Decluttering with your kids

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decluttering with your kids

Summer is the best time to partner with your kids in decluttering your home.  You have a little more time during the week without the pace of school.  Your kids need a little something more to do around the house.  Most especially we all need an annual time to declutter what has built up throughout the year.  There are many philosophies on decluttering with your kids.  All have merit.  It’s time to think about what works best in your family.

Working alongside your kids

 

Many of us as kids were just sent to our room to “clean up.”  It might have been a frustrating experience. Where do we start? What does our room need to look like in the end?  What do we do with all our stuff?  Work alongside your kids to get their rooms organized.  Start with trash.  There’s a lot of it!  Trash includes anything broken, stained or unusable.  Coach your child through categories.  It can be general, like toys, clothes and media.  Then work through sub categories, like XBox and Wii, Barbies and Barbie clothes, or vehicles and animals.  Start to pare down once everything is grouped together. It’s much easier to let go of stuff if you know what you have.  Keep working steadily with your kids until they start disengaging.  It’s good for you to continue without then at this point and work until the space is complete.  By working together, your kids will learn the organizing process, learn to simplify and learn that less is more!

 

Working without your kids

 

Sometimes kids’ spaces are too overwhelming for them to be a part of the organizing process. As the parent,  you know there need to be changes.  Go ahead and organize their space without them.  It will be a blessing to them that you are working at organizing.  You can delete toys and place  these in black garbage bags in the garage to be sure you have not eliminated a precious item.  Start by grouping items together, then deleting what is excessive.  Create spots to store the items so that your kids can easily access them and label each spot.  Your kids will need a “tour” of the space and some reminders on how to stay organized.

 

 Kid keepsakes

 

Most kids have school and other papers in their space. It’s best to have a keepsake box for them. It’s a place to stash what they think is precious for their keepsakes.  If your child is an artist, think of a display area for their work.  Many parents are using clothespin lines for art display.  If your child creates lego structures, think of adding ledge shelving for display.  Honoring your kids’ keepsakes is another way of connecting with them.

 

Other decluttering tips:

 

  • Your children can share their blessings by decluttering before a birthday or holiday. Encourage your children to donate to local philanthropies that are important to your family, such as a women’s shelter or relief fund.
  • Sell the items online or at consignment and have them also learn about money.  Go through your children’s clothes at summer and winter intervals to be sure only what fits is in the drawers or closet.
  • If you store clothes for the next sibling, keep these in uniform, labeled containers with the size, season and gender on the outside of the container.
  • If your children are not ready to part with certain toys, the toys can “go on vacation” on an upper shelf or other storage area to be brought out later.  Expect to work together for 30 minutes, and then finish up.

 

Great kid storage options

 

IKEA small bins

IKEA small bins

 

 

Kids keepsake boxes

Kids keepsake boxes

 

 

toy organizing

Container Store busy boxes

 

 

More organizing ideas for busy parents here!

8 Routines of Organized Families

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8 routines of organized families

 

Family routines make family life run smoothly.  It’s no secret there are lots of reasons to be an organized family.  It’s these 8 routines that make a difference and help your family be THAT organized family.

 

1.  Family meetings help everyone communicate, work together and know what is needed.

2.  Grocery shop on the same day or days each week. Never run out of milk, bread or other essentials.

3.  Your family calendar can be paper or digital.

4.  Completing laundry twice a week means everyone can find their jeans and underwear all the time.

5.  Have a landing strip where kids backpacks and your bags sit ready to go each morning.

6. Have a spot your mail comes to each day, open it over the recycling container and shred right away.

7. It could be just once a week, but having family dinner together makes for cohesiveness.

8.  Everyone needs a good bedtime.

 

 

Organized families keep up with habits and routines with charts, check lists and signs.  Organized families make time for organizing and prioritize working together to organize.  Organized families know the value of organizing.

 

More ideas for busy parents here!

 

 

 

Best Mother’s Day Gifts (What Mom Really Wants)

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Mother's Day

Give Mom the gift she wants most.   Moms don’t want expensive jewelry, a new Dyson vacuum cleaner, fancy perfumes or other stuff.  What they really want is help around the house.  There are lots of small ways to give these gifts to your mom this week for Mother’s Day or throughout the year. What’s the best Mother’s Day gifts?  It’s the gift of service and appreciation.

 

Give the gift of dinner.

Mom could use some help grocery shopping.  Use the OurGroceries app to share the grocery list or simply take a photo of the list on the refrigerator.   Make dinner for Mother’s Day and add in a once a week drop off. Make a weekly date to head to the grocery store with Mom including a latte and laughter.

 

Give the gift of extra hands and help

Moms are often left alone to do dishes, laundry and house cleaning.  In most families individuals do their own laundry.  Give mom the gift of help by not only doing your laundry, but doing other family members laundry. It’s not only putting it in the washer and dryer, but putting it away in the drawers or hanging. Moms love to see your and their own clothes neatly hung and folded.  Work together as a team and chat with Mom while partnering to do the dishes, load or unload the dishwasher, or do a little cleaning around the house.

