One thing I’ve learned as a professional organizer is that storage solutions in a home are generally not always permanent. Our lives are always in motion, our responsibilities and interests change over time and old ones are set aside. You’ll find that storage solutions and systems may need to be re-evaluated and allowed to evolve in order to better suit these changes in different seasons and stages of life.
Be on the lookout for ways to re-purpose the furniture and materials you stow items in/with so they are more suitable for the life you are living right now.
I always enjoy seeing how other people organize their belonging in real life, so, I thought I’d share an example of storage evolution that has taken place in our home/s over the years…
My husband and I inherited this simple hutch from my parents as newly weds about 11 years ago. (we were both fresh out of college with not much furniture.) I suppose you could consider it a family heirloom as it was hand made by my great uncle. It was a natural pine color that I eventually painted.
It’s been moved from one home to another many times over and has landed in several different types of rooms to suit the needs of our family for that particular season of life.
Our first year of marriage it was in an extra bedroom of our first apartment that we utilized as an office space. At that time it held a few extra office supplies like paper, file folders plus a few crafting materials.
When we moved on to a new city and state a few years later it would land in another extra bedroom that I was able to utilize as a scrapbooking studio (lucky me, right?).
A year later, it found it’s way to the dining room in a small 1 bedroom apartment. I then used it to store games for a while and eventually baby clothes as our first born child entered our lives and the rest of the baby gear (portable crib and changing table) shared space in a nearby office nook just off the dining room for a short while.
We soon moved yet again to another new city and state and it landed in our living room. It housed a few toys for our growing babe in the bottom cabinet, drawers were utilized to contain library books and movies that needed to be returned as well as a small portion of our music collection on CD. Each my husband and I used one of the smaller top drawers to hold loose change and cell phones/wallet etc.
A few years later, we added yet another child to our crew and our extra bedroom/office was destined to become a nursery. The hutch then held a good portion of our personal book library for a season.
Fast forward about 2 years and it found it’s way to our present home in our dining room (a-joined to our living room) Initially it held our dvd collection and acted as a homework/chore station for our eldest child.
At present it is still in that same location in our dining room, but the dvd collection has been re-located so the bottom half can now be Operation Organization Command central:
I office out of the home since most of my organizing work takes place on location in clients homes and/or small business. We have a family desktop computer on the opposite side of the room, but it is on a surface with no storage. The magazine files hold inspiration and idea files and magazines. The black bag is what I use to hold my organizing tools (label maker, tape measure, clip board, notebook, camera, business cards and active client files etc). for my ‘on location’ consultations. The white bin houses printables and various checklists that I like to have copies of to provide to my current clients and to offer as hand-outs at my organizing presentations and workshops. The blue box is a hanging file box that houses all my client files plus general business resources.
One top drawer holds mints, an extra cartridge + manual for my label maker, a pocket filer to house business related receipts on one side, and a stock of business cards:
Extra change, back up camera, GPS + charging cords/devices for everything is stowed in the other.
Onto the bottom drawers – one is used to house a binder that I collect and organize various blog article ideas. That scroll of paper is a vinyl quote that I won on a blog give-away…it has a future nearby this piece of furniture eventually…
The second drawer is still a homework station for my eldest child that is currently in first grade. He brings a homework packet home every Monday and is required to turn it back in on Friday. We keep it here so he always knows where to find and return it after completing a page or so a day at the dining room table. Our dining table has a handy drawer on either end that holds pencils and sharpeners.
There you have it!
I know we still have another move (or two) coming in our future, so this ol’ hutch may still have a few more evolutions yet…
Do you have a piece of furniture that has been re-purposed one or more times over the years to better suit your family needs? Do you see potential for evolution in others?
Giving children a small amount of age appropriate chores is a wonderful way to help them feel as though they are contributing to the family, introducing them the life skill of home management as well as developing a healthy work ethic. It also provides a wonderful opportunity to instill a sense of personal responsibility which will also serve to build their self esteem.
