I’ve been using the 3M command adhesive hooks forever and found them very useful. So, when I happened upon these picture hangers based on the same ‘easy-remove’ technology, I had to give them a shot. By the way, I found them near the hooks in the Wal-Mart hardware department. I believe they were around $3 for 3 hangers.

I couldn’t believe how easy they were! I’m horrible at hanging pictures. I hate all the measuring and leveling. I also have a newly painted house and dreaded putting holes in all the walls. These handy little velcro hooks provided a great solution. Essentially, they work like the hooks. Whenever you decided you want to remove the hanger (off the back of your picture or off the wall) you simply pull down on the hanging tab and it pops right off. The two velcro strips can separate without pulling the strip off the wall, so it’s really easy to pull all your pictures off for cleaning and then put them right back on.

When I created this arrangement, I laid them out on the floor and figured out how I would want them to look on the wall. Then, I took a picture of the floor arrangement with my digital camera. After that, I stuck both pieces of the velcro hangers on the backs of all of the frames. I then placed the frames on the wall (starting from the center and working out) by referencing the thumbnail-size picture on my camera. In less than 10 mintues, I had a cute, well spaced arrangement on my wall and I didn’t use a nail, measuring tape or level. Better yet, when I get sick of it or when I need to add new pictures, I can easily rearrange the pictures without any damage to my wall. Just thought I’d pass it on.

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 for each of my daughter’s usual activities and color coded the titles for easy sorting. Under each day, 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, afterschool activity, etc.). I added a few extra dots of velcro down the right side to store the unused icons.

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. As a side note, she’ll also use this chart to help her know what clothes to put in her clothes organizer that I posted last week. For example, on p.e. days she knows she can’t pick a skirt and on brownie scout days she’ll add her vest to the outfit for that day.

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.  You can find the free file downloads below.

It breaks down the normal clean up into the most common tasks (make your bed, pick up toys, pick up books, etc.) The chart has two columns, To Do and Done. When we go in to the room, I have them pull off all the jobs (they’re velcroed on to a piece of laminated cardstock). Then we look at the room and figure out which of the jobs need to go in the To Do column and which can go in the Done column. They place the To Do jobs in the order that they think will be the easiest. Then they get to work. When they finish the first job, they move it to the done column and then move on to the next To Do. When their To Do list is empty, they come and get me for a final check.

It’s also really handy to use throughout the week. If I notice a big mess in their room, I’ll shift a couple of the jobs over to the To Do column. Whenever they want to do something special like earn TV time or computer time, I ask them if they’re To Do column is clear. If it’s not, they know just what to do to take care of it…without my interaction.

The best advantage of this chart is that my kids can now do this mostly on their own. They’ve figured out that if they can break a job down into tiny pieces, they can do a lot more without help. This chart just provides the tools they need to do just that…no nagging required. Just thought I’d pass it on.  You can find the free file downloads for this chart below.  Both the boy chart and the girl chart are included in the file.

Download: Kids Room Cleaning Chart Base
Download: Kids Room Cleaning Chart Icons