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. 

 

It’s hard to put away clothes when the drawers and closet are jammed full.

 

It’s hard to be organized when you have no extra space for craft supplies or games.

 

It’s hard to be organized when there is just too much stuff!

 

Help your kids be organized by setting aside two times a year to declutter.  These two times must coincide with your child’s birthday and the holidays (especially if these are both in December.)  When you work together on organizing, you are teaching a skill that needs practice.  You are creating a baseline and setting limits.  It’s getting a fresh start for organizing.   Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever with your kids.

 

Check out all the tips for Your Most Organized Year Ever on pinterest.

 

Join my newsletter for monthly tips to keep you on track all year.

 

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. 

 

Do you have the same “conversation” with your kids about organizing their rooms each week?

 

A peek in your kids rooms shows clothes on the floor and trash everywhere?

 

Your kids may be overwhelmed and confused by your asking them to organize their room. They may not know where to start or what’s most important.  Organizing is a skill that requires prioritizing and decision making.  Just like in school or sports, organizing skills take practice and repetition for success.  Help your kids learn these skills by helping decide on what is a treasure.  Keep these items in a box, drawer or bin.  Acknowledging the treasures first puts organizing decision making in a new perspective.  By coaching your kids through their organizing you are connecting with them too. Make this Your Most Organized Year Ever by helping your kids distinguish trash and treasures.

 

Need ideas to organize your kids’ rooms?  Look here! 

 

Check out my monthly newsletter for resources and upcoming speaking gigs.

4 Tips for Family Organizing

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family organizing tips

 

Each fall families get back to the business of running their families.  School and activities start, family’s get back into routines and there’s lots of information to keep together.  It can be overwhelming with lots of information in different formats and different locations.  There are many ways to pull this information together for communication and cohesiveness.  Check out these 4 tips for family organizing.

Family meetings and Family calendar

The Family meeting, with everyone sitting together with their calendars and the monthly family calendar, makes for great communication.  It’s a once a week get together where everyone shares.

  • One of my family clients has two extra large dry erase peel and stick boards on a big wall adjacent to the kitchen.  Everyone adds information all the time. Each person has a different color.  It’s the one thing this family consistently keeps up to date. These calendars make up one piece of a command center.
  • Another family client has a very large paper calendar and all dates are written in pencil.
  • Google calendar is a great option for families on the go! It helps you color code, consolidate and keep everyone up to date all the time.

 

dry erase peel and stick calendar

 

month at a glance

Family dinner

I recently saw a parody of the family dinner.  It had been so long since the family ate together at the dinner table that there was no seat for the third child!  If that’s true at your home, you might be interested in The Family Dinner project. Family dinner is an important time for laughter, chatter and fun.  Spending time together this way nurtures us all.  We know time can be a troubling challenge for dinner prep.  It can be a little bumpy getting everyone on the same time line.  But even if dinner together is just once a week, that is a great first step.

  • Plan on big breakfast, big lunch or early dinner on a Sunday to get everyone together. There may be fewer activities going on.
  • Create a dinner grid with your family. It’s easy meals that family member’s can partner to prepare.   No one should be left in the kitchen alone. Everyone shares getting dishes done and lunches ready in the evening.
  • Share the responsibility of grocery shopping. Write the list on a pad on the refrigerator, snap a picture with your smart phone and text it to whoever is driving home from work.

Family homework and activity grid

It’s hard to consolidate all the information about your kids’ homework and activities.  A client shared her solution with me ~ the family homework and activity grid.  She visited all the online sites for her kids’ teachers and activities and created a grid with kids’ and parents’ names on top and days of the week on the side.  In each square are listed school and after school related activities. Ongoing homework, such as daily reading, weekly vocabulary and online quizzes, is listed in the appropriate day.  Posting this chart will help her family keep up on all that teacher’s require.   family homework and activity grid

Family technology

There’s are so many new tech ideas that help us as families!