Here’s a sampling of a few age appropriate chores:
*Age 2-3 *
Pick up toys
‘Help’ make beds
‘Help’ feed pets
Dust low shelves
Carry flatware and {non breakable} dishes to and from the table
Carry dirty laundry to basket or specified area
* Age 4-5 * (in addition to above list)
Make a bed {with a simple comforter}
Empty waste baskets
Bring in the mail
Water plants
Set Table
Unload and help put away groceries
Help with light yard work (picking up sticks and rocks before mowing)
* Between 6-8 years of age* (any of the above list, plus…)
Keep their room and play areas neat and tidy
Water plants
Pour drinks
Make beds
Sort laundry
Sweep floors
Fold clothing
Put away clean clothes
Assist with basic food preparations
Help wash cars
Answer phones
* 9-10 years of age * (any of the above list, plus…)
Change sheets
Help with meal preparations (like peeling veggies and measuring ingredients)
Prepare simple snacks
Wash dishes and/or load/unload dishwasher
Walk and clean up after pets
Vacuum
Sweep
Take garbage out
Help with yard work (pulling weeds, raking leaves)
*Age 11 and up* (more ‘adult’ chores can be introduced in addition to chores listed above)
Plan and cook meals (with adult supervision)
Wash their own laundry
Clean bathrooms
Change light bulbs
Mop floors
Mow lawn
Clean out garage/shed
Supervise younger children with adult at home
One of the best ways to introduce and motivate children to complete chores is with visual charts or checklists. With very small children, verbal encouragement goes a long way. Older children may do well with an extra monetary incentive, but that depends are your personal family values.
Here’s a few options:
Create your own custom chore cards with photos of your home like these featured on The Creative Mama.
Children are rewarded with tickets for completing chores or by displaying good behavior which can be redeemed for store items or activity rewards.Conversely, tickets can be taken away for failure to complete chores or bad behavior
If you’ve ever considered connecting an allowance to chores, My Job Cart.Com offers a great online chore chart and reward system that is free, easy to use, and will help in organizing and motivating your kids not only to complete chores, but also to learn first hand how to Save, Share and Spend.
I was not born with a natural bent toward organization. I’ve more often identified myself as a more right-brained creative type. However, I’ve always enjoyed the pursuits and observed the positive effects of organization since childhood. I have found that maintaining a truly consistent organized lifestyle takes a lot of intentional effort, discipline, and practice to achieve. But, it’s WORTH it!
Beginning my own family has probably afforded me the greatest opportunity to observe a few of the biggest benefits of managing a simplified and organized home and life:
To find things when I need them {quickly}.
To feel as though I’m being a good steward with my time.
To have a general sense of peace and calm.
To view my home as a haven of rest that I enjoy living in and opening up to others.
As I’ve grown in my knowledge and understanding of organization through real life experience, and intentional education over the years, I’ve observed there are a few habits that have helped me maintain an organized lifestyle:
1. Write Everything Down:
FREE your mind. Rather than trying to rely on your memory to recall when that appointment is/was, the name of the movie or book you’d like to check out next, or recall the phone number or address of that new friend or business contact – WRITE it down. I’ve learned to always carry a small pocket notebook with me to record various things throughout the day. Then, when I’m given some random bit of information that I know would be helpful to recall later, or if I’m struck with a personal bright idea I just jot it down quickly and return to my day as planned. Later, I’ll ‘download’ these various notes to a more long term list or calendar.
Clutter is magnetic. As soon as you place one random item on a counter-top, dining table, or work space, it will only attract more. Establish counter-tops as ‘no dumping’ grounds unless a particular item is used in that space every day (Like a coffee maker on the kitchen counter).
Eliminate the idea of a “junk drawer” where random items are tossed. Instead, create a defined space (with small containers or dividers) for all the little ‘extras’. One of the reasons most of my clients struggle with clutter build-up is simply because there is not a clear place where things belong. Assign specific ‘homes’ for every single item. ‘Homeless’ items will instantly turn into clutter. It’s also helpful to have designated spaces for your things so you can actually find them when you need them rather than wasting time searching or money buying duplicates. Find a specific place for loose change, keys, remote controls, office supplies, or even sunscreen. Do your children struggle with keeping their rooms clean? Help them find ‘homes’ for their toys/belongings as well.
4. Never Leave a Room Empty Handed
Let’s face facts: there will always be something that needs to be returned somewhere else. When heading to a new room in the house, glance around to see if there is something out of place {a coffee cup, piece of mail, toy, or rogue sock}you could gather up with you to relocate on your way.
