How do you organize your room?

[kylovebug]

Anyone have any tips/tricks on how to make the most of your room space? I can't believe all the stuff we have to take for DH, me and our 2 DDs! Any help is much appreciated!

 

[barbeml]

Best travel items ever. DH and I each have one, keeps all those little items organized and handy. We don't have to clutter up the sink area.

 

[MNfamilycruiser]

An over-the-door shoe organizer - like this
http://www.amazon.com/Over-Door-Clear-Organizer-Storage/dp/B000IXOH7G

Hang it on the outside of the bathroom door or a closet door - all kinds of small items (sunglasses, sunscreen, camera, etc.) can go in each pocket. You can see them and they are off the small available surface space.

Also pack outfits in large ziploc bags. Keep them in the bags when you unpack. Keeps the drawers neater, or can be kept in the suitcase under the bed. You can then just grab out the outfit for the day.

I have also brought an additional shoe organizer for the closet - if each person has a couple of pairs of shoes - that makes a big mess on the floor. Having them hanging on the rod helps. (This is more helpful on cruises - because you tend to have more shoes to go with dressier outfits)

 

[milmore104]

Anyone have any tips/tricks on how to make the most of your room space? I can't believe all the stuff we have to take for DH, me and our 2 DDs! Any help is much appreciated!

LOL!!! My DH and I packed up our 3 DD's just to travel to a mall (3hours away) It took us 1 1/2 hours to get the van ready and loaded. We laughed as we pulled out the driveway... " wait till we head to WDW". Last year we only had 2 DD's and their was so much stuff. This year w/ 2 little ones I can't imagine.

Anyway what I do is buy shoe organizers to hang all our toiletries in. I make sure our luggage can go inside one another and then place them in the sink area or on the top shelf in the closet. Bring more hangers to hang up as much as I can. I pre-pack the littles ones clothes in baggies. That way you just have to grab a bag and everythings in there. A pop up hamper for dirty clothes. Makes it easier to bring it do the laundry too! The best tip I got was for longer trip pack 1/2 as much and wash your clothes 1/2 way thru. We always have a pool morning 1/2 way thru. So I just do laundry while hanging out at the pool w/ the kids. It really cuts down on the clothes we have to bring. I also bring little baskets (one for each older person) and place them on the TV stand. That way went we get back you can empty your pockets into it and everything you need for the next day is there. And you don't have to search for someones KTTW card. I know I have more but can't think of them now. Hope this at least helps. Have a great trip.

 

[kaffinito]

I got a great tip on the DIS for a hanging closet sweater organizer. They come in long or short sizes, and they fold up flat. It's great for when you have a lot of kids clothes and very little closet or drawer space.

 

[fla4fun]

It depends on the resort, because some have more storage than others. I hang up what clothes I can and then I keep the remainder in a suitcase on the stand, in the closet if there's room. I really don't like putting things in the drawers much, especially with all the bedbug alerts. I agree that something to hang on the door to hold toiletries helps a lot with bathroom clutter. Some people use shoe holders, some specialty toiletry holders - whichever has the right size pockets for your items.

 

[abubu919]

Best travel items ever. DH and I each have one, keeps all those little items organized and handy. We don't have to clutter up the sink area.

I totally agree with this! Keeps the clutter away from the sink area, especially with everyone trying to get ready

 

[pixarmom]

We have four of the Disney create-your-own rolling luggage - one for me, and one for each of our four boys. These bags fit perfectly in a row on the bottom of the closet in a standard BC room. I organize the clothes in each one the same way, and each of the kids is responsible for putting clean clothes away in their bags, and dirty clothes in a the plastic bag that disney provides for dry cleaning - I hang them from hangers above the suitcases. At the end of the trip, the dirty clothes come home in the plastic bags. We need to stash my husband's suitcase against the wall. We've found that for us, it's easier than unpacking.

 

[Melanie230]

I have a small tote that holds my hair gel, spray, face cleanser, moisturizer, hair brush. I keep it stored under the sink and when I am getting ready I just sit it on the sink. We bought a cheap plastic toothbrush holder that also holds toothpaste. I have one of those travel bags that holds all of your bathroom items and I hang it on the back door. We put our big suitcase on the floor underneath the hanging area and put dirty clothes in that. All of our shoes are by the window. We also bring a plug in cooler. That doubles as a shelf for our backpacks for each day. You can really make use of your space. We are 2 adults, and 2 kids 11, and 8 and we have plenty of space at Pop Century.

 

[KJ-52fan]

We used to bring a small canvas pop-up container (not sure what you call them). It was about a foot tall and a foot wide; square. It was perfect for leaving out on the bed or side table to contain all the toys the kids would accumulate during the trip. We also still love our larger pop-up hamper for dirty clothes.

 

[Disneydenise]

OMG you are all so much more organized than I am can one of you just stop by my house and donate a day to a good cause. Organizing my now vacant bedrooms. Our children have moved on and of course they still have what apparently is valuable momentos that must be kept in my house until ????
When we would travel with them to DW often it was a 16 hour car ride and I would refer to our car as the rolling trash can even though we would tidy at every fillup. Our room would be an unholy mess by the end of our stay and I was constantly trying to tidy. I did figure out to only pack half the clothing and wash on a pool/down day. I do love all the ideas. I am filing them for futrure grandchildren trips.

