’d never pick up after my kids. They would feel responsible for their own messes and clean them up without my assistance. But let’s face it, sometimes it’s exhausting to enforce the “pick up after yourself” rule throughout the day. I created these “stash boxes” to give me an alternative to the constant nagging.
I really do believe that kids should be responsible for their own stuff, but I hate tripping over toys. With a stash box, I have a way to get the stuff out of my way while still enforcing the “pick up after yourself” rule. I’ve got one of these boxes (I bought them at Target for $9) just inside the door of every bedroom. Their purpose is to hold all the misc. items from around the house. The kids are responsible for emptying their stash box when it starts to get full and/or on the weekend when they do their Saturday jobs.
It’s also very handy for my kids when they’re cleaning around the house. They’re each responsible for tidying up various rooms in the house throughout the week. Before stash boxes, I would often hear “but I didn’t get this out why should I have to put it away?” in a lovely whining tone. Now they know that they can just take all the clutter from the room and distribute it to the various owner’s stash boxes. It speeds up the cleaning time for them and forces the original mess maker to do most of the cleaning.
I have loved these stash boxes. We use them constantly. I imagine they’ll be a staple at our house for years. Just thought I’d pass it on.
Tags: Cleaning, kid organize, organize, stash boxes, toys
July 17th, 2006 at 11:24 pm
Okay this is not as much a comment as an idea that I wanted to share. I found a great way to keep your seats in your car from getting all dirty. With kids it is so easy to have spills and food all over the car. I went to Wal-Mart and bought some vinyl from the material section and used this to cover my seats. This works great on the large back seats of cars and vans. On my bucket seats I did buy the exspensive seat covers. But the vinyl cost me about $2.00 for a yard and a half. You cut out slits for the seat belts and just flop it over the back of the seat. I made sure I got enough to cover the bottom of the seat where their feet hang down so that if there are muddy feet it only gets on the rug and not the seat itself. I hope you all enjoy this it is also easy to clean just spray with some cleaner and wipe with a rag. Enjoy!
March 19th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
Again.. Love it!!! We have an entertainment center that has a few shelves that are low and I do not like putting anything down there my 3 YO can get into. So I have decided to put my kids “Stash Boxes” in the lower cubbies. It works great. When I ask my kids to pick up the living room, they set the 3 boxes out and put the toys that go to each kid in their box. Then that kid gets to put their toys away in the bedroom.
April 23rd, 2008 at 2:10 pm
I’m struggling in the pick up now as the kids whine and complain. They made the mess they have to pick it up. I started to take toys away from them for not helping out. I think I may invest in some of these boxes you have. thanks for sharing your idea.
August 5th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
I use the same idea…. I have two baskets sitting on the side of the steps going upstairs. When they get full, the boys have to empty them. I like your idea much better…. placing them just inside their bedroom doors. I’m moving them right now! Thanks again for the great idea.