31 Days of Order/Disorder, Day 5

Wow, I almost didn't make today's post in time! But I didn't want to disappoint both of my readers!

ORDER: (in a disorderly kind of fashion)

Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, there was a royal family that had issues with putting their shoes away. The queen of the land decreed that only one pair would be allowed "out" at a time for each royal family member, and she commissioned the making of a "tangible spot" for said shoes. Ok, ok, that's about as much regal speech as I can muster. I had higher hopes for the appearance of this organizing masterpiece, but hey, it works. The rule is...you are allowed to keep one pair of shoes out at a time, and they go in this spot on this rug. ONE pair. ONE spot. Everything else is put away. We don't wear our shoes in the house, so it is nice to be allowed easy and fast access to one pair for those quick trips outside or in the garage. This has, for the most part, eliminated the mountain of shoes just inside the door.

And in case you're wondering exactly what this is, it is a fairly cheap rug with a permanent-marker-outline of one pair of each child's shoes on it. Their first initial is on their spot, and I let them "decorate" it. I had hoped for something a little more...classy...but when you're working with a 10-, 8-, and 5-year old, you get scribbles. Or a mish-mash of unidentified objects. I try to choose my battles wisely.

DISORDER:

I can't believe I'm actually showing y'all these places in my home. Would you believe me if I said after this one, I've run out of "disorder" photos?? No? (Did you sneak into my house lately?)

This masterpiece comes from my upstairs hallway. A few weeks ago I purchased 4 new laundry baskets.  That all matched. These old laundry baskets were supposed to go. And yet here they are. Because it seems like such a waste to throw out perfectly good laundry baskets...with broken handles. I tried to get hubby to take them over to the shop to put parts in. I think the point where I lost that battle was when he pictured himself telling one of the other workers, "Go get the carburetor out of the light blue laundry basket..."

This is, in simplest form, just a bunch of stuff that I've allowed to accumulate. I know no one else has this problem. But, guess what I'll be tackling tomorrow?? (And if you're interested in some less-than-perfect laundry baskets, you can find them in our brush pile.)