What I do when I can’t sleep.

You know how when you’re sick – your head feels stuffy, your throat is sore from drainage and your chest feels like it’s holding a 10 ton refrigerator? THAT IS HOW I FEEL.

When I feel like that it’s basically impossible to fall asleep unless I’m totally exhausted. So, I skipped ahead on this upcoming Tuesday’s project and unloaded EVERYTHING in my stuffed wardrobe, vacuumed and dusted it thoroughly (it’s what Phil would have done too – he is just as obsessive compulsive as I am. *wink*), organized it, chunked stuff, set some stuff aside for a garage sale, and then methodically put the things I wanted back into the wardrobe in a useable manner.

First, you should know that earlier this week I had measured the three shelves inside of the wardrobe for height, depth and width. Then went to *the store of which we do not speak of and purchased some containers to help … well, contain, stuff better. The selection was limited, but my needs were pretty straightforward, so I grabbed what would work and brought it home.

This wardrobe needs to serve me and the kids. Jeff has a desk to store his items in and doesn’t use this wardrobe for his personal piles storage system.

Starting from the bottom up, I wrestled with the kids’ varying papers: construction, manilla, art, Pre-K thru 2nd grade manuscript-lined, and different colored laser papers. There were also some of Kenny’s coloring books and some odds and ends like a bag of shared scissors (the kind that cut funny shapes). In addition, I needed to store papers used with the printer, like transparencies, labels, and the like. As you can see in the before shots, I already had two stacking drawer bins that, when cleaned out and cleaned up, proved to be perfect. The kids can easily access any of their items on this shelf and the drawers are big enough to neatly hold everything nice and flat.

The placemats we use when doing crafts at the table are placed atop the plastic drawer bins and though the Neat Receipts box won’t be there once I figure out where I want it hooked-up permanently, it nestled in just fine for the time being.

I went through all my web books and only kept the most current versions applicable for where I am now in my business. The others will be sold in a garage sale. Of course, I kept the unwrapped software, but I’m cracking myself up, because I don’t see a time in the near future when I’ll install ANY of it. Thankfully it was a GIFT and not a purchase.

On the left of the stacking drawer bins I’ve placed empty binders (4 of them) that are used here and there as needed. As we don’t access them often, that is the perfect place for them.

The next shelf was a bit more of a problem for me. I knew, as I stated yesterday, that I needed this wardrobe to store my laptop when I wasn’t working. However, I also know this second shelf is still a good point of access for the kids. Anything on the 3rd Level would require a stool or chair, making it not-so-child-friendly.

By stacking 4 drawer bins, I left a flat, but steady surface to store my laptop. I also have my clipboard where I scratch my notes and lay-outs for blog designs or redos, plus my daily calendar stacked atop the laptop. This was a perfect place for these three things I use everyday.

The drawers ended up containing more craft supplies for the kids. Shared paints, paintbrushes and plastic cups for mixing paints or water (we reuse small yogurt and sour cream cups) are in the bottom left drawer. The bottom right drawer is Kenny’s craft bin with his markers, map pencils, colors, scissors, etc… (the girls keep theirs at their desk in their room). The top left drawer has glue sticks, “Make-it Bake-it” packages, shrinky dinks and various bobbles, beads and what-not for crafting ideas. The top right drawer houses different types and bottles of glue.

The magazine files to the right hold our breakfast reading fodder. I cleaned out all the old magazines and refreshed it with some new ones.

On the left of the drawer bins is my extra clipboard I only need occasionally, as well as a binder full of papers for a local advisory committee I’m on. We meet once a month, so that binder doesn’t need to be as accessible as my work binders or the kids’ things.

The top shelf is more “my” shelf. There are two different sized sets of stacking drawer bins, because I knew I needed room to place my camera bag (which is like a small backpack) atop one of them. The top bin has cords and paperwork for my laptop and our printer (the two items I use constantly). The 2nd bin holds cardstock paper and the 3rd bin down has my business cards and Jeff’s business mailers (hey look, he did need some space in here after all).

The 4th and 5th drawers hold office supplies and the final drawer has my laptop’s plugin charger, computer mouse and headphones.

The shorter stack of drawers, for the time being, holds things I use for the object lessons in my 1st-3rd grade Sunday School class. They are always just little random “somethings” and they need a place to settle. As the year progresses, they will outgrow this spot, but for now, it’s perfect.

My timesheet logs are in the white binder at right next to our household organizational binder.

Now, I must go far, far away because with the way my chest feels, I’m pretty certain an alien is trying to push its way out of it. I wouldn’t want you guys to witness it exploding from my chest, although I can tell you the relief from the pressure in there would be awesome.

*the store of which we do not speak of is the gargantuam supercenter that has steadily consumed the business of all citizens in small towns across the United States (me included, I’m ashamed to say), thereby putting reputable businesses, which have operated for generations upon generations, out of business.