Back To School Solutions #2: Avoiding the After-School Avalanche

Posted by on Aug 17, 2009 in Popular Posts: Parenting Hacks | 4 comments Gathering your kids from their various activities at the end of the day is tough enough; what makes it even harder is tripping over the avalanche of backpacks, papers, sports gear, and shoes that pile up as soon as you walk through the door. A few simple changes can help you regain control of your entryway and keep the after-school avalanche at bay. Create a Drop Zone Schools have easy to reach...
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Back To School Solutions #1: Managing the Morning Mayhem

Posted by on Aug 15, 2009 in Best of MeckMom, Popular Posts: Parenting Hacks | 1 comment Back in 2007, I wrote an article for Organize magazine entitled Making the Grade. It was loaded with great tips for keeping your family organized during the school year.  The original article is a bit long for a single post, so I’ll be trimming it a bit and breaking it up into four posts focused on the common back to school frustrations: Managing the Morning Mayhem, Avoiding the...
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Make Your Coat Closet Functional for $15

Posted by on Aug 28, 2008 in Uncategorized | 3 comments I love the Pottery Barn catalog.  Not that I’ve ever purchased anything from it – I just love to flip through it and glean ideas from the pages.  One PB staple that I’ve always coveted is their entryway lockers.   I don’t know why they appeal to me so much.  Maybe it’s because my optimistic brain convinces me that if I had them in my entryway I...
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Mini Mudroom Makeover

Posted by on May 28, 2007 in Uncategorized | 2 comments As I mentioned before, moving to a new house always has its challenges. In addition to finding new spots for our ocean of toys, I’ve also had to come up with a new solution for our mudroom. In our new house, the entryway from the garage is a small mudroom/laundry room. It’s only about 5 feet wide and the washer and dryer take up a significant portion of the width. I needed a place to...
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Save Yourself from Backpack Clutter with Family Inboxes

Posted by on Aug 25, 2006 in Popular Posts: Organizing | 1 comment School is starting again…which means seas of pastel colored papers coming home in backpacks. Of course the problem is that we get a random assortment each day. Homework, reminders, permission slips…it’s tough to keep it all straight. Rather than let my counter clutter up, I created this inbox system in my kitchen cupboard to help me manage the clutter. Since the kitchen is the hub of...
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