Create a Drop Zone

Schools have easy to reach coat racks and long bays of lockers for a reason. Teachers know that helping kids manage their stuff is critical for a smooth transition from home to school. Follow their lead by creating a drop zone within your home where each of your children has a dedicated area for backpacks, jackets, and shoes. If you don’t have a mudroom wall to work with, consider revamping your hall closet. Ditch the hangers and install several rows of sturdy hooks at varying heights for backpacks and jackets. Attach a clear hanging shoe organizer to the door to catch shoes, sports supplies, and cold weather gear.

Free Up The Fridge

Each day our kids come home with binders full of papers for us to review. Newsletters, volunteer requests, homework notices… somehow we’re expected to manage it all. Get control of the paperwork by picking up a simple file organizer from your local office supply store. Label the first section “Must See,” the second “FYI,” and the third “Brag Box.” Papers that need signatures or involve immediate action go in “Must See.” Newsletters and PTA notices go in “FYI.” Art projects and graded papers go to the “Brag Box.” Magnetic versions are perfect for the fridge. Wall-mounted styles work well on mudroom walls or inside entry doors.

Keep It Together

When it’s time for practice, are your kids digging through baskets and dumping our drawer to find everything they need? A simple set of lingerie bags may be just the solution you’re looking for. After the kids come home from dance class or soccer practice, have them put all their clothing into one of these large mesh bags before they toss it into the hamper. When laundry day comes around, simply add the entire bag to your load. Once it’s dry, have your kids add the bag to their weekly clothing organizer or clip the bags to the wall in your mudroom for easy access.

*This post is an excerpt from an article published by Organize Magazine, Sept/Oct 2007, Volume 02, pg 42-49, written by Maria Eckersley, photos by Lanola Kathleen Stone.

Managing the Morning Mayhem

For most families, morning is the most chaotic time of the day.  In a very limited amount of time, we struggle to get everyone clean, dressed, fed, and ready for the day.  Add in permission slips to sign, checks to write, and lunches to make – you’re lucky to get out the door at all, much less on time.  Save yourself tons of stress this year by trying our a few of these helpful hints.

Clothes Control

Help your kids help themselves each morning by making them an under-bed clothes organizer.  Look for a large shallow container equipped with wheels at your local super-store.  Trim a large sheet of foam core poster board to create the dividers.  Secure the dividers with clear packing tape and label each section with a day of the week.  On laundry day, have your kids select their outfits from the week (complete with socks and underwear), store them in their organizer and slide the box under the bed.

Send Them Packing

Most mornings we’re in such a rush that we tend to take over our kids’ responsibilities.  We search for library books, track down tennis shoes, and pack lunches.  However, all these chores can be done by our kids if they’re given a reasonable amount of time.  The solution?  Start your a.m. in the p.m.  Designate a certain time each night as “family prep time.”  Help your family remember by setting the alarm on an inexpensive wristwatch and tucking it in a central location in the house (like on top of the TV or in a kitchen drawer).  When the alarm sounds, everyone is required to drop what he or she is doing and prepare for the next day by packing lunches, preparing backpacks, and setting out jackets and shoes.

Snack Central

A simple rolling cart with drawers can be key to keeping your sack lunch supplies and after-school snacks under control.  In the top drawer, stash your sandwich-making supplies such as bread, peanut butter, plastic utensils, and a box of zip-top bags.  Small zip-top bags filled with lunch snacks store neatly in the second drawer.  Reserve the bottom drawer for juice boxes and water bottles.  When it’s time to pack a lunch, simply wheel the cart out of your pantry or laundry room.  A cart with a solid top creates a conveniently low work surface that’s perfect for school age kids.

Picture-Perfect To Do Lists

“Did you remember to brush your teeth?”  This is just one of the many reminders parents shout out to their children each morning.  Motivate even young kids to establish their own morning routine by making an easy to-do list.  First, sit down with your child and determine his or her daily morning duties – i.e. making the bed, brushing teeth, fixing hair, etc.  Next, grab your camera and snap a photo of your child performing each task.  Print the photos and arrange them, in order, on the bedroom door or bathroom mirror.  Remind all your children to double-check their lists before they head down for breakfast.

