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Q and A

Q & A

Thank you thank you for all of the fun comments and Facebook love everyone!  You all made me feel very “liked.”  :)  I really appreciate all of the support and I’m truly honored that so many of you include Sunny Side Up in your daily routine.  I’m answering a few of your questions today so grab some chips (I could go for some Baked Lays right about now) and read on!

Thanks for the inspiration!  Question:  Do your girls play in their good clothes?  Where do you store their shorts – maybe I missed them?  My girls are 7, 3, and 1 so I get lots of ideas from you!

Three girls!  Triple the fun!  And the drama.  :)  Those are good questions.  About a year ago I completely stopped buying my girls shorts.  They have never liked shorts or pants much (not stylish enough for Addison and not comfy enough for Ellie.  Ha!  See what I mean about the drama?)  They always want to wear dresses and skirts so I buy a lot of skirts with the shorts sewn in them and a lot of leggings and tights to wear under the dresses/skirts in the winter.  It works for us because it never gets too cold here.  As far as the girls playing in their good clothes, I have totally changed my way of thinking about that.  When they were little I bought them so may cute outfits and then hardly let them wear them.  I kept “saving” them for a special occasion and before I knew it, they had grown out of the outfits completely.  I dressed them in their $5 Target tops day after day and the more expensive outfits sat untouched in their closets (a waste of money to only wear a time or two!).  So now I let them wear their good clothes.  To school, to the park, everywhere we go.  Because school and the park is their life and they grow so fast!  And yes, the clothes get dirty and trashed, but then I feel like I really got my money’s worth out of those nice outfits!  So aside from a few fancier dresses for church, my girls wear their “good clothes” every day.  :)  I’ve adopted the same way of thinking with my clothes.  I used to not clean up much because I’d think “I’m just going to be cleaning, at the park, and running kids around all day.”  Well yeah.  That’s my life right now and I don’t see it changing anytime in the near future!  I can do mom stuff in sweats or wear some cute jeans and a belt and at least feel better about myself while I clean and run kids around all day.  And feeling better about myself makes a world of difference.  K – that last part really had nothing to do with your question.  Bur you know I tend to ramble.  Ask me a question and you will get an answer times three.  :)

I was wondering how your girls do in dresses at school?  My daughter also loves wearing them but I can’t picture her playing on the playground without her undies showing or getting her dress all dirty.  

Ok – this was a major problem for us that I just solved last year!  I mentioned above that I try to buy skirts with the shorts sewn in them, but a lot of my girls’ dresses and skirts don’t have them.  Ellie loves the monkey bars at school and I knew she was toppling upside down daily flashing her underwear for all to see, so I started looking all around for some shorts that would be good to wear underneath dresses.  And check out what I found at Target!

They are called Monkey Bar Buddies (how fitting!) and they are perfect little light weight spandex shorts made for girls to wear underneath dresses/skirts.  They run a little small so Addie (who is usually a size 6) wears a 7/8.  I found them on-line here, but check your local Target first.  I bought a pack of two for around six bucks in the girls’ clothes department.  PROBLEM SOLVED.  :)

Totally silly question here!   My two oldest kids are the same ages as your girls and I am wondering what kind of hangers you use in your girls’ closets?   I still have the baby/toddler hangers but they are getting too small for their clothes.  However, the adult plastic hangers are a bit too big.  Which plastic hangers are you using?  Only an organization freak would worry about such things!

Not a silly question at all!  In fact, I’ve been asked this question a lot.  Here are a few pics of the hangers I use for my kids…

 Pink for the girls.  
Green for Kole.  

I bought these hangers at Babies R’ Us.  I bought the pink ones when Ellie was a baby.  They work great for baby clothes and also work great for older kids’ clothes.  They have held up so well and a pack of ten is only three bucks.  A great solution to your hanger problem – from one organization freak to another.  :)  (You can find them here.)

Question about the dividers.  I have a couple sets of them (I think?  Or something that looks the same!) and I love how they divide drawers but the ones I have are always coming loose.  Not sure if I am doing something wrong… it sounds like you are happy with yours and they are not an issue?

