Finally it's backwards Works for Me Wednesday over at Shannon's house!
I have two questions for you, loyal readers, if you don't mind...
How do you keep track of all the billions and billions of PlayMobil pieces
and...
For children's organic cotton clothing how do you minimize the need to iron them (the clothes...not the children)?
And oooo, I received a reply from Whole Foods about their local (not!) apples. Stay tuned!
9 comments:
Great questions! Don't ask me about ironing! My theory is that "all cotton" is made for rich people who can afford a full time ironing service - the rest of us buy wash and wear...which I think is how it has been until the recent green movement...or we do as they do in Europe...wear it wrinkled! (I actually just iron before wearing, yuck)
However, I do have experience with Playmobil. We have zillions of pieces which we keep in a few different baskets. One basket is for "modern people" and accessories. One basket is for "historical" people and accessories. One of my pet peeves is seeing folks keep toys stored in "sets" - we try to avoid that as it hinders imaginative play. one of the great things about Playmobil is that with a quick wig/hat/cape change one figure can become another...so we encourage that play by minimal sorting- just enough to keep the children from becoming overwhelmed.
I'm not much of an iron-er, but I've noticed that when I hang my clothes, they have fewer wrinkles. In winter, I hang them on hangers on a bar in the tight little laundry room that for some reason was given a vent. If I close the doors, it can get pretty warm in there--perfect climate for drying. I smooth them a little, straighten them out, and hope for minimal wrinkles. Also, my mother-in-law's trick is to iron when they are just a tad damp, before totally dry. This makes the ironing go very fast.
Playmobil totally overwhelmed me until I bought some not-very-green plastic Sterilite drawers--some have slender drawers, some are big. We put people in one drawer, animals in another, bigger pieces in the big drawers, hats and headgear in a little plastic box all its own. "Little things" that defy categories go into one of the slender drawers. We had a big drawer for "Things with Wheels" and then "Outdoor" and "Indoor" for trees and boats -vs- chests and tables and chairs.
The kids helped come up with the categories, made labels for the drawers, and now they clean up according to their own logic. I mean, they clean up after weeks of their "kingdoms" being up. They have a huge setup in the family room at the moment. I just vacuum when they're done, but they wheel in the carts and toss it in (or carry the drawers to their setup destination).
I love Playmobil, so it was worth the effort to organize so that I didn't get so frustrated with cleanup, and they could use it freely. I love the imagination it encourages.
We did the whole big organization job on a New Year's Eve, waiting for the countdown. It was nice to start the year off with everything in its place!
For wrinkles I give the item a good shake, spritz with water (I keep a spray bottle handy) and hang it on a hanger for a nearly wrinkle free finish! I have only been doing this for about 6 months now and I am THRILLED with how much ironing it has saved me!
We are ironers here. The ironing board is always set up with the iron on it in the sewing room, we just turn it on and go.
We don't have Playmobil, just lego's. The rule here is that they must stay in one particular (large) bedroom, the room must be tidied daily except for an 9'by12' area rug at one end of the room, that rug can stay messier and full of ongoing projects. On Sunday the whole room, including the rug, gets cleaned up. May not keep it pretty, but it keeps it tame.
Can't help ya with your questions (I just iron wrinkles) but just thought I would say that we buy and love fair trade coffee too!
Yowser! You gals are awesome! Seems like we are pretty much split between the ironers and the non-ironers. Maybe I don't like to iron because I am just so darned bad at it!!
Ann and MC, as a librarian I love the Playmobil categories you have all devised. I think I'll summarize your responses for next week's works for "them" Wednesday! Right now every Playmobil piece we own is thrown into one gigantic Ziploc (you know my deal about Ziplocs) but I am anticipating a new delivery from Santa this season, so I wanted to be prepared.
I am not a "set" person either and neither is my husband when it comes to his...er...the children's legos. Jody, we have a round circle cut from denim with grommets around the edges. There is a piece of rope woven in and out of the holes so that when the kids are done...scoop! It's like a giant tear-drop of Legos if you can picture it - my MIL made it when my husband was little. I bet you could make one easily!
Michelle and Rhen, stopping by your sites...thanks for posting. And finally...mmmm....coffeeeeeeee. :)
I don't really have anything to add except less is more. With this younger set of children coming up I'm trying to buy less, for many reasons, but including because there will be less to clean, store, organize, maintain, put away, etc.
First of all, i hate ironing. Sometimes to avoid ironing, I hang my clothes in the bathroom when i take a steamy shower and try to smooth them out that way. The hair dryer can work on some materials as well. So as I dry my hair, I just randomly aim it at some wrinkles and smooth them out the best I can. My husband thinks I am crazy when I do this. I just really hate taking the time to haul out the ironing board and iron.
We have just started on the Playmobil stuff with the boys. So far we just use a basket for their things. We don't have too many yet. Keep me posted if you find out anything totally amazing for their organization.
Playmobil: the trash can. Seriously -- I organize them in tubs -- by whatever fits in my hand.
I have the jiffy steamer - great investment, but I like the idea of just spritzing with water on the hanger. Great idea.
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