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OT: organizational triumphs that you have.
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Ok Here it is! I have had areas that work for me. I have areas that don’t. I will list a few of my really great ideas that helped me overcome clutter areas in my life. I am hoping some of you if not everyone will add things that have helped or areas you really need help in. Maybe we can all get some great ideas that will help us with organizing. I know that we can all use this. If you don’t then please reply and tell us exactly what you do so we can all glean from your organizational wisdom.
The few things that seemed to work great that I found were putting all of my DVD’s in a large leather binder that holds about 300 DVD’s. I have a seperate smaller one for music. and another for educational games. I also put some of the covers in the slots so I know where the movies go. If there was more things I wanted to keep they fit in the slot that is in the front and back of the binder. Each page holds 8 DVD’s. What to do with all of those extra cases??? I donate them to the public library. They are happy to get them. I also donate our magazines. They put them out there for others to read and take. They never have a problem with people taking them or donating them. Even old craft magazines. They even take old puzzles. Senior centers are a great place to drop those also. I donate my extra plastic and brown bags to the senior center too. For meals on wheels.
Another thing I felt was an obstical was my childrens clothing. I use to wash and take it upstairs and put it in their drawers. My one son would dig and dig to find what he wanted to wear. He would take everything out of the dresser and it would be on the floor with the dirty clothes. I couldn’t take it any longer so I thought Why let it leave the laundry room? So, at first I had to put a lock on a large plastic closet. I only had to keep it on there for about 3 weeks (give or take) This showed him that he was only to get dressed once a day. He was at that age where they put on clothes all day. Anyway, this saved me time in the laundry room and bed room. Plus, everything was at hands reach if they got out of the tub. This saved my sanity several times. No more clothes on the floor. Unless it was socks from a night time drop. 🙂
Finished school papers I put in binders with the subjects and names on it. File cabinet for assignments going out and my books in a plastic drawer by the table. Workboxes for the kiddos.
These were all things that helped me. Hopefully, you may have some ideas that you came up with that downsized or helped with your kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, livingroom, diningroom pantry, closet, or extra space that you may want to share.
Thanks and blessings!
Great idea!
For organizing our school books and their coordinating supplies, I bought canvas bins at Target a couple of years ago. I then created labels for each box for the subject they were going to contain. So I have a box for History/Geography/Bible, and it contains all the resources we need for the entire year for those subjects. I have another box with Grammar/Personal Development/Literature, and it contains all the materials and books for those subjects. And so on… I really like this system because it keeps our current year’s books in one place and easy to find. The kids can also help with the organization since they know exactly where to put the books at the end of our school day. The canvas bins are all black, and I can either keep them on closet shelves or out on open shelves since they are pleasing to the eye.
I also feel like I have my kids’ responsibilities down pretty well. I created a responsibility list in Word. On one side of the list are the items I want them to do daily and in the order I want them completed:
When I wake up, I …
- do my devotional
- make my bed
- help with breakfast
- etc.
After school I will …
- complete my afternoon responsibilities
- pick up around the house
- etc.
After dinner I will …
- help clean the kitchen
- take a shower
- brush my teeth
- etc.
Then on the other side of the sheet, I have their chores broken up by day.
Monday:
- vacuum the kitchen
- empty bathroom trashcans
Tuesday:
- clean up the backyard
You get the idea…
I put these sheets under glass in an 8×10 frame and gave them each a dry erase marker. These hang in their rooms, and any time they don’t know what to do, all I have to tell them is to check their list. It keeps me from nagging and keeps them on top of what they need to do. I’ve shared this system with several friends, and they have all commented on how much it has helped curb the frustration of nagging kids to do chores and how it has helped develop the habit of not only keeping a schedule but also for the kids to not be asking constantly, “What am I supposed to do now?”
I’m pretty organized at meal planning, but I won’t bore anyone with my system.
Maybe I’ll think of more later, but ds needs the computer to type now!
I thought of another one!
