Family Organizing Archives - Page 10 of 27 - Ellen's Blog, Professional Organizing for Kingwood & Houston

Back to School: Organizing Your Kids Clothes

August 14, 2013/1 Comment/in Back to School, Family Organizing, Organizing Skills/by Ellen

It’s just a few weeks before school starts and your kids are still in shorts and tee shirts. The drawers in their rooms are overflowing with sizes ranging from too small to too big. And you have just returned from purchasing school clothes for this year. It’s clothes chaos! Follow these simple steps to get your kids clothes ready for back to school.

Set a side a two hour time block to work in each child’s space. Sort through all the clothes and keep only what fits in the drawers or closet. Keep the other sizes in bins marked by size, gender, and season. These can be stored in the attic and stacked. Mark the bins well, on the top, side and front, so you know what is what. Most of the time just you do the sorting, not the kids, just to expedite the process. Use a bin no larger than 66 quart just so you can easily move it once it is filled with clothes. Some people prefer to use space bags to store clothes under the kids’ beds too. Remember to keep only what is in prime condition. Yucky or torn clothes should be donated as rags.
Decide what access you want your kids to have to clothes. It’s easiest for them to dress themselves when they can easily reach what is acceptable school attire. Hang the party dresses, extra jackets or too short shorts in a less accessible spot. If you have just a long hang section in their closet, create a second hanging shelf with a double hang closet rod. Another great tool is the 6 shelf hanging system. It’s easy to see and access for everyone. If you use a dresser, be sure the drawers easily glide in and out for your kids to get in there easily.
Place the clothes in the best spots and then label the shelf or drawer. It is so much easier for everyone with labeling! Dad, Mom, kids, and helpers all know where the laundry goes when it is ready to put away.
Make laundry easy with a divided sorter. Slots can be darks, lights, towels or kids, adults, dry clean. Place the sorter where everyone can drop their clothes in easily.
As the seasons change, take an hour to remove and store the clothes you are keeping for the next child. Grab a bin and keep your clothes storage system up to date.
Have your kids lay their clothes out the night before. It eliminates one more thing to do in the morning. They can keep their jammies under their pillow and quickly get ready each day.

What ways do you make organizing your kids’ clothes easier?

Back to School: Organize your School Supplies

August 9, 2013/0 Comments/in Back to School, Family Organizing, Organizing products, Organizing Skills/by Ellen

Back to school sales are everywhere at this time of year. Most families have a large supply of items often spread out around the house. Organizing your supplies saves you money and time.

Get started by corralling all your supplies. Supplies may be hiding in various spots, including your kids’ rooms, the office or the kitchen. Gather these together to assess what you have. You may have a glut of lined paper and not even know.
Decide on a common location to house your supplies. The location should be easy access for your kids so they can check and see when they need something. Great spots to keep supplies are an office area, a secondary or storage off the kitchen. With a central location, you can also check throughout the year on what to purchase.
Your storage location dictates your organizing strategy and tools. Some ideas depending on your space include a 3 drawer sterilite bin, stacked shoebox bins, cute stacking boxes or a back of the door shoe organizer. Stock your kids’ back packs too including tools in one part of their backpacks or a zipper case.
Be sure to label each category so that everyone knows where to get and return the supplies.

Routines make Back To School So Easy!

August 6, 2013/0 Comments/in Back to School, Family Organizing, Organizing Skills, Productivity/by Ellen

Back to school so soon! Get in the Back to School Groove with these simple routines. This article is featured on Organize to Revitalize.

http://dallisonlee.com/blog/2013/08/05/get-in-the-back-to-school-groove/

Hugs and Happy Organizing Kitchen Command Center

July 29, 2013/0 Comments/in Family Organizing, Hugs and Happy Organizing, Organizing Skills/by Ellen

Kitchen work spaces and counters get cluttered with papers, toys, supplies and projects. Help yourself to some inner and outer calm by clearing the clutter in this space. Setting up your kitchen command center makes it easy to find what you need when you need it.

First distribute all the items to their proper homes. Have your kids be runners, set the kitchen timer, and play beat the clock. If you are the runner, separate everything into piles for each room first.
Create a slot for different categories of items you intend to keep at your work space. These categories include directories, cookbooks, school supplies, bills paying and any other task you want to do in this space. Remember the more tasks to do, the more that needs to be stored. Assign another spot as the family landing strip. Keeping this area sacred for the tasks to be done there keeps it clear.
Give yourself a weekly, one hour time to work in this area on papers. This keeps clutter from accumulating.
Be sure to include a nearby recycling or trash area.

Hugs and happy organizing!

Back to School Checklists

July 25, 2013/0 Comments/in ADD and ADHD, Family Organizing, Financial organizing, Organizing Skills, Time management/by Ellen

I love checklists! Back to school can be stressful and often we forget some of the most important, simple items. Here are a few sample back to school checklists to cover your back to school needs.

Real Simple Back to School Checklist

http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/family/kids-parenting/back-school-essentials-checklist-00000000000242/index.html

Mom Agenda Back to School Checklist

MomAgenda Back to School Checklist

http://www.momagenda.com/printable/back-to-school.pdf

Container Store Back to College Checklist

Container Store College Checklist

http://www.containerstore.com/pdf/college/checklist-2009.pdf

Professional-Organizer.com Back to School Checklist

https://professional-organizer.com/WordPress/tag/school-checklist/

Family Meetings: Communication and Cohesiveness

July 6, 2013/2 Comments/in Family Organizing/by Ellen

Make the Most of Your Family Meeting

Join me on Organize to Revitalize about 5 Ways to Make the Most of your Family Meeting.