 

[Missytara]

I have a day bag that unzips and hangs over a door. I separate my specfic needs into ziplock bags; i.e. first aid kit, nail kit, etc.

I stay at POR, so I hang my jacket and backpack on the coat rack and place my shoes underneath the bench. I unpack all my clothes and place the suitcase in the closet.

I arrange my essential toiletries at the sink area.

Lastly, I pack a binder clip and a small calculator. Each night, I put my cc. slips together, total them up and add them to the total carried over each day. That way I have them all in one place when I get home to check my credit card.

 

[mickeystoontown]

Last year, I bought a mesh hanging organizer. I found it at the Dollar Tree. It was round and had three sections. The picture on the package showed stuff animals in it so I guess they are primarily used for organizing a kid's room.

Anyway, it had a velcro loops at the top and I hung it around the closet rod. To secure it even further, I pinned it with a large safety pin. We used it to put our toiletries and other little items in. It worked quite well.

I also bring a couple of mesh laundry bags to put our dirty clothes in. It keeps them all in one place.

 

[pooh2001]

We have older kids - teens with lots of hair stuff - but with your 2 cute little girls this is what I would do it I were you.

1) not sure of your resort - 214 sq feet at values, 320 sq feet at moderates, and 360 or more sq feet at deluxes ...... the more space in the room -> the easier to organize.

Our hints:
over the door shoe holder (or hang in closet - bring some zip lock ties and a scissor to remove the zip lock ties)


we get a cheap $1 store sand buckets, different color for each kid, (small-medium size) to hold each of our kids stuff - and I mean stuff - hair brushes, hair ties, cell phones, ipods, digital cameras, makeup, hair goo,,,, and what ever floats their boat to bring with them to WDW.

I also give them each an over sized zip lock sandwhich bag to keep in their buckets and they use the bag for whatever they collect at WDW, such as stickers, pins, jewlery, drink stirers, napkins,,,,,,,

We bring the sand buckets in our suitcases - they are filled with socks or undies to make better use of the space in our suitcase. We ditch the sand bucket before we leave WDW.


Toothbrushes & toothpaste
DH does not like to leave it out in the bathroom.
We go to a McDolands, or any fast food place, which has the heavy duty
cardboard cup holder. I get plastic cups (could be Disney designed - I found some for $2 at our A&P food store) which fit into the cardboard cup holder.

Everyone gets a differnet color or pattern on their cups and they are placed into the 4 cup holder spots (enough space for your family of 4)

We place each of our toothbrushes in our designated cup. the toothpaste goes in the middle of the cardboard cup holder and the cardbaord cup holder with the cups holding our toothbrushes with the toothpaste(s) in the center goes on the top shelf of the closet.

In a moderate and a value there is no closet door - but my DH still feels the items which you use to place in your mouth is out of reach of any cleaning products and idle hands.


If there are no wall pegs (moderates have them) to hang your fanny packs, Nike nylon bags, & hats, then I would bring some CM removable hooks to use in the room, You can find removable hooks which hold at least 10 pounds in grocery and hardware stores. I think Walmart and Target well them too. I would use the hooks on the wall near the door. Great place for hats, bags and camera's to grab on the way out of your room.


Closets - use them to your jackets, sweatshirts, bulky shirts, shorts, pants - what ever you can hang.
In your WDW resort room your coset may only have 3 hangers. Not to fear.

While you shop for clothes during the year - ask the store if you could also keep the plastic hanger the item is hung on. Save about 20 of these plastic hangers to bring with you to WDW and use in your closet. No need to bring them home with you. You could either leave them in the closet or throw them away before you leave.


I hope the above is helpful

 

[buzznina]

We have a toiletry bag, that we usually keep 75% packed and we also use the hanging closet organizer, especially with the newer remodeled rooms, the draw space has been cut in half. We have the type of luggage that fits inside each other so we do that and then stick it between the bed and the wall and then it can be used as an end table. The outfit in a ziplock worked until our DD was 4 and then she wanted to pick out her own clothes, but now that we have our 2nd DD(1) we will be bagging her clothes.

 

[SnackyStacky]

OMG you are all so much more organized than I am can one of you just stop by my house and donate a day to a good cause. Organizing my now vacant bedrooms. Our children have moved on and of course they still have what apparently is valuable momentos that must be kept in my house until ????
When we would travel with them to DW often it was a 16 hour car ride and I would refer to our car as the rolling trash can even though we would tidy at every fillup. Our room would be an unholy mess by the end of our stay and I was constantly trying to tidy. I did figure out to only pack half the clothing and wash on a pool/down day. I do love all the ideas. I am filing them for futrure grandchildren trips.

That's an easy one to fix.

You pack their belongings in a box and drop them off at each child's new residence. That's what my mother did. Suddenly, all those precious momentos really weren't too precious! LOL!

 

[pixarmom]

pooh2001, love the bucket idea - we'll use it next trip!!