 

Give the gift of serenity.

Most moms don’t like to nag every day about putting your things away. Give mom the gift of serenity by having a nightly reset time to things are put away. Your reset can include picking up around the house, getting ready for the next day, charging your technology in a common space, or picking out clothes for tomorrow.  Prevent nagging by setting the alarm on your phone to remind you to do this responsibility.

 

Give the gift of appreciation.

Moms love to know that they are appreciated.  A simple text, phone call or card on Mother’s Day and any other day of the year makes a Mom’s day! Moms put a lot of energy into their work.  It’s not always  acknowledged.  Your mom will know she made a difference with a small note of appreciation.  It’s powerful for your mom to hear, “yes, you’re right Mom!”

 

I wish all the moms, aunties, stepmoms and other non-Moms a fabulous Mother’s Day!

Organizing your Aging Parents

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aging parents

 

Suddenly the roles are reversed for you and your parents.  They need your help with their mail, paper work and medical care.  It can be a difficult and emotional time too as you as your family find new ways to support each other.  Your aging parents need your patience, help and support in ways you may not have imagined.

 

As with all transitions, having a family meeting is a great first step.  Learn from your parents what is most difficult for them.  Learn their wishes on how to get started transitioning what must be done.  If possible, sit with them while you get started on the tasks.  Their input shows your respect for them.  They may be resistant to ask for or use your help or those around them.   Start with small steps and work together.

 

 

Legal and other documents

Start with their important papers.  Just like for your own family,  you want to keep a copy  too of your parents’ papers.  Your parents will need a durable power of attorney if you want to help them with financial decisions.  A living will helps them share their wishes for medical treatment.

 

 

Medical needs

A first step for meeting your parents medical needs is a list of doctors and prescriptions.  You will also need their medicare, secondary benefits and prescription benefits numbers as well.  A complete medical history will help when emergencies arise.

 

Once you type these lists,  you can print them, save them to Evernote or Dropbox, or take a picture of this  list with your smart phone.  It’s best to have these with you at all times.

 

One of my clients created lists that included the pictures of each doctor.  It was easy for all family to take his parents to see the doctor and recognize that person.

 

Financial assistance

You may want to ask your parents if they would like help with bill paying and money matters.  You can be added to their checking account to be able to pay bills online for them.  Be sure to have a record of all account numbers, banks, and financial advisors just in case these are needed later.

 

Passwords and other details

Not always thought of, but very important, are passwords and other account access information.  You can help them by creating a password book using an address book. That way all the passwords are kept together for them.

 

A list including their insurance information, credit card accounts and other account numbers helps you when you need to contact vendors.  Your list should include a contact number and website.

 

Resources

Getting started may be the hardest part.  Here are some resources to review.

 Life.doc binder

Suze Orman system

Federal and National Elder Care Organizations

 

 

 

 

 

Your Most Organized Year Ever

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

 

Getting a good night’s sleep is critical to everyone, including parents, singletons, grandparents, and kids.  This is especially true in the ADHD home.

 

Why are we bedtime procrastinators? 

 

Setting yourself up for a good night’s rest

  • Get ready for bed way ahead.  When you are in your jammies with your teeth brushed, you are more likely to get in bed at  your designated bedtime.
  • Set the mood for sleep in your bedroom. No paper clutter, your clothes folded, your room cool and your room dark.  You can set up a great space for sleeping this way.
  • Calculate your bedtime for 8 hours of sleep. Get in bed 30 minutes before.  Have the same bedtime nightly.

 

Set your family up for a good night’s rest

  • Eliminate blue light from e-readers, phones or other tech equipment with a central family charging space.
  • Start early with baths and tuck in time to have a relaxing bedtime ritual.
  • According to a National Sleep Foundation (NSF) survey, only 20% of adolescents get the recommended nine hours of sleep per night on school nights. The NSF recommends that children ages 3 to 5 need 11 to 13 hours; ages 5 to 10 need 10 to 11 hours; ages 10 to 17 need 8.5. to 9.5 hours; ages 18 and above need 7 to 9 hours.

 

Sleep helps our productivity and efficiency.  A productive day starts the night before.  Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever with everyone having a good night’s rest.

 

Check out my pinterest page for Family Manager. 

 

Organizing for Couples

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couples organizing

 

 

We never marry our organizing soul mate.  It’s like opposites attract for organizing. One partner is all about minimalism and one is about consumerism.  One partner has ODC and one partner has ADHD.  One partner loves getting organized and one is cluttered with paper.  Clutter causes a LOT of stress in relationships and about one third of us avoid going home to our clutter.  It can cause the end of relationships too.  Organizing as a couple makes a difference in your every day life and your relationship with your partner.  Organizing for couples can make each day happier.

 

It’s all about respect.