Set up a command central or mail sorting system somewhere in your home. This space will serve to corral all the bills, mail, and other paper related information that comes in daily. Set aside a specific time each week to respond to and file documents where necessary.
{*note* a command central could even be set up in something as small as a simple file box}
6. Purge & Declutter Often
How many ________ does a person really need?
Strive to keep what you consider to be truly beautiful and/or useful in your home.
If you have limited storage it’s especially important to not consistently accumulate more than will need to be stowed. Implement the ‘One In, One Out Rule‘. When you purchase something new for yourself or your home, or when a family member is given gifts on special occasions; make an effort to remove a similar item you already own. Resolve to declutter the common living areas of your home every evening (perhaps a few times a day if you’re living with small children).
Sometimes you just need to tell yourself what to doin order to stay on track. Systems and routines save the day! Keeping a variety of running lists will serve as an external reminder of what needs to be done and when. You’ll be granted a peace of mind knowing there is a plan to conquer all that needs to be done and feel the satisfaction of success when you’re able to check off items they are completed as well!
Everyone in your family will appreciate having a menu plan in place:
These habits are by no means a magic solution, but making an effort to adopt a few will surely aid to set you in motion as well as help maintain your organizational goals.
* * * * * * * * * *
Perhaps you’re currently feeling completely overwhelmed by your clutter & mounting personal organizing goals?? Or, maybe there is a space or two in your home that simply needs a fresh set of objective eyes to to bring to its fullest organized potential?
Maybe having an organizing buddy, cheerleader and coach that could encourage you one-on-one would be just the solution you need to achieve the success you need and deserve – to allow you to live a more peaceful life you LOVE with more time and energy to fully and freely participate in activities and hobbies you enjoy!
Would you like to work with a Professional home organizer based near Atlanta, Georgia?
We currently serve clients in the surrounding metro area as well as Marietta, Kennesaw, Acworth, Peachtree City, Fayetteville, Newnan and expanding!
Contact Heidi to learn more about how to get organized with our professional organizer services.Operation Organization by Heidi provides customized organizing solutions to ‘cure’ your unique clutter challenge / condition.
Most child development experts agree that children thrive with and desire structured routine in their day-to-day lives.
Taking the time to organize a few built in routines through your day will prove to provide stability and comfort for your child. Regular routines build a sense of structure as well as help to establish healthy living, good habits and also provides some sense of personal control which contributes to good behavior.
Mornings tend to be particularly chaotic time for families.
Whether you are a working parent that needs to be out the door by a certain time each day, or you are are a stay at home parent of multiple school aged children that need to get ready for school, having a morning routine will help everyone be aware what needs to be done and start their day off right.
Creating a Morning Routine Chart for each of your children will help keep them on track with the tasks at hand. Rather than spending time and energy repeatedly nagging reminding your child what else they need to complete to prepare for their day, simply get out the charts and tell them to get started.
Children (particularly non-reading preschoolers) are usually very visually oriented . A simple chart with photos will be all they need to complete a few age appropriate tasks to start their day:
Here’s a few ideas:
{*free printable* Modern Toddler Chore Chart by Dandee Designs}
{*free printable* Kid’s Morning Routine Flash Cards by Living Locurto}
Take a few moments to create a launch pad near whatever door your school aged children will be using most often to house {and catch} all their school related gear!
It’s important to designate a space for all school related items {like shoes, coats, bags, homework & papers} that kids bring in and out of the house each an every day.
If all their gear has a specific ‘home’ there is less chance clutter will begin to collect, and they’ll know where to find their things rather that setting you all into a frantic search when it’s time to head out the door each day.
Working on this project together with your children is a wonderful opportunity to teach your them where their things will belong as well as instilling a life lesson of the positive results of being organized.
Consider giving each of your school aged children a personalized folder, Wall File, bin or basket to house important papers, assignments, and reminders (this way you’ll know where to find them for review as well!).