For my pantry, I got rid of all the various bags of rice, beans, wheat berries, oats, etc., and invested in some pretty glass canisters. I waited until Hobby Lobby put their glass on 50% off, and then stocked up. I made cute labels for each canister, and I love walking into my pantry! Not only is the display lovely, but it’s a lot easier to scoop out of a canister than a bag and it makes keeping inventory of my pantry staples much easier. I did the same thing for my spices and bought glass spice jars at World Market. They were .99 each. World Market also sells labels for the jars, so I got those too. Now I save a ton of money because I am able to buy bulk spices in bags at the and refill my jars when they get low. It’s also very lovely to open my spice cabinets and see everything in uniform containers and labeled clearly.
We have a crate with inexpensive scripture sets everyone in the family uses for family scripture study. Our hymnals are here as well. The crate sits front and center in the living room on a 9 cube organizer that has diapers, board books, and baby toys. No one has to go looking for scriptures when we’re ready for family study.
We have one of those over the door shoe holders with around 20 pockets hanging on the inside of two doors in the house:
1 – the coat closet. Hubby puts his pocket stuff here, keys are here, and all the mittens, gloves, and hats for winter.
2 – the bathroom. We use pockets for razors (top row to keep from little ones), hair things, brushes, clips, glasses (again, top row), and all those bathroom things that could end up on a counter instead. This helps with our tiny bathroom!
We moved all dishes to the bottom cabinets so the kids can do all the loading and unloading of the dishwasher. We also switched to sturdy plastic dishes/cups years ago to avoid breaks.
I keep pencil boxes in a rubbermaid 7 drawer tower with the following items:
crayons
colored pencils
writing pencils
pens
glue sticks
The other drawers have scrap paper for kids, a stack of fun printed activity pages, and extra office supplies.
I love my label maker. For everything.
We also keep dishes in a low cabinet for littles to help with.
Also, extra bulk products like TP are in a low closet for littles to re-stock.
I taught my oldest two 12 and almost 9 to do laundry and they are responsible for all 4 kids laundry.
DVDs in binders with disc labeled A1 and the matching pocket labeled A1.
I keep a database on my computer of all of our books (5000+) and DVDs to make it easy for me to know what I have.
Color coded towels and washcloths help.
Each kid has a special Tervis tumbler with lid that they keep washed and use daily – no more dishwasher filled with cups.
Each child has 1 drawer for treasures of whatever variety. If full, then it’s time to empty some into the trash or re home them.
We love the shoe holder pockets too! I hung 4 of them on the railing in the kitchen (which is also our main entry way, since the door opens into the kitchen). They hold shoes, mittens, hats, sunglasses, etc.
I just finished reorganizing all our craft supplies and table activities (beads, felt board pieces, etc.) into clear plastic shoebox style bins. With lids! They were in an assortment of baskets, and larger bins. Then I added more shelves to the large bookcase we were already using (now there are 10 shelves!), with just enough space between them to hold the bins. No more wasted space, no stacking of bins, so things are easy to grab and easy to return. The clear plastic makes them easy to identify, especially for my non-readers. Now when they need something to occupy them during school, it’s so easy to switch activities. Now, I just wish I had bought more when they were on for a dollar last week! I thought 30 would be enough
but I’m finding uses for them all over the house!Lindsey – I would love it if you could PM me the word document of your chore chart? Or if you know of a similar something online? We struggle with being consistent in finishing the chores, and I find myself following them around in the morning saying, “Did you sweep? Why are your dirty clothes here…etc”.
These are all great ideas – hope to hear more!
@ServingwithJoy, just PMed you!
LIndsey, How big are those glass canisters? Or how much will they hold? Do they stack or do your shelves fit them just right? Are they round or square? I saw a really cute idea that had chalk board labels so you could erase the contents and put different contents on if you needed too. I myself have 5 gallon buckets with Euro-lids on them. This stores large bulk items. This is where I store my 25-50 lb bulk rice, flour, oats, ect… I also get bulk spices in bags. I store my bulk spices in those large plastic peanut containers. Love your planner idea too!