The dividers I use in all of our clothes drawers are the Dream Drawer dividers.  You can find them at Bed Bath and Beyond, The Container Store and of course, on-line (here).  They are my favorite dividers and I’ve never had any problems with them. 

They adjust to any size of your drawer and even come with black felt tabs that go on the sides of the spring so your drawers don’t get scratched.  I tried another brand once (Martha Stewart I think) with dividers that went horizontally and vertically and I didn’t like them at all.  They didn’t stay in place and just felt flimsy and cheap.  I took them back and got more Dream Drawer dividers!

I love that they keep things organized without taking up a lot of drawer space.  I have them in almost every clothes drawer in my house.  They divide my exercise clothes and swim suits, pajamas tops and pajama bottoms, and yes – even my white socks from my dark socks.  The possibilities are endless!  :)   (It’s true.  Dividing socks by color is fun for me.  Admitting it is the first step.)

Ok – I hunted all over Target this past Sunday trying to find this cute little notepad and NO LUCK!!  Any idea which section it was in?  

Man!  I feel bad!  Several of you went to look for my favorite new Target find and couldn’t find it.  I found mine in the office supply section.  Same place they carry file folders and paper clips.  There was a section of organization products and this was there among other things.  I couldn’t find it on line but I found these by Real Simple that are the exact same thing.  Hope that helps!

I just discovered your blog and love love love it!  Your organized home makes me drool!  I have two girls under 3.  My 3 year old has a huge collection of kitchen play stuff which she plays with every day.  I tidy up and re-arrange her kitchen play stuff every night but I still feel that the many cups, saucers, etc.  creates a lot of eye clutter in the playroom.  Any suggestions on how to store the kitchen stuff?  


First of all – thank you!  Very sweet of you to say.  :)
Ahhh!  The kitchen collection.
 Yes.  I know a thing or two about that.  :)
Our play kitchen is in the corner of our playroom.  

The main thing I focus on with “kitchen” accessories is to not have too many of them!  I have taken countless toy dishes, food, etc. to Goodwill over the years.  I like to store all of the accessories inside the kitchen.  As soon as things start getting too cluttered, I clean it out and only keep my girls’ favorite kitchen toys.  
 I keep the food in a basket next to the kitchen.

Favorite bowls, plates, pots and pans on top.  Easily accessible and easy to clean up.  A goal for any kitchen!

 Utensils are just tossed in the sink.  

 A few random bowls and tea sets are stored inside the “fridge.”  

Toaster is stored in the oven and cakes in the dishwasher.  Maybe not the goal for any kitchen, but it works for us.  :)

If you have more kitchen accessories than you can fit inside the kitchen itself, another option is using nearby baskets or bins to contain everything.  We have loved these bins from Target for miscellaneous toys in the playroom.  This picture was from a couple of years ago.  Currently the bins are full of trains and trucks.  :)  Still shows some clutter, but I think it’s important in the kids’ space that they can easily see and reach and clean up their own toys.  Hope that helps!

I’m only half way through the questions I was going to answer tonight so I’ll answer the rest another night this week.  If you have a question for me, ask me in the comments.  I’m still working on getting my email button linked to my email address.  The last to-do for the new design!

I should go to bed but I need to finish watching my latest obsession – Property Brothers on HGTV.  Nothing like a good before and after!  Or handsome brothers creating dream kitchens.  I’ll take them both please.  (The before/afters and the dream kitchens, not the brothers.)  Actually… on second thought…  You can throw them in too.

:)  
xoxo, Erin
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21 thoughts on “Q & A

  1. Love all the answers! I was into watching Property Brothers last night too. Did you see the one where the young couple chose the western style house with all the stone. I loved that one in the end!

