Organizational Tips for the Room???

[2mickeys1minnie]

I'm wondering if anyone has any tips to keep everything organized in the hotel room. We are a family of 5 staying at POR. Last trip it seemed like "stuff" was everywhere in the room and it was driving me crazy! What do you all do w/ dirty laundry, all the shoes, souveniers, etc...just the "stuff" that piles up over the week? I am considering getting one of those shoe organizer things to store things in....any other tips!!

 

[Luv'sTink]

I got a pop up laundry hamper, we put the dirty clothes in and when it was time to go to the laundromat it had carrying handles. I LOVED it! Kept all the dirty clothes in one place.

We put all our clothes in the dressers provided then we put all our souvenirs in the "souvenir" suit case. We used one drawer in the dresser for all the small stuff we gathered along the way, papers, receipts, books a junk drawer of sorts.

We stacked the luggage and then always lined up the shoes. We used the vanity shelf in the bathroom and the shelf above the hanger area. I don't know what the rooms at POR look like.

 

[IMDORY]

As far as staying organized...our last 2 trips were night and day as far as organization goes.

2 trips ago-we were there for 9 days and our dirty laundry was out of control-last trip(9 days also)I packed a pop up hamper-what a difference! It was no problem at all to pack-thin, light, fit in a suitcase w/no problem at all.

2 trips ago-papers, receipts, etc. everywhere-on the table on the nightstand...This last trip I picked up and found "places" for everything-I put all the receipts and papers in a plastic bag in the nightstand drawer. Everytime we were in the room we cleaned up a bit and put everything in a place so it didn't seem like a huge mess. It really didn't take that much effort-and made our "home" for 9 days much more liveable!

I also tried to pack less-shoes, toiletries, toys/books for DS etc. that helped too.

 

[IMDORY]

I got a pop up laundry hamper, we put the dirty clothes in and when it was time to go to the laundromat it had carrying handles. I LOVED it! Kept all the dirty clothes in one place.

We put all our clothes in the dressers provided then we put all our souvenirs in the "souvenir" suit case. We used one drawer in the dresser for all the small stuff we gathered along the way, papers, receipts, books a junk drawer of sorts.

We stacked the luggage and then always lined up the shoes. We used the vanity shelf in the bathroom and the shelf above the hanger area. I don't know what the rooms at POR look like.

We did all these things too.-we had a souvenir suitcase, we put our clothes in the drawers, we lined up our shoes too...all the little things do really make a difference(even the lining up of the shoes in the closet area, believe it or not!)

 

[SpecialK]

We take a hamper as well. I also take an over the door shoe holder from the dollar store and use it to store toiletries. We have designated pockets for sunscreen, moisturizer, toothbrushes/toothpaste, etc. (I don't like our toothbrushes sitting out when the housekeepers are there.) All our stuff is off the counter and it just looks neater.
I also take an envelope for receipts. All the loose change goes into a plastic cup. Shoes are lined up in an out of the way corner. This year we're taking a power strip for recharging all the elctronics in one place. We're also taking extra hangers so I can hang as much as possible.

 

[mommytothreeboys]

We also are a family of 5 and we just got back a couple of weeks ago from POR. Here are some of the things that worked for me. (I hate clutter so keeping the room neat was my "mission"!)

*Invest $5 in a pop-up laundry hamper from Family Dollar. I put it in the corner beside the sinks and under the closet pole. It kept all of our dirty clothes neat and in one place.

*Definitely get an over the door shoe organizer. In my experience, it is not convenient to use on the bathroom door as it keeps it from shutting, but I hung it on the closet pole. I put all of our toiletries (toothpaste, makeup, hair gel, deodorant, etc) in it. I gave each person a pocket and all of their personal items were together. I also put the sunscreen, first aid items, baby wipes, etc in the pockets. It kept me from having to open suitcases to find anything.....it was all at my fingertips.


*I used the table for "storage" of daily items such as small souvenirs, pressed pennies, mister fans, etc. Each child had a pile and everything they accumulated went in the pile. (Next time I'll bring small baskets.) These things easily become spread all over, so it was nice to have a place the kids could dump their stuff.

*I brought a few of my own hangars with clips on them (the kind you get at the store when you buy a skirt). I used them to hang wet suits and towels as there is never enough space on the line in the bathroom.

*We used the coathooks to hang our lanyards and hats. That way we knew where everyone's ticket was and that it was ready for the next day.

*We stored all luggage under the beds. We had 6 bags and 5 carryons.

*I used the drawers and armoire to store all of our clothing. It all fit.

I know I'm starting to sound a little crazy, so I'll stop there! I found a lot of helpful organizational tips on this board and used them all! We absolutely LOVED POR and I hope you have a great vacation!


OH--one more thing. We got these things as a promo from my husband's work that worked like a charm for the kids to carry pennies and quarters to the parks.

Not sure where to find them, but they were great! They go around your neck and the lid screws off. They were the perfect size for pennies and quarters and the kids could carry them themselves!

 

[SnowWhite12]

You can get the pop-up hamper and shoe-pocket organizer at Dollar Tree. I had to look at 3 different stores, but finally found one that had both. We don't usually unpack all of our clothes, but we do set aside a drawer specifically for our snacks and bottled water.

