I am in town for the week and am overwhelmed by all of my parents stuff in the house. They don't have much room in their small house to store things, so I am trying to find a good solution. One of the main things they have collected is mail, and lots of it. Bills and things they don't want to throw away. All of their toys for their grandchildren are out too. Plus lots of other things. Just curious on any ideas on how to get them better organized and clean this mess?
2007-03-11 09:38:02 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous in Home & Garden ➔ Cleaning & Laundry
It sounds like they hang onto more paper than they need to. Start by putting a basket in their landing spot (area where they drop everything when they walk in the door). Junk mail and papers can immediately go into this basket and then taken to the recycling center when it is full. If they want to hang on to their remittance slips after they pay their bills you could set up an accordian file so that each bill has its own slot and they can keep those slips in there. You can create them a bill paying center out of a basket. All the bills to be paid goes in the basket and then once they are paid the slips go into the accordian file.
The toys can be stored in big rubbermaid bins. Create an area in the living room, family room or where ever they play and put the plastic bins in the corner. Have them teach the grandchildren to put the toys back into the bins before they leave their home.
If there is alot of other paper you can create a filing system in a filing cabinet or purchase items like a 3 drawer Sterlite plastic bin (purchased at Walmart). Label the outside of the drawer or the file so they know exactly where the filed paper should go.
Not to be morbid, but remember one day it will be your task to clean out your parents home when they pass away. It is best now to get them organized while they are alive so that you know what is important and what is not. A good decluttering of their home today will save you the headache on down the road.
Good luck!
2007-03-11 14:23:44 · answer #1 · answered by Raspberry 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The first thing you do. Is get a 2 drawer file cabinet. Get the folders to go with it, label them ,with the companies they pay there bills to:Gas, phone co, Insurance etc. When they pay the bill, they file the receipt away. One of the drawers can be used for the grand kids crayons, coloring books, etc. Buy a plastic tub, and put the grand kids toys in there when they are not there, and have mom teach them, when they finish with them to put them away.See if there are any things that they want to leave to you or the grand kids. pack them up with the name of who is to get them and store them away. If you have no room for them take the boxes and put a pretty contact paper on them and display. Every year you will clean out the file cabinet, and get it ready for the following year.
2007-03-11 16:56:24 · answer #2 · answered by lennie 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
buy them one if those plastic towers of drawers to sort their mail into (they are pretty great for offices too) and then label the drawers with what should go inside. i got my grandparents a paper shredder as well. for the toys i would suggest a large blanket box to store them in (go through them and make sure the toys are still age appropriate for the grandkids) if they have a deck or patio maybe a rubbermaid container with a lid could store the toys when the kids arent there freeing up space for them. kudos to you for actually taking the time to try and organise. i did this for my grand parents over a year ago and when their memory fails them they call me and ask where i put stuff. which is great cause i usually remember where stuff went.
2007-03-11 17:02:40 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Plastic bins with lids come in all sizes & are great for getting organized. You can buy the bins in Family Dollar, Dollar General, or Dollar Tree inexpensively. They also sell them in Wal* Mart & K Mart. Buy a black marker & mark the lids with info about the contents. You can stack them for easy storing.
2007-03-11 17:36:03 · answer #4 · answered by Shortstuff13 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It might be simpler to wait for them both to "kick the bucket" (sorry, not intending to be rude or insensitive). That way you can hire an actioneer to come in and professionally assess the value and disposition of every item in the house without having to negotiate with your parents. At this point you might help them tidy up somewhat, but mainly not rock the boat too much.
2007-03-11 16:49:43 · answer #5 · answered by bobweb 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
You gotta talk them into throwing some things OUT!
2007-03-11 17:15:10 · answer #6 · answered by jacquie 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
go to marthastewart.com. Lots of hints on organization & storage.
2007-03-11 18:09:12 · answer #7 · answered by barbara m 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
File cabinets... Boxes... Shelves...
You can get fairly cheap ones in WalMart.
2007-03-11 16:40:35 · answer #8 · answered by thebananaphone 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its their realm. its very rude to come to anyones house and imply that you dont like it. ignore it and dont say anything to them. any effort you put into it would be futile anyway, since you will leave, and come back to find it just like it was when you found it.
2007-03-11 17:40:00 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
try this site , you be Organized in no time at all. www.getorganizednow.com
2007-03-11 16:50:53 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