  • Cozi  helps you manage the chaos of family life with a shared calendar, shopping lists, to do lists and more. Cozi keeps track of everything from school schedules and sports activities to grocery lists, meals and chores — all in one place the whole family can access anytime, anywhere.
  • Google calendar and Google docs are great online ways to keep up to date in real time. Google docs is a shareable document space.
  • 30Boxes has a family calendar and interactive to do list.
  • Fircle allows you to share an online calendar with your spouse at work, print shopping lists that will remind you when you’re running low on specific groceries, manage your children’s allowance and household chores and much more.
  • HomeZada is a home management software.  It doesn’t have a family calendar component, but it does have home management, home maintenance, home finances and a home inventory.

 

Have a strategy that works well for your family organizing? Share it here and help us all get better organized!

 

Family organizing tips are just part of the information shared each month on my newsletter.  Join here!

 

 

Back To School Beyond the Basics Seminar

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Back to School

Back to School 

Beyond the Basics

It’s Time for a Fresh Start to a New School Year!

 

 Go beyond basics… learn different approaches, using innovative tools and apps,
all designed to help your student succeed.

 

Sunday, August 24, 2014

OR

Thursday, September 23, 2014



$19.95

 

Register here!

 

 

Quick Start Back to School Routines

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back to school routines

Your kids just got out of school and it is already time for Back To School.  It’s hard to get started, so I have created this series Quick Start Back to School to get everyone going!   The next post is about Back To School routines.

 

For many families the thought of Back to School routines strikes a negative chord.  For some families, they welcome back the thought of getting back into the structure of the school year.

 

Adding just a few times for routines makes a difference for all families.

 

Bedtime routines

 

Starting a week before school starts, inch back bedtime to just 3o minutes before school time bedtime.  Creating a consistent bedtime helps everyone get a better night’s sleep.  Start extra early to allow for conversation.  It may not be dark yet, so adding a soothing sound can help too.

 

Once school starts, have a routine that includes bath, reading and bed.  Eliminate all blue light devices at least an hour before bedtime.

 

Parents need a bedtime too during the school year. Be realistic about the amount of sleep you need.  Sleep procrastination for parents can be a real problem!

 

Homework routines

 

Homework should have a start and finish time.  Once your kids hit the door, have a snack and start by 4pm.  The early start means homework ends before dinner.  Use a timer to get your kids started and work in 15 or 20 minute intervals, with 5 minute breaks (known as the Pomodoro Technique) for best focus.

 

Homework ends when everything is tucked back in the backpack and by the landing strip.  This spot can be at the entry where you head to the car.  Your purse, laptop and any other items should be ready to go in the morning too.

 

Other family routines

 

Family meeting time is an important communication and team building time. It’s when everyone posts to the family calendar, talks about upcoming events and shares time together.  Be sure to decide when you will meet and you will truly be amazed at the benefits.

 

Grocery shopping makes it easier to prepare family meals, healthy snacks and lunches for school.  Set a weekly time to shop and decide on how you will create your list. A magnetic list is great and so is the app GroceryIQ.

 

If your family is struggling, create a check list on a dry erase board to help them keep on top of their responsibilities and routines.

 

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Quick Start Back to School Healthy Meals

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quick start back to school healthy meals

Your kids just got out of school and it is already time for Back To School.  It’s hard to get started, so I have created this series Quick Start Back to School to get everyone going!   The next post is about Back To School healthy meals and snacks. 

Back to school is the time when healthy meals and snacks for our family are most important.  We want everyone to feel energized and focused as they get back into the school groove.  There are lots of glitches in getting healthy meals on the table, but streamlining and simplifying make dinner time easier.

 

 

Snack, dinner, and lunch ideas

Often we get stuck at the first step – that being what to make! We feel overwhelmed by choices, by complicated recipes, too many different tastes in our family and by a lack of prep time.

