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The Secret Lives of Playpens
You’d think that with a new, huge walk-in closet with a built-in organizational system, my clothes would be neatly hung and folded.
And they are. Well, at least the ones that I never ever wear.
In the least, I should be able to stuff them into my shiny, cherry wood dresser. But alas, those drawers are stuffed so full that I can’t even really open them without assistance from my husband.
Thus is the my life as a work-at-home-mom with three kids under four and a husband whose business takes him far away exotic places. Like Delaware.
Oddly enough, I keep most of my home fairly well organized, with toy bins shoved strategically under tables and shelves, and cupboards neatly packed with coloring books and craft supplies. I’ve spent half an afternoon organizing my plastic storage containers.
Heck, even my kids’ rooms are maintained with some level of order.
But for some reason, I am unable to hang up my own clothes. And worse, I have come to use my infant’s playpen as a storage unit.
I try to rationalize the fact that I’m not stuffing my clothes into balls or tossing them into a heap in the corner, but rather I’m strategically laying them over the side in order to keep them flat and wrinkle free. Right.
Quite frankly, I’m just too darn tired from cleaning up after everyone else to even think about expending any more energy on cleaning up after myself. And yes, I’d rather spend the miniscule amount of energy it would take for me to fold them or hang them up on other more important things. Like feeding myself. And flipping the remote control.
So I’ve figured out a few ways to get around having to do the daily fold and hang, thanks to a couple cool pieces of furniture. Now, I’ve yet to actually make a purchase, but since my daughter might actually sleep in her play yard one of these days very soon, I need to get cracking.
My first thought was to grab a hat rack. You can pop it in the corner of the room, and it’ll keep your clothes fairly unscathed which is way better than them being tossed into the laundry pile when you really don’t need to be washing them.
Another great option is a clothes valet, or clothes horse. While originally made for men’s suits, they basically allow you to do what you might have been using your treadmill, stairmaster, or in my case, baby crib for anyway ñ hanging your clothes. It works especially well if you’ve got a few clothing items you tend to rewear before washing and then you don’t have to toss it in the dryer, or admit it, sniff it, before putting it on again.
And best of all, if you don’t even have the energy left to hang up your clothes, you can enlist the help of your kids.
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Kristen- I am the queen of throwing clothes around. I used the back of chairs, door knobs, towel racks, even TV’s to hang my clothes. Every weekend my closet is organized, once Tuesday hits things are spilling out……AH!
Gosh we’re terrible. I’m wondering if a bunch of hooks would help, but it seems like we just find furniture to hang things over!
Hooks will totally help! I wear my jeans several times before they are washed…take ‘em off, hang them on the hook inside my closet door. Hooks for the necklaces that otherwise decorate my bureau like some sort of shiny viral growth. Hooks, hooks, everywhere hooks means less clothes everywhere. Anthropologie usually has some pretty ones. Home Depot’s got cheap ones, Target too.