Why do kids have so much stuff? Some days I feel like I’m up to my eyeballs in random collections of nothing. I regularly go through the girls’ toys and make piles for donations. Toys, puzzles and games that are too ‘old’ for them get put away for later days. Broken pieces get mended or tossed. Things with missing parts get sidelined for a month of two and then if never brought back to whole? Disappear. A lot of it is my OCD. I can’t stand when things are not complete. I hate disarray, disorganization. i can’t get past it and have been known to creep out of bed at 1 in the morning to go and get that thing that’s not together and put it somewhere else where I can’t see it. And then? I can go to sleep.

This has only intensified since having children. And even more so since Pea became a little girl. Because now her stuff has stuff. Two hours in her room on Saturday cleaning up nearly did me in. I can’t even tell you the crap I found in there that left me scratching my head in wonderment. Where did she find all of these tiny little wooden birds? And popsicle sticks? And single Polly Pocket shoes were in abundance. There was a bottle of sparkly pink nail polish that had hardened after who knows how long without a cap on it. Socks were missing their mates, a random shoelace from a tap-shoe was tucked away – lovingly – in a wooden doll bed. Along with a hand-carved jade turtle that I brought back from China in 2001. I’d long since forgotten about that little guy!

We need storage. Small-item storage. It has to be transportable, which means it has to have a lid. Otherwise we end up with a Hansel & Gretl-like bread-crumb trail of tiny little pieces scattered across the house. And this storage has to be easily opened by her little fingers. And of course, it has to look good. And it cannot cost a small fortune. We’re talking reasonable here. Beyond reasonable. I want inexpensive, attractive and purposeful storage. Is that too much to ask?

Found it.

I’m smitten.

Nesting suitcases. Or cardboard suitcases. Paper suitcases. French nesting children’s valises. Paper valises. I’m telling you, I spent hours upon hours yesterday, googling so many different terms until I found what I wanted. Colorful but elegant mini ’suitcases’ that stacked upon themselves, one size smaller than the next, to hold Pea’s goodies. Cheaply.

HIghway robbery, what a handful of shops wanted for them. And others were so wildly patterned they gave me motion sickness. And the really simple ones that I liked were $50 for a set of three, and that was not happening. So I kept on googling away. And then, finally. I found them. A set of three. Beautiful solid colors to choose from. For under $20. And at a shop that I like, that I know, that I trust for their lovely children’s things that are made with very high quality.

Pack Your Bags. From The Land of Nod.

I love these little nesting storage boxes. So adorable stacked up on a shelf in a kid’s room, or a playroom. Easily carried from room to room, opened and their inner contents revealed. And then all little bits and pieces put back in their home, snapped shut and carried back to their place. Tucked away. Neatly.

Ahh…

So, take that, little Playmobil Cinderella, et al…

You know have a lovely little pink home.

And Coco? Your doll clothes that now outnumber your own clothes? Their own lovely little purple home.

Again, ahh…