July 2, 2025–Here’s a stock tip: Invest in tubs.
We are currently in the process of taming a tsunami of “stuff.” This is not the dreaded “purging” that happens in every family as kids leave home and parents downsize. This is “sorting,” as grandkids take over the kids’ rooms, bringing a new wave of books, toys, art supplies, and electronic devices to occupy their increasing amount of time as guests.
I am not sure from where these piles of diversions derive. I distinctly remember the toy bins at each of my grandmother’s houses.
One literally had a small box. It contained a deck of cards with the red jacks missing, a bag of jacks with a ball that didn’t bounce, and a Mighty Mouse squeeze doll with no cape. From those elements, her 47 grandchildren had to carve out entertainment for interminable weekends. We mostly gave up and played catch in the street.
A visit to our maternal grandma was slightly more fun. Mainly because she still had a daughter young enough to be our older sister, who was into comic books. Inside the bin at the bottom of an antique coat rack moldered mountains of classic comic books. We could progress from Little Lulu through Scrooge McDuck on up to Superman, Batman, and the Marvel pantheon. She also had a piano. And there was still a street to play catch in.
That experience caused me to pledge to be the “interesting” grand to visit. As a result, our kids not only have access to a full band of instruments, but their rooms are well-stocked with piles of paper, boxes of pens and markers, marbles, science kits, and enough inventory of Log and Lego materials to build a Fortress of Solitude.
It doesn’t end there. I am guilty of dragging home good boxes (you know the kind), wood scraps, and interesting bones I find along the road. And I can never toss out any aquarium. A good thing, since one grand is studying snails, which we now apparently raise.
And I haven’t even addressed the books. I cannot pass by any library book sale without finding another reference book they might need “someday.”
But this week, the pile poured out of the designated child room to take over the rest of the house. It was time to regroup.
Anyone who has been through this process knows not to approach it lightly. There is one rule: ONCE YOU START, DO NOT STOP.
The reason is that before you put everything away, you must take it out. The result is that every surface in the house is covered with disorganized stacks of paper, pens, stuffed animals, and marbles rolling in every direction.
Over the years, I’ve learned some tricks of organizing. As a teacher of 140 elementary gifted students, I discovered the power of the plastic tub. The local home goods store loved me every fall as I went in and bought out their entire inventory of 6-quart plastic tubs. These were labeled with each student’s name and perched in a floor-to-ceiling custom-made bookshelf. It was a simple matter for each student to pull out their tub and take it to their station for the twice-a-week class.
So all these years later, it is another trip to the store to get another batch of tubs for our in-home organizing. It’s a simple matter to put things into other things. We used to be picky about separating, say, markers from crayons from pencils, but that never lasted. Now we have a tub for “writing implements,” another for “paper,” then for “things that cut other things” and “things that stick things together” and “things that roll” and “things that sit on top of other things.”
We don’t obsess, because we know we’ll be doing it again in six months. Like I said, invest in tubs.