You will be glad you did!

http://dallisonlee.com/blog/2013/07/01/5-ways-to-make-the-most-of-your-family-meeting/

Hugs and Happy Organizing! Teen Organizing

June 21, 2013/2 Comments/in Family Organizing, Hugs and Happy Organizing, Organizing Skills/by Ellen

Hugs and Happy Organizing posts are about client successes. Here you will find a happy organizing story about teen organizing.

Teens crave organization, but often are too busy to work through the challenges of creating systems and routines that work.

Offer an incentive and find what is important for your teen. Set a time to work together on the project that works for both you and them.
Together purge and eliminate items that are no longer useful or needed. Allow your teen the opportunity to let go of items, even if you are not comfortable with that.
Group items together that are used together, such as media, books, and supplies. Think of this as stations within the room.
With less items in the space, it is much easier to maintain. Help your teen establish times to get items back into order. Our kids are very busy but it is always important to get organized.

What ways have your helped your teen get organized?

Hugs and Happy Organizing: Organizing your Storage

June 18, 2013/1 Comment/in Family Organizing, Hugs and Happy Organizing, Organizing Skills/by Ellen

Hugs and Happy Organizing posts are about client successes. Here you will find a happy organizing story about storage.

If you are fortunate enough to have additional storage, you are truly blessed! Even storage can be in total disarray when we have too much.

Group items together that are alike. In storage that may be clothes, games, office supplies or furniture. Once gathered, decide what to keep and what to donate, sell or trash. Storage is usually filled with items that you have not made a decision about… so make a decision!
Take items away immediately. You won’t regret this.
Place the items on shelving depending on the access you need to the item. Frequently used items need to be near the door and easy to access. If you want your kids to access items, be sure these are low enough.
Label where the item goes so everyone knows where to put it back.

Hugs and happy organizing!

Summer Organizing for Families

June 14, 2013/1 Comment/in Family Organizing, Organizing Skills/by Ellen

Summer time is fun time! It’s the time we think about letting go of all the routines and the responsibilities and building lots of memories. However, summer fun is best when there is a little organization and preparation. With lots of fun scheduled for your family, you’ll want to get organized!

Family calendar

Family fun begins by knowing all the dates and commitments you and your family have this summer. Start by adding all the upcoming dates on a master month at a glance calendar. Host a family meeting so everyone can add their dates, including holidays, camps, vacations, vacation bible school, birthdays, Father’s Day and more. Be sure each family member has their one most important summer activity on the calendar. Once you see the dates, now its time to set dates to prepare and pack. It’s tempting to have back to back fun, but it can also create a lot of disorganization if your camp stuff is not gathered together or you feel frazzled when setting off on a trip. Make a list and set a time to pack, gather together what is needed, and finalize plans. It takes just a few minutes but is well worth your time. With each summer activity you will have less stress and more fun!

Family routines

Summer is a time to set simple routines in place. You and your kids can collaborate on technology limits, summer bedtimes and family chores. It can be a time to start new partnerships for responsibilities such as cooking, clean up, laundry and grocery shopping. Examples of easy routines include:

Lights out for everyone by 10:30 pm.
Each person does one load of laundry twice a week, including putting their laundry away.
Sunday night is family dinner night.
One hour of technology a day for everyone.
No one is left in the kitchen alone to clean up.

Be specific so everyone is on board with the routine. Establish deadlines so everyone knows when chores should be complete. Work together as a team on family responsibilities means chores get done quicker!

Family Organizing

Team work is a top priority for family organizing. Think about what needs to be done as a group and schedule a day and time for you to work together. Small projects broken down into baby steps is an easy way organize. Some of these projects include

Pantry organizing (toss what is expired, group like the grocery store or by breakfast, snacks, dinner)
Kids clothes organizing (donate what is too small, place one category of clothes in one drawer, then label the drawer.)
Toy organizing (one shelf or basket per toy, then label the basket)

A parent and one child can work on these together for an hour and feel a sense of accomplishment. If one hour is too long, set a timer for 20 minutes, three times, and you have accomplished your goal. Set up a reward at the end of your work time to congratulate your team on their successes!

What’s on your list for family fun this summer?

6 Summer Organizing Strategies

June 6, 2013/1 Comment/in Family Organizing, Organizing Skills, Time management/by Ellen

Summer time fun begins with being organized!

Gather your family together and get all the dates on your family calendar.

Be sure everyone is charged up to go! Keep all the technology charged in a public spot so everyone gets a great night’s rest.

Load up your ipod with summer tunes and your Nook, Kindle or ipad with great summer reads.

Add kid friendly books too to encourage summer reading.

Pack a summer bag for each activity and for extra car time for your kids.

Checklists for travel make packing easier too!

Set up a healthy, organized snack station with kid friendly stuff.

It will be easy for everyone to grab a snack whenever they want to and you will be sure you and your kids are keeping on track with fruits and hydration.

Keep a cooler for water in your car or in case you need to drop by the grocery.

Treat yourself to some fun summer flip flops as a reward for your organizing efforts.

Summer is more fun with preparation and organization.

What will you be organizing this summer?

Contact Details