*This post is an excerpt from an article published by Organize Magazine, Sept/Oct 2007, Volume 02, pg 42-49, authored by Maria Eckersley, photos by Lanola Kathleen Stone.

Coat closets are what I like to call prime organizing real estate.  They’re in a very accessible location, easy to customize, and have a door (so they’re don’t have to look neat and tidy all the time).  Rather than waste that optimal storage space on hanging coats that we only pull out for a few months of the year, I decided to convert it to a cubby closet for my kids.

I purchased this simple wire shelving system from Target for $15 (you can find it by all their dorm supplies).  The pieces snap together so it’s easy to customize it to various configurations.  However, I recommend you spare your fingers a little work and use a small hammer to tap the joints together.

I created 6 vertical cubbies but you could adjust it to 4 cubbies and 2 baskets if you needed a place for storing things like sports gear or jackets.  It’s surprisingly sturdy once it’s all assembled.  I know this because my son – the climber – managed to scale it and teeter on the top in hopes of retrieving the gummy worms from my church box on the top shelf. I had the kids set their school stuff on the shelves, but if you need more hanging space for small items you could add a few s-hooks/repelling clips to the cubby sides or line the bottom of the cubbies with foam-core posterboard.

It’s a fast, cheapand easy fix that makes a big difference.  Just thought I’d pass it on.  By the way, if you’re willing to spend a little more time and have a few power tools on hand, you might want to check out this clever coat closet solution on the Lazy Organizer’s blog.  You’ll want to dig around her archives while your there, she’s got loads of great ideas.

As I was wandering the aisles of Target searching for a cheap solution, I came across these awesome peg boards. Yet another successful Pottery Barn knockoff from our friends at Target, these square peg boards are a perfect solution for tight spaces. In addition to the cool peg boards, they also offer coordinating dry erase boards and cork boards to allow for tons of configuration options. But of course, the best part is the customization. Much like their garage wall predecessors, these peg boards offer tons of flexiblity. Target sells a wide variety of hooks, boxes, racks and clips to help you create a perfect spot for all your must-haves.

On our board, I’ve got several small silver key hooks, a few sturdier hooks for my purse, a box for things like sunglasses and sunscreen, and a 4-arm swinging hook for the kid’s backpacks and jackets. At first, the hooks seemed a little loose and tended to pop out if I pulled at the wrong angle. I solved that problem by picking up a pack of ticky tack and placing a small dot of it around the peg of each hook. Now everything stays in its place and can the hooks can stand up to my kid’s toughest yanks.

In addition to mud rooms like mine, they’d be a great addition to any kid’s rooms, garages, craft areas and much more. We’ve used the system for a few months now, and it’s held up beautifully. The total set up cost me around $35. Considering I haven’t lost my keys or tripped over a backpack yet, I’d say it’s well worth the price. Just thought I’d pass it on.

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Since the kitchen is the hub of our home, most of my organization centers there. I devoted the lower shelf of one cupboard to keeping the family organized. On the right side are my many binders (mentioned in a previous post). On the left, are these inexpensive inboxes I purchased from WalMart for around $10.

I labeled one inbox for every member of the family. Essentially the inboxes are temporary storage. As the backpacks come off, the kids put any homework on the fridge. Everything else goes into their inbox. Sometimes I get a minute when the kids are in the tub, but generally I don’t get a chance to go through the boxes until the kids are in bed. By then I’ve usually got a little time to sign things, write checks, and add notes to my calendar. Then I return stuff back to their backpacks and look forward to a slightly less hectic morning.

I also use the inboxes to stash lots of things for myself and my husband. For example, If I’m going through a catalog and see an idea I like, I rip it out and stick it in my inbox. Later, when I have time, I add it to my Design Ideas Binder. They also come in handy when I find a pile of my husband’s random papers and post-its. Rather than try to figure out what they are, I toss them into his inbox and tell him to look there first.

It’s a simple system, but it works…and it’s well worth the cupboard space. Just thought I’d pass it on.