I purchased this plastic cart at WalMart for around $12.  I think it’s designed with scrapbookers in mind.  It has several small drawers on the top and three larger drawers below.  I keep it stashed in my front closet – just around the corner from the kitchen table where most of our homework happens.

The smaller top drawers are dedicated to housing school supplies (I labeled them with my P-Touch labeler).  The first holds scratch paper and lined writing paper.  The second and third hold random school supplies like pencils, markers, crayons and erasers.  I also keep a few teaching aides in there such as timers, dice and post-its.  The fourth drawer holds all my dry-erase supplies because I love using dry erase boards to help my kids practice math and spelling.  I bought each of my kids a small Expo dry-erase board at WalMart for around $4 each.  I love them because they’re small enough to fit in the drawers and they’re lined on one side for easy handwriting practice.  You can find them near the Crayola stuff in the office supplies area.

The three larger drawers are the kids’ “homework boxes”.  They each have their own and it’s labeled with their name.  Inside I have them keep their reading logs, spelling lists, library books, and any homework supplies that are specific to them (for example, they each have a set of math flash cards that are specific to their grade).

I love the homework boxes because they’re so easy for my kids to work with.  Everything is at their height and it’s all in one place.  When they’re scrambling in the morning to find their library books my first question is always “Did you check your homework box?”  When it’s Friday morning and I’m trying to give my son a quick spelling refresher before his test, I have him grab his list from his box.  When I’m trying to get dinner going and there’s a mess of homework covering the table, I have them bring their boxes to the table and dump their stuff in.

I can’t say it’s the prettiest system in the world, but it works!  Remember, the goal of organization when it comes to family life is not to achieve perfect order.  The goal is to teach your kids to keep track of their own stuff and to see the benefits of staying organized.  In my opinion, it’s our job as a parents to provide the tools and training.  It’s their job to do the rest.  This inexpensive homework box is a great example of how you can do just that.   Just thought I’d pass it on.

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.

This year, as I face another school year (and all the chaos that comes with it) I’ve decided to try a new approach.  Instead of making loads of different charts to keep track of my kid’s jobs, schedules and misc. details, I’ve opted for a more streamlined approach.  We’re calling it the “Big Board.”

To create it, I purchased a big, magnetic dry erase board and divided it into three sections (one for each of my school-age kids) with adhesive ribbon.  Within each section I created general categories with clear alphabet stickers (you could also use a label maker or write them with a dry erase marker).  At the moment, my categories are Jobs, ToDo, Bank and Notes.  Each of my kids have three main jobs, one post-dinner kitchen job, one house job, and one big Saturday job – I keep track of all of those in the Jobs area.  The To Do category is pretty self explanatory – all the non cleaning jobs go here.  For example, you might see ”write thank you note to Grandma” or “20 min piano practice” in this area.  The Bank area keeps track of their current balance (click here to read my family bank post) and keeps track of any savings goals.  The Notes category offers reminders for everything else like “give talk in Primary on Sunday” or “bring class snack on Thursday”.

Unlike a standard chart that confines you to specific details, the big board is easily adaptable by simply changing the categories.  For example, as the school year begins I will probably add a homework category to keep track of things like reading minutes as well as a calendar category to replace their weekly fridge planners (click here to read the kid planner post).

I posted ours in the kitchen right next to the back door so it would be impossible to ignore or neglect.  I also added two clear file boxes below it.  The inbox holds papers that come home in backpacks as well as a temporary stash spot for the mail.  The outbox is used for anything that needs to go out – like signed permission slips, lunch money, movie rentals and library books.

The entire project took me about two hours to create and cost me less than $50.  I purchased the white board at Target for $17.  The in and out boxes were $8 each at Staples.  The colorful sticker letters I used for the names, the tiny black letter stickers, and the adhesive ribbon were all purchased from Michael’s for about $10.  Just thought I’d pass it on.

During the morning rush to get the kids off to school, I found myself checking multiple papers to find out what was happening that day. Did we need to pack library books or p.e. shoes? Is it a hot lunch day or do I need to pack a lunch? Does she need to bring her girl scout vest or ballet shoes? Some things were on the calendar and some were tacked up on the fridge. I felt like I was wasting time that I couldn’t spare, so I created this weekly planner to help my first grader manage her own schedule.

It’s a very simple velcro system. On it I list the days of the week Monday through Saturday. I created icons in MS Word (you should be able to adapt them easily) for each of my daughter’s usual activities and color coded the titles for easy sorting. Under each day on the chart, I’ve added a strip of velcro that can hold three icons. The first icon shows what’s happening at school that day (art, library, pe, music, computer). The second icon shows what type of lunch she’s having (cold or hot). The third icon shows reminders and afterschool activities (test, homework, gymnastics, etc.).

Usually, on Sunday night at family council we’ll gather all the various calendars and reminders and my daughter will arrange the icons on her chart. She’ll also use this chart to help her know what clothes to put in her under-bed clothes organizer. For example, if she sees that she’s got PE on Tuesday, she knows that she needs to pack an outfit that will work tennis shoes.

We post this “planner” on the fridge so she can see it each morning when she’s getting dressed and packing her backpack. It has made a huge difference in our morning routine. I’ll also use it throughout the week when her teacher sends home reminders and other info. I think this one will stick with us for several years. Just thought I’d pass it on.

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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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We don’t have a mud room I our house, so I’m limited on space to hold things like shoes backpacks and winter accessories. I converted the lower half of our coat closet into our ‘mini mudroom’. Along one side and across the back of the closet I added large hooks to the walls for backpacks and kid coats. On the other side, I added this 3-drawer plastic organizer for all their winter gear.

When the kids come in from school, they unload all their gear in the closet and dump their hats, scarves and gloves into the drawers. The drawers are clear so it’s easy for even my youngest daughter to figure out where her things belong.

We used this inexpensive system all last winter and it worked great. As an added bonus, when Spring finally did come around, I simply moved the drawers to the basement. A few weeks ago when the weather started turning again, I pulled it back out…all the hats, gloves, and scarves were inside and ready to go. It’s simple, inexpensive, and totally kid-friendly. Just thought I’d pass it on.