  • Refer to your partner’s belongings with a respectful tone and with respect to the stuff.
  • We all have something that is special to us.  Every one of us has prize possessions.
  • Respect is the bottom line for all relationships that work.

 

Being organized looks like many many different things to many different people. But we can come together when we recognize how important it is to respect each other.

  • Talk through difference in organizing by coaching each other.
  • Use a respectful tone referring to each other’s belongings.
  • Acknowledge the different backgrounds we all come from to create order in our lives.

 

Collaborate about your goals about organizing, timeliness and paper management.

  • Take time each week to talk about being organized.  Start with baby steps.
  • Support each other in creating order in your home by partnering on tasks and responsibilities.
  • Set standards and create charts that help everyone stay connected about their goals.

 

Make action happen

  • Be specific about work habits. Specify what tasks will be done when and what “done” looks like.
  • Work together each day on getting items back to where they belong. Have time together to get this done.
  • Acknowledge successes.  Successes create bigger successes.
  • Start with your own organizing. Start with your closet, timeliness or other spaces. Help you partner enjoy less stress by seeing your stress being less.

 

It’s not easy but couples working together for organizing success create happy relationships.  Be the model for your partner by starting first with your clutter, then helping them.  Organizing for couples is hard, but yields great reward.

 

Join my newsletter to get a boost of organizing and productivity.

 

 

Your Most Organized Year Ever

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most organized year ever

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

 

 

No one should be left alone in the kitchen after dinner to clean up.

 

It’s not just Mom or Dad’s job to pick up the house.

 

Does it seem easier to do all the work around house rather than ask for help?

 

The first step for working as a family team is to coordinate your efforts.  Start by partnering up with your family, assigning two people to work together to get things done.  It can be during dinner time when two people cook and two people clean up.  It can be a mass effort when everyone picks up for 5 minutes after dinner to get the house straightened up.  Think about how quickly a task can be done when there are lots of people getting it done.

 

How do you get your family on board? Does your family know they are a team?  What does a team do to work together?  It’s all in the conversations you have with your family to share expectations.  When you are modeling how to work as a team is when it has the most impact.  Above all acknowledge and generously praise each person’s contribution in the team.  It definitely takes more effort to bring your team together, but it is worth the effort.   Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever by working as a family team.

 

 

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

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Most Organized Year Ever

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

Families have a lot going on! There are dates for school, dates for church and dates for volunteering.  It’s too much to keep in our heads.  How do we track all this information?

 

Your family calendar creates communication, coordination and cohesiveness.    It’s one place you see all the information together.  Your family works as a team to be sure you are arriving on time as well as prioritizing which activities you are attending.  It gives everyone a starting point to communicate about priorities.

 

Is it wise to keep two calendars, your own and your family calendar?  Coordination is required.  For the parents, it’s important to have all the dates in one place. For the kids, it’s important for them to track and see their own responsibilities.  This redundancy can help remind everyone about upcoming activities and be sure your schedule runs smoothly.  Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever with your family calendar.

 

More ideas on family communication stations here!

 

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

 

 

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

So many papers! So many dates! So much to coordinate!

 

Your family meeting is the key to cooperation, communication and organization.  Each week host your meeting to share what’s coming up this week, gather information on what’s needed and coordinate schedules.  Everyone should bring their own planner to fill in.  There should be a family calendar to complete too. Display that in the kitchen where everyone sees it.  Your family calendar can be a google calendar printed out or a big month at a glance paper calendar.  It’s in seeing your monthly events that everyone stays on track.

 

There are three tricks to success for your meeting. Set your meeting at a time that is good for your family.  Keep it short so everyone stays on track.  End it with fun activity. That can include making ice cream sundaes, going on a bike ride, or watching a family movie.  Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever with your family meeting.

 

Check out more family manager ideas here on Pinterest.

 

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Your Most Organized Year Ever

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your most organized year ever

Each year as we start the new year, we think of ways to make a change and improve our lives.  Did you know that organizing is one of the top three goals each year?  Throughout the month of January, I will be offering 31 tips to help you have Your Most Organized Year Ever.  Implement just one of these tips, tools, techniques or tweaks this year. 

 

Everyone in your family may have a different idea of how to do a job at home.  You think laundry is complete when all the clothes are put away. Your family thinks the laundry is done when everything is out of the dryer.  You think the kitchen cleanup is done when all the crumbs have been swept up. Your family thinks the kitchen is clean when all the dishes are removed to the sink.

 

Having standards for organizing helps everyone.  It keeps communication positive. It eliminates frustration.  Everyone is on the same page and working toward the same goals.

 

Not all chores require setting standards, but it’s easy to know which ones will.

 

Be sure to assign chores too.  When everyone knows their responsibilities and it is tracked on a chart, chores are more likely to be completed reliably.  Switch things up regularly so everyone can have a chance to do chores they hate and chores they hate less.

 

Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever with family standards.

 

Check out more ideas for family managing on my pinterest board.