  • Poll your family first.  They know what they like.   No need to reinvent the wheel.  Simplifying with consistency.
  • Use lists.  It’s easier than pulling ideas from your head.  Post the list where you and your family can see it.  The list can be a weekly, Monday – Friday list of dinner ideas.  It can also be a list with days of the week assigned to a category, like Monday is breakfast for dinner, and Tuesday is Italian night.  It can also be a list of what’s already in your freezer, such as proteins and veggies.
  • Allow for options for picky eaters. If one child only eats hot dogs, keep a quantity on hand.
  • Gather ideas by looking online at pinterest.  It’s a fun way to try easy new recipes with lots of basic instructions.

 

 

Preparation

We never seem to have enough time.  Planning in prep time and grocery shopping make it easier.  Having a day of the week that is grocery day helps you save time and energy all week, rather than running out at the last minute for milk or eating out.  Even if you shop twice a week, you are planning better!

  • Include kids in prepping food.  It’s more fun with everyone in the kitchen together.  If your kids are younger, ask them to set the table or empty the silverware in the dishwasher.  All kids love to help when food is around.
  • Prep lunches the night before to avoid the morning scramble.  It’s easy with lunch boxes ready to go.  Have your kids help with this too.
  • Work in bulk.  When prepping for lunch, double up your recipe and bag it up. Set aside one shelf in your refrigerator for lunches.

 

Reap the rewards

Over and over I see the value of family dinner. If your schedule does not permit it nightly, plan on one night a week.  Your family fun quotient will go sky high!

 

 

Not sure what to make for dinner?  Ideas for dinner on my Dinner’s Ready pinterest board.

 

 

Back to school for you too! Join my newsletter to get more ideas on organizing and productivity once a month.

Quick Start Back to School: Back to School Supplies

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organizing school supplies

 

Your kids just got out of school and it is already time for Back To School.  It’s hard to get started, so I have created this series Quick Start Back to School to get everyone going!   The first post is about Back To School Supplies.

 

Back to school and it’s all about back to school supplies! Every year your kids bring home unused school supplies at the end of the school year. The sales for supplies start in mid July.   Maybe your supplies are in many different spots in your home.  Quick Start Back to School by first organizing your school supplies.

 

Choose a central location for office and back to school supplies.

  • It should be easy to access for everyone.
  • It should have shelves or drawers to help store different categories of supplies.
  • It’s one stop shopping at your home this way.

 

Gather  and sort your supplies.

  • Keep paper together, writing supplies together, notebooks and dividers together.
  • Use plastic bins (shoe box and sweater box size) to corral each group.
  • Overloaded with supplies?  Donate to local charities having school supply drives.
  • Label bins and place on shelves or in drawers.  Label the outside of the storage area.

 

Organizing school supplies

Itemize your back to school supply needs.

  • Find online resources for school supply lists on your district website.
  • Compare your list with your existing supplies.
  • Use a smart phone app to compare prices at stores.
  • Go shopping.

 

Set up your supplies.

  • Stock backpacks with supplies.
  • Set up your homework station.
  • Consolidate remaining supplies in your new station.

 

Check the ads and be prepared with your list! Quick Start School Supplies gets you up and running for this school year.

 

What’s your best tip for school supply organizing?

 

Check out my pinterest Student Success board.

 

Organizing saves you time, money and energy! Join my monthly newsletter and get a boost!

 

 

Best Family Apps for Home, Work, School and Life

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best family apps

 

Our smart phones  and tablets can help us stay organized and be productive.  Some of the best family apps help us do things from deposit a check to find out when a flight arrives.  Many are free or cost a dollar or two.  Taking advantage of an app to expedite a task, get a task done more easily or even make a task more fun is a reason to find your family’s best family apps.

We all have our favorites for different reasons.  Here are a few of mine by category.

