I'm blaming my father.
I remember as a child, my normally mild-mannered father, freaking out because someone forget to put the twist tie back on the loaf of bread. I learned my lesson and changed my ways.
I will never forget the look on my husband's face, early in our marriage, when I yelled at him for losing the twist tie to the bread bag. It was a look of part fear, part trying not to laugh, part 'crazy lady, you need to calm down!'.
Apparently I married a man who will lose the twist tie every time he makes a sandwich. Every. Time.
I've learned to adjust. I've stopped nagging and started hoarding twist ties just in case. Crisis resolved and our marriage was saved. :)
I think that has been the hardest adjustment for me in becoming a wife, mother, and homemaker. I like things to be the way I like them but in this full and busy house, rarely do things stay where I put them.
Another thing that really annoys me is broken DVD cases, or movies that are put back in the wrong box, or left out of their box altogether. GRRRRR!!!! You better watch out!
DVD storage has been an issue in our house for years. It was seriously causing stress in my life. That's why I am so excited that I think I have finally found a solution.
When we moved, I put all our movies in a milk crate, and because I couldn't figure out where to put them, that is where they have stayed - on the floor of my bedroom closet - for the last 8 months.
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| Before - So embarrassing! |
I bought a media storage binder...seriously the best $20 I ever spent.
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| After - Yay! |
I put the kids to work sorting through our movies. I didn't dare alphabetize them because I know they won't stay that way, but I did group together movies in a series (like Veggie Tales) and try to keep younger kid movies separated from ones for my older kids.
I didn't go crazy with organizing because my main concern was just getting them in a place where they could be stored neatly. We can easily flip through the pages to find what we are looking for, but also find ones that were previously forgotten about.
We then took all the labels out of the cases and stored them in a zip-top bag. The broken cases were thrown away and the ones I was willing to keep were put back in that ugly milk crate. The box is now in my attic. I'm keeping them for now. My thought is that I won't have little ones forever and when we do ever pass those movies along (or when someone borrows one) we can put them back in a case with their label.
It's only been a week, but so far it's working for us.
I know it's just a little thing, but I really think that it will make my life easier and my kids will hear one less of my crazy, pet-peeve rants.
Aren't the binders a heaven sent?! We've had a huge metal box with a lock on it( made by Vault) for 3 years now... we may need to get a couple more! They didn't save our marriage, but they did save our children,lol! Losing twist ties mus be in the male dna... john would one up it by not even closing the bag- just leaving it open and crumby on the counter. That's when I discovered the huge gallon sized zip lock bags. We by them in bulk and as soon as a loaf comes out of the deep freezer it gets put in the zip lock...easy storage---no twisties to lose. Hope this helps! Luv ya!
ReplyDeleteI never thought about putting DVDs in a media storage binder! My little sister has 3 dresser drawers full of them! Thankfully she keeps them organized because she has a bit of ocd. lol. But I am definitely going to try that! Thanks for the tip :)
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely all about the little things, Crystal! Whatever works...whatever saves Mommy from "freak out mode", ya know?! :) Trust me...been there! And you're right...those twist tie things are buggers! Who knows where they go when they are not on the bread. I am pretty sure there is a twist tie fairy that steals them when we're not looking. ;)
ReplyDeleteI've done this with all our music CD's, but never thought about doing it with the DVD's too... And a thought - I've actually bought used DVD's at yard sales before straight out of a book just like that - without the case & label. It was kind of neat to be able to flip through the book at the sale... Wonder if you can buy paper DVD holders cheap? (I hate the idea of storing empty cases somewhere...)
ReplyDeleteMy stepdaughter does. not. put the twist tie back on the bread. And I admit I go a little crazy on her every time. Fortunately, she laughs at me now. And she doesn't do it *every* time (cough)..... We did the dvd thing, too. Sooo much better...until the 2yo figures out how to unzip.
ReplyDeleteThanks Maria, I will have to start putting our bread in ziploc bags, that would be really easy!
ReplyDeleteKerrye,
I don't really like the idea of storing empty boxes either...and I think I do have some paper cases that I bought for blank cd's, so that would totally work! Thanks for the idea!
And yes Carrie, I am thinking one day my two year old will figure out how to unzip it, but I do love how small it is and I can keep it up just about anywhere out of reach.
Just had a thought...all those cd's in your pictures are nice, even, straight, readable, thematic - in that moment - but are they that way still? :) I'd LOVE to keep all my cd's/dvd's that way but they inevitably get all skewed. Of course I guess it depends on if you allow the children to touch it. :) Good luck. :)
ReplyDeleteWell, so far so good! I did try to make it a rule that only mommy touches it, but little hands have still found it...but overall, I love it! It is realy small now so I could put it where they can't reach if I really needed too.
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