HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-05-07, Page 15THE CITIZEN. THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2009. PAGE 15.
If you have ever paged through a
home and garden magazine, it’s
evident from those winning
photographs of pristine living spaces
that those households don’t have
children.
When children arrive they bring
many blessings -- and also a lot of
stuff -- into your life. What starts out
as baby bottles, diapers and playmats
quickly transforms into toys, toys
and more toys. Every birthday,
holiday and special event seems a
ripe occasion for doting relatives and
friends to bestow another toy upon
your darling boy or girl. Very
quickly your house can become
overrun with kiddie clutter.
Parenting involves making wise
choices for your children, and one of
the important ones you can make
involves teaching them about
responsibility and maintaining their
personal property. Involving them in
the organization and sorting of toys
can be a worthy lesson.
So how do you take back your
house from the legion of toys setting
up roosts in every corner? Here are a
few organizational tips that can help.
* Create an area of the home that
can be a kids’play area. If there isn’t
space in a basement or a spare room,
the child’s bedroom will have to
suffice.
* Purchase storage solutions
according to the child’s age. Younger
children will benefit from several
open bins that are easy to reach.
Older children can use under-the-bed
storage, drawers, pegs, and hooks.
* Skip large toy chests as a catch-
all for the toys. This can create an
overwhelming mess for a child and
they will be less likely to want to
play with their toys. Instead,
consider smaller bins that can
separate toys according to themes,
such as action figures, dolls, blocks,
and cars.
* Low-level bookcases attached
under a window or in another cozy
location can store books, magazines
and colouring books in an organized
fashion.
* Keep a basket handy in another
area of the house to gather up the
toys that inadvertently will spill over
to the living room, kitchen or car. It
can be a great chore to have your
child take those toys back to the play
area and put them away.
* Build a maintenance routine into
your child’s day. Just as an adult can
get overwhelmed by clutter, so can a
child. He or she starts with a clean
room, plays and then finds stuff
everywhere. Have a twice daily
“clean-up” routine. In the morning
your child can straighten the bed, put
dirty clothes in the hamper, and
neaten up his or her room. In the
evening he or she can put away toys
and get the room ready for the next
day of play.
* Go label happy. Labelling,
especially labels with images and
words, help children learn where
things belong. Stick labels on toy
bins, inside of drawers where socks
and underwear are stored, etc.
Controlling kiddie clutter can
make for a happier and more
organized household.
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As the seasons shift from winter
freeze to warm spring breeze,
homeowners know it’s time to dust
the cobwebs off the garden tools
and get outside to start working on
the yard.
Though spring cleaning is
commonly associated with clearing
away the clutter inside a home,
there’s also some spring cleaning
homeowners can do to ready their
lawns for the warm weather to
come.
* Fertilize:Landscape
professionals note that spring
fertilization plays a vital role in
keeping a lawn healthy. By
fertilizing in the spring,
homeowners are essentially
replenishing the lawn.
In the spring, soil temperatures
have begun to warm, allowing the
grass to grow again.
Fertilizing at this point will help
build up nutrient reserves, which
will help the lawn withstand the
long summer ahead.
* Grasscycle:When mowing the
lawn, homeowners can leave the
grass clippings on the lawn. This is
a process known as grasscycling,
and it can save time, money and
protect the environment.
When left behind, grass clipping
add valuable organic matter to
the soil, including nutrients,
essentially providing free fertilizer
and helping a lawn look lush and
healthy.
* Check thatch levels:
Oftentimes homeowners mistakenly
think grasscycling creates thatch. In
fact, clippings are made largely of
water and carbohydrates, which are
easily broken down. Thatch actually
can be a byproduct of fertilizer, as
stems and crowns are stimulated
when fertilized, only to eventually
decay and result in thatch. If thatch
levels are high, consider aerating the
lawn. This will relieve soil
compaction, allowing water,
nutrients and oxygen to enter the
ground.
* Have pH level checked:At the
beginning of each spring, it helps to
have a soil’s pH level checked. This
will help determine how healthy the
soil is. Once the pH level has been
checked, a professional can then tell
you what might need to be added to
the soil and better facilitate plant,
turf and tree growth.
Quick
spring
lawncare
tips
Controlling the clutter when you have kids