 

[Juliah]

I bought two garden totes--the kind with pockets all the way around. We eat breakfast and sometimes lunch in the room, so I put cereal boxes, bags of snacks, and other foods that don't have to be refrigerated in the center of one and put straws, napkins, cups, wet wipes, etc. in the little pockets so I don't have to dig for any of these things.

In the second one, I put household-type things--detergent, rolls of quarters for laundry, a flashlight, pens, clothes pins for hanging up wet swimsuits, etc. Again, the pockets keep everything from being a jumbled mess.

I use a hanging cosmetic bag I got from Target for all our toiletries and over the counter meds. It has a hook to put over a towel bar and small pockets for putting the bottles in. When we're done with it, we zip it closed and store it for the next trip with everything still in it. It's about 8 x 10 x 3 inches when closed.

I also have a trip binder to keep papers organized. I use an inexpensive 3-ring binder and a set of plastic dividers that have pockets in them. I put hotel reservations, ADRs, maps, park hours, emergency phone numbers, stamps, etc. in it and several empty plastic envelopes that velcro closed (they have holes already punched for the three-ring binder). In one of thes envelopes, I put all the receipts that accumulate during the trip so they won't get lost around the hotel room. The other pockets are for park brochures, menus, and other things we pick up during the trip for our scrapbook.

We still don't have organizing the room down to a science--I am loving all the ideas here!--but these three things have helped.

 

[starwood]

I have a small pop-up basket. I use that for all the little things (lanyards, hats, sunglasses). This way when we are ready to leave for the parks we know where all these necessities are.

 

[mousiemom]

I have learned everything from here. I do the laundry hamper too and towards the end of the week do my laundry. We drive down so after we unload our suitcases, we put them back in the van. We bring hangers, and the suction hooks for the bathing suits. We do the shower organizer over the shower rod. We bring a lot of of snacks and such so we have a lot of bowls, etc. on our table organizing everything. I always bring a tall cup to keep my toothbrushes and paste in. We put a lot of our snacks on top of the chester drawers neatly. We also use the shelves to put our hats and some of dd's stuff. We like to come back to a neat room everyday.

 

[madison66]

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[WDWfeelslikehome]

I got a cheap over the door shoe organizer (canvas) and packed it in the suitcase, we hung it on the closet door in our room last trip, and it freed up soo much counter space. DW and I decided that it will permanently stay in our suitcase, because it was such a help in keeping clutter centrally located.

 

[dyna]

Yep LOVE my shoe bag from the Dollar Tree for all our tolietries an personal items. Got a couple of old army laundry bags from DH's army days that we use for laundry. We drive so mid stay when 1 bag gets full we take it to the van and get out the 2nd one.

I'm down to just a couple of 5x7 envelopes to keep all our disney stuff in for the parks.

I take a laundry basket that has all our nonpersible food in it an our bowls for cereal etc.

Since we drive we can take our luggage back out to the van once we unpacked that helps a lot on space in the room.

Seems the one area that always ends up a cluttered mess is the rack over the closet area that is mostly DH's doing just throwing stuff up there rather than actually keepin it neat.

 

[ParkPrincess]

I am such an organized freak!! LOL I cannot believe I haven't thought about the pop-up hamper. I will be getting one of those for sure!! Thanks!!!

 

[SerinaEmily]

*We stored all luggage under the beds. We had 6 bags and 5 carryons.

DOH .. what haven't I ever thought to do this?? This will free up a whole corner of the room this year!

 

[MsLeFever]

For the kids, I packed each day's clothes in separate zip lock bags. When they got undressed at night the dirty clothes went back into the bag and got zipped up after the air was squeezed out.

 

[ang]

I am on my way to buy a shoe hanger and pop baskets at the dollar tree!! thanks ang

 

[sskem96]

Dollar General carries a mesh organizer that's like the shoe holders, but it hooks onto the shower hooks, so we use that for all our shampoo, soap, etc.

We stay at Pop, so you can't store anything under the beds because they're on pedestals, but we empty our luggage into the drawers and store the suitcases inside each other on the luggage cart. We keep the souvenier suicase on top so it's easily accessible. On the way down, the souvenier suitcase carries our cereal, disposable bowls and spoons, snacks, door decorations, and anything else that will be used up while we're there and not taken back home. We store the food on a shelf of the entertainment center.

Our shoes go in the space between the second bed and the wall, since that's just wasted space anyway. We also keep our chargers for everything in that area and plug stuff in at night (camera, video camera, laptop, gameboys for plane ride).

We use a pop up hamper for dirty clothes, and I try to do laundry a day or 2 before we go home so I can repack most stuff clean and have less to do when we get home.

 

[SnowWhite12]

I tried packing some yesterday. Put my clothes in 2 1/2 gallon Hefty ziplocs and DD's in gallon size(generic brand). Once I squeezed all the air out, they look freeze-dried which was great b/c they took up less room. But within an hour, they all had expanded again. I guess it isn't just a box of defectives b/c both kinds did it. I may not be able to use them because now they seem to take up more room than without using them.

 

[Pungodingy]

Instead of lugging a pop up hamper, we unpack our clothes, and then use an empty suitcase for dirty laundy, every night we just put all the dirties in, and slide it under the bed...when we get home, we can just "unpack" right into the washer!!