jmac17- love the craft shelf idea. I also use the over the door holder but only use it in my craft room. I couldn’t use it in my bathroom. the door wouldn’t shut. 🙁 I did put everything in a pretty basket but it recently got in the way so now it is ontop of my bin. It is out of the way but I am not very tall so I really have to reach to get it. I hope nothing falls out in the process. 🙂 We use a shoe rack in our fore’ It has 5 racks and holds all of our shoes. On top we have 3 basket in the colors of each child. This is where they put their hats, gloves, scarves, or anything that they need for outdoors. I would like to have a place to put my pocket stuff when we switch out clothes or purses/wallets ect… I think I will have to see if I can find one. My Dh and I share a decrative basket my sister in law gave us last year. It was a nice addition to our fore’ I also have coat racks for everyone but the ones I hung up were made of cheap metal and some have broken. So, I bought some hand made ones that were made out of horse shoes. I have to have the nails to hang them up so I haven’t done it yet. I decided that I will save them for our new house instead. That way I won’t have to pull them back down this fall. 🙂 They are nice and deep so the kids will be able to hang their snow pants ect… on just one hook. Then I won’t have to have a bunch for each kid.
SO glad to hear all of those great ideas. If you guys think of anything else while reading please share because these are really great ideas.
@chocodog, I keep my bulk oats, wheat berries, etc. in the 5-gallon buckets w/ Gamma seal lids. When the canister is empty, I refill it from my buckets. Much easier to haul around, you know? I have 3 sizes of canisters, but they are all the same style. Cylindrical w/ silver lids. The tallest ones probably hold 8 cups, medium ones 6 cups, and small ones 4 cups. I keep things I use most in the tallest ones: wheat berries, oats, beans. The things I don’t need so much of are kept in the smallest one: quinoa, shredded coconut, crispy walnuts. I know what type of chalkboard labels you’re talking about, and I think they would work on these…though, it might be a bit difficult to write on a rounded surface. If you live near a Hobby Lobby, go check out their glass aisle. I would never buy Mason jars from Hobby Lobby, as they’re much too expensive, but I think I paid $4-5 each for the tallest canisters and maybe $2-3 for the smallest ones. I like my spice jars because they have a lid that allows you to adjust the amount of spice coming out. These are exactly what I have: http://www.worldmarket.com/product/round+spice+jars%2C+set+of+4.do?camp=ppc:GooglePLA:none:goobase_filler&gclid=CMi-js2D7rQCFUqoPAodzRsAbw
World Market no longer carries the spice labels that I have, but here are a few ideas just in case you decide against the chalkboard ones:
http://www.worldmarket.com/product/spice-labels.do
These are the ones World Market used to carry, but now on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Round-Spice-Labels-Black-Clear/dp/B0046B564O/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1358378969&sr=8-3&keywords=spice+jar+labels+clear
They fit the spice jars I have perfectly, so I’d go with those if you get your spice jars from WM.
Well speaking of bulk spice storage… not a very pretty solution, but a cheap one, I reuse parmesan cheese shakers for storing my bulk spices. They hold a TON and even my tablespoon fits in the pour side of the flip top. They are the perfect gigantic spice jar. 🙂
This is not a cheap option, unless you can find a good deal. But I love my foyer table. I got it because I was tired of looking at a messy basket of kids items at the bottom of my steps, waiting to be taken up, put away, etc. Hubby and I have a drawer for car keys, wallet, sunglasses, etc. Kids have a drawer and cabinet for anything that they want to put away w/o running upstairs, or if I’m doing a quick pick-up and see a couple things I can just throw in their drawers. And the table top is a perfect place for our easel w/SCM picture portfolio prints:) Blessings, Gina
momto2blessings, your foyer table reminds me of the mudroom storage I’m planning if and when we build our own home. I’ve got all sorts of ideas for bins, hooks, shelves, and a long bench to connect it all! If only, if only…
Lindsey…I’ve seen some awesome units for this and would love it:) But when you enter from our garage, our laundry room is right near the door but is too small to put anything like that….thus the foyer table!
In our last home we custom built a HUGE mudroom with a bench, cubbies, drawers, etc. it was amazing! When we re-do our current kitchen, I’m making it smaller to allow us to make another mudroom. I made a very small one with premade bars of hooks, white board and key holder. It works, but I want BIG!
but I’m finding uses for them all over the house!
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