Family life

  • Your bank app – easy access to your accounts
  • Kindle or Nook app – reading while you wait
  • Evernote – task lists, client lists, family lists
  • Local TV station app –  weather, traffic and local news

 

Work life

  • Dropbox – access documents to review
  • Evernote – to read or review clipped articles
  • GeniusScan – scans a document and creates pdf files
  • Your bank app – make deposits and verify account amounts

 

 

Kids

  • Please add your favorites below!

For kids, I am a big believer in low level technology use. However, there are lots of awesome apps for learning too!

 

Seniors

 

Join me on High Tech and Technically Organized for more tech organizing ideas.

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Home Organizing: Organizing A to Z

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home organizing a to z

“In every job there must be done, there is an element of fun.

You find the fun and  ~ snap ~ the job’s a game!”

~ Mary Poppins

 

 

Have a little organizing fun this summer with your family.  Our A- Z organizing days are little projects everyone can work on together to have a more organized home.  Set aside 30 minutes at a time to declutter and organize these spaces.  Just a little time spent makes a big difference!

 

A – automobile
B – books
C – cleaning supplies
D – desk area
E – extra school supplies
F – freezer
G – garage
H – home office
I – inventory of the medicine cabinet
J – junk drawer in the kitchen
K – kitchen essentials (trash bags, ziploc bags, foil)
L – linen closet
M – magazines and catalogs
N – napkins and paper goods
O – office supplies
P – pet supplies
Q – quick catch up on a day you missed!
R – refrigerator, recipes
S – sports equipment
T –  tools
U – utility room
V – videos, movies, games
W – wrapping paper & gift bags
X – exercise clothes
Y – yard
Z – zip into your purse too!

 

More ideas on organizing your home on my pinterest board Home Sweet Organized Home

How do you make a job more fun?

 

Summer Organizing: On the go with or without kids (Part 2)

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family organizing

Summer is around the corner! The fun of summer is our let it go attitude and our free spirit spontaneity. A little organization goes a long way to help summer fun.

1. Each child needs a specific bag for each activity they are involved in. The bag needs to be the right size to hold what is needed for that activity, but not so big they start putting a lot of extra stuff in it. There needs to be a specific place in the house where these are kept. (destination station)
2. Often-used items need duplicates. (like keep a small pair of scissors in the van)
3. Prepare a ziplock bag for each child with an emergency outfit in it. (Even older children get muddy socks or spill juice or something.) Keep in the vehicle.
4. Stock your vehicle with ziplock bag kits such as: stuff for fixing hair; sunscreen and lip balms; first aid; snacks; teeth-brushing stuff.
5. Prepare a little tub for the trunk with picnic-type supplies such as paper towels, napkins, spoons, small paper plates. So many times, we could then hit a grocery store for some healthier snacks, and saved by not doing fast food.
6. Sunglasses: For our family, it only worked to get inexpensive ones and keep duplicates. The best thing I did for myself (since I wear glasses) was to get the transition lenses so I don’t need sunglasses.

Linda B, mom of 4

As a schoolteacher, I enjoy having summers off! Even with increased flexibility in my schedule, it helps to plan for these summer months. Here’s how I do it:

I sit down with family members and compare summer calendars. Everyone has with flight/travel information, birthday plans and more!

I try to keep summer items in the back of the car so I’m ready for any swimming pool or beach days (sunscreen, towels, bathing suit, extra flip flops)!

I use summer as a time to reorganize at home. I always tackle my desk and shred old papers. I also go through all the clothes and shoes in my closet and donate to Goodwill.

I don’t over plan the summer. I like to leave some open days to fill in as the summer goes on!

Laura S.

 

Technology helps me keep it together “on the go”. We always hear that we are tethered to our devices, but actually devices help me NOT be tethered to my desk! Apps like “evernote” and “drop box” help me keep what I need at my fingertips. I use the calendar, alerts and alarms to let me tune into work as needed rather than 9-5. It even helps me get moving by tracking my steps and fitness. Adapting my phone to support a lifestyle that is always on the go has helped RELAX and UNTETHER from work more. I can go have fun knowing I can check in if needed remotely.

Leslie M.