  2. Thanks for answering my dress/undies question Erin :) Those monkey bar buddies look great! I’ll keep my eyes open for something similar here (counting down the months until Target opens in Canada!). Oh and I know what you mean about drama! No idea where she gets her stubborn streak from :)

  3. Great Q&A. I love the dream drawer dividers. I am going to BB&B to buy some. I also watched property Brothers last night. I love that show…And House Hunters!
    Have a great week Erin

  4. Love the Q&A.. We use biker style cotton shorts for under dresses. Get at Walmart (no Target close by) for $2 or so. I have a question. I havent been able to decorate or purge in over a year. Would you start one room at a time to completely clean and purge and then decorate. OR clean & purge whole house. Then go back and decorate each room. I am planning on painting each room and all. Major redecorating. But each room needs major cleaning and purging. Thanks Tam

  5. (about the email thing), have you tried setting the “web address” as mailto:soandso@something.com? A quick search of ‘mailto’ might help. :)

  6. Hi Tam!

    If it were me, I’d definitely go through the whole house and clean things out first. Focus on one room at a time and de-clutter and get everything clean. I think if you start decorating certain rooms while other rooms are still a mess things will start feeling out of control quickly (at least they would to me!). :) Once you are starting with a relatively clean slate it will be a lot easier and more fun to decorate. Good luck!

    So glad several of you like the play kitchen! I’ll include a link to where you can get it in my next Q & A sometime this week. Thanks!

  7. I think wearing shorts under knickers (undies) are a great idea & helps to keep gospel standards.

    Just a quick question about the above answer on organising/cleaning a room. When you say cleaning do you mean tidying & organising it? It’s just that I get a bit confused because in the uk cleaning means hovering & dusting etc.

    I love your organising tips, they’re brill;)

  8. So with you on the clothes. Ellie has sooooo many hand-me downs, and I am incredibly grateful and lucky because they are such gorgeous clothes, so now I let her wear them all (with the exception of shoes, she would trash those in a heartbeat!!)

    Love the Q&A,
    Emma

  9. I have been tottering on the edge of letting my girls play in their ‘good things’ all the time, and you’ve just tipped me! It does seem silly to have so many cute clothes sitting there until they grow out of them!! And I never even noticed your girls never wear shorts!! My oldest is obsessed with skirts and dresses and her entire wardrobe is skirts and dresses but I always figure she just needs some shorts… I’m not sure why, but I think it won’t be long till I ditch them too!! I love your drawer organisers. I plan on saving up and redoing every drawer in my house with them!! :) Thanks for some more great tips!!

  10. LOVE Property Brothers too. Do you know that it is actually on tv in the afternoon several days of the week? I often sneak down to our family room to eat my lunch while the boys are having theirs. I tell them that I’m folding clothes but I’m actually sneaking in a few minutes of HGTV. If you love that, have you watched Love It or List It?

  11. Guess what? No it’s not chicken butt either… I bought a pair of Sevens jeans this weekend. For 30 bucks! I was totally thinking of you. They fit perfect. :-) woot woot!

  12. Hi Julie!

    I guess when I say “cleaning” I mean everything – tidying, dusting, organizing. The works! :)

    Abby – sounds like your girls are a lot like mine! Yes – ditch the shorts. My girls never wore them so I was always just wasting money. They don’t love pants either but we always need pants for certain occasions. I just buy a few pairs for each of my girls.

    Audrey – I just told Kenny last night to start recording Love it or List it! :) I record all of the Property Brothers and stay up late watching them while I blog. Love that you love them too!

    Stephanie – WOOT WOOT is right!! What a deal! I’m so excited for you! Nothing like a good pair of Sevens. :)

  13. Thanks for answering my question about the hangers! Old Navy and Children’s Place have bike shorts that my girls wear under their dresses and skirts. But I will check Target for those little shorts too. Love your posts!

  14. Hi Erin, thanks for answering the question on the kids kitchen playstuff – even your kids kitchen is to drool over!! thanks for the ideas! Samantha from Australia.

  15. Hi Erin!Love your blog.Had a question for u.I have a 4 yr old girl n have just started to do her room.Her books are becoming too hard to organize.Could you help on finding a bookcase for her…I totally love your organizing skills n the amazing mom that you are!
    Thanks!

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