You say you’re finding Barbie in the bathroom drawer and school permission slips under the microwave? Getting your house in order is easy if you take it one step at a time. And the kids can help. The stack of mail on the kitchen counter is silently nagging you every time you look at it. You’ve been meaning to take the kids’ outgrown clothes to that consignment shop. And you’re running around barefoot, looking for your favorite shoes, when – ouch! – you step on a Lego. Yep, it’s time to get organized. And it’s doable with our experts’ tips.
Start with small, well-defined tasks and don’t get sidetracked, suggests Kim Taylor, owner of The 25th Hour. If it’s a closet, just organize the closet, not the entire room. If it’s catching up on phone calls, make them all at once – and don’t start filing recipes or rearranging furniture half-way through the task. (Okay, that one felt way too close to home to me.)
Even young kids can help. Putting Legos in colorful plastic bins, for instance, is something a preschooler can do.
Check out these great tips from All Squared Away Organizing:
Stop keeping things “just in case”. Do you really need all those hair clips and those old issues of Woman’s Day? With the exception of certain seasonal or formal clothing, seasonal sports equipment, etc., if you haven’t used it in a year, you probably don’t need it.
Double up. Double-hanging closet rods quickly expand the available space for young children’s smaller clothes – and make them more reachable. Add hanging baskets and boxes for socks, hair accessories, etc. (The baskets make it easy for kids to help keep things neat.) Clear, plastic hanging shoe holders are great for holding accessories.
Grab your label maker. Large plastic containers with multiple pull-out drawers are inexpensive and great for storing loads of small toys and doo-dads. For younger kids, attach photos of dolls, Legos, etc. to the drawers to show where items belong. Grade-school-age kids love to help with the label maker too.
Create a ‘wall-of-fame’ bulletin board for kids’ artwork and stories. Every week, add new artwork and store favorite older pieces in a notebook with sheet protectors. Send the rest to family and friends. Kids can help address the envelopes.
Designate a ‘morning-launch-pad’ spot. Here’s where everyone places backpacks, keys, gym bags, outgoing mail, etc. It can be a large basket by the front door, a bench with a cubbyhole for each family member, etc.
Create an emergency station. The utility closet is a great place to store flashlights, candles, matches, batteries and a fire extinguisher. Keep the smaller supplies in a covered box and mount the fire extinguisher on the wall.
Too many toys? At the start of each new season, rotate younger children’s toys to keep them fresh and interesting. Donate gently-used clothes and toys to a donation centre or children’s shelter. Let your child help choose the items and help deliver them.
Create ‘kid-paper central’. Purchase a magnetic, vertical file holder with a section for each child. Attach it to the fridge and remind kids to put all school papers in their file each day. If space permits, different colored 9-X-12-inch “in” baskets on the kitchen counter work well too. In the summer, use the files for notices from camp, swim team or other kids’ programs.
Make bathroom sharing easier. Assign a favorite color for each child, and use colored baskets to separate combs, brushes, etc. This system works with everything from toothbrushes to towels.
Reduce morning bathroom traffic. Stagger wake-up and/or shower times and set up a separate area (with a small vanity table, mirror, etc.) in the bedroom for styling hair and applying make-up.
Color-code the family calendar. Choose a calendar with big squares and place it in a busy family area, like the kitchen. Attach different colored pens (one color for each family member) with string or dental floss. Each person can see their activities at a glance – and the family carpool organizer can see what each day’s schedule holds.
Save the date. Stash birthday party invitations, tickets for the school play and other date-related items in a tickler file by date or in a wall calendar containing a pocket for each month.
Switch to online bill paying. Many banks offer this service at no extra charge. You’ll save time, postage and headaches. And at tax time, you can print out a record of all deductible expenses. (We’ve been doing this for years now, and it’s a real time saver.)
Purge old files. Sorting through just 10 files per day makes this task manageable. Shred and recycle unneeded items. And don’t forget computer files. Just 15 minutes spent purging old computer files frees up valuable hard-drive space.
Invite the ‘house fairy’ into your home. This most-welcome guest leaves little thank-you notes for kids for a job well done and leaves behind everything from stickers or small treats (for younger kids) to notes telling older kids they’ve earned a movie or a music download. (Spouses might like to be visited by the house fairy too.)
Create family rewards. After spending the afternoon cleaning the garage, organizing closets or collecting toys for donation, your team deserves a reward. Take everyone for ice cream or watch a movie and snuggle on the couch. Don’t forget the popcorn!
Here are some terrific resources to help us tackle those Legos, that stack of mail, that pile of outgrown clothes and much more:
At www.flylady.net, professional organizer Marla Cilley knows what it’s like to suffer from CHAOS (Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome). She’ll take you – with her own brand of homespun humor – through the process of organizing and cleaning your home. She also has some fun organizing tools, including her book, Sink Reflections, available on her site.
Visit www.getorganizednow.com for great tips and to subscribe to professional organizer Maria Gracia’s free email newsletter. Gracia’s monthly checklists will help you stay on top of seasonal tasks around the house, such as putting up storm windows, cleaning gutters and getting the family car ready for hot- or cold-weather driving.
Kathy is a freelance writer, the mother of a teenage son and the owner of a soon-to-be-organized storage room. Visit her website at www.kathysena.com.
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