Sooner or later, outdoor wear will need to have a ‘home’ nearby as well. This coat closet {featured on Martha Stewart.com} s packed with some amazing solutions to utilize every ounce of it’s small space:
Not only is there a place for hanging coats, but lower level shelving creates a space for shoes and baskets to be stowed. Baskets could hold miscellaneous outdoor extras like hats, gloves and scarves. Add a few long hooks on the inside of a closet door to create a space for large bags & backpacks!
This backpack storage rack can be also installed on a door or wall. and will hold up to 8 items weighing up to 8 pounds each. The design of this storage racks stretches and self-adjusts to fit various door heights.
No coat closet?
A system with built-in coat rack, cubbies, shelves and bench is just the sort of storage and seating solution needed to create an organized entryway that not only looks attractive, but functionally provides a space to catch kids school stuff as well.
A simple wall coat rack is also an easy and cost effective solution to house coats and backpacks on a wall nearby whichever door kids bring school gear through:
Or, install a wall coat rack for bags and coats beside a closet with an over-the-door shoe storage option like this beauty from Pure Style Home.
There’s truly ‘a space for everything’ within this DIY $324 Mudroom featured at Better Homes and Gardens:
Which option would work best in your home?
Contact me if you need help with some creative storage solutions for school gear in your space.
I personally place really high value on family photos. I love preserving memories of our family history that we can look back on year after year.
I once enjoyed spending my leisure time with the hobby of creating personalized artistic handmade scrapbooks to collect these precious memories. As our young children have grown more busy and active, I lacked more and more time and space in our home to create. I steadily got more and more behind in producing these type of albums. Also, it was becoming less and less appealing to spend my precious leisure time with this type of hobby.
I recently discovered I had become about 2 years behind on getting photos some type of book. It was time to find a solution. Now, I realize I could just print the photos and slap them into any old album off the shelf, but I still love the idea of creative presentation of photos.
I decided to go completely digital in creating personalized family photo albums. This would save a LOT of my limited time (and much needed energy), would not take up any space at all, and I could still be creative in the presentation of my photo books!
Thankfully, we got our first digital camera right around the time our first child was born. So, even though I’m behind on getting photos into albums, all our most current family photos are completely organized in digital files.
Because I’ve been diligent at regularly downloading and storing my photos in digital files, it won’t take too long before I’m all caught up in producing albums (even if it’s just one small step at a time).
Here’s a peek at my process:
Every 2-4 weeks I set aside time to upload and edit photos with PICASA(a free photo sharing & editing software from Google).
I prefer PICASA, because once photos are saved , files are also automatically created and saved to a photo file on my hard drive for easy retrieval to upload to other sources like my Facebook wall, our family blog or to print.
Save files numerically by date, followed with a brief description of the event for easy reference and retrieval:
(YEAR/ MONTH/ DATE/EVENT)
For example, I titled the file for this years Fourth of July celebration photos as:
2011/07/04/FireworksMN
This is an ideal method as your computer will automatically save your files in chronological order.
While making handmade albums, I would only print out enough physical photos to put into albums only when I knew I’d have time to create – I usually completed 2-4 pages at a time. There are many available storage options to organize already printed photos. If you’d like some personalized suggestions on how to get started, contact me!
If you’re like some of my clients, you’ve got files and files of photos saved on your computer with no distinct system. Your first step will be to create a new habit of labeling your files in a numerical system I just mentioned. You can also begin to re-name existing photo files to create a more efficient system moving forward.
I’ve been taking small steps to slowly ‘Eat My Elephant‘ in hopes of getting caught up on my photo books:
After all photos have been uploaded and edited in Picasa, and automatically saved in numerical order to our hard drive, I begin uploading the BEST photos into Shutterfly albums. It’s up to you how you choose to create these albums (one for every season, special events and/or holidays, individual vacations etc.) I’ve chosen to create annual family year books to chronicle one whole year of our family events. The nice thing about creating digital albums is that I can also have multiple albums printed to give to each child or even extended family!
I plan into my day/week time to work on uploading these photos. (usually one or two afternoons a week for 30-60 minutes while my children have nap/rest time).
Once all desired photos are saved in Shutterfly, I then begin my favorite task – the creating! Once again, I intentionally plan ahead to MAKE time in my weekly schedule to do work on it even if it’s just 30 minutes at a time. It’s SO simple and FAST to create digital albums through a service like Shutterfly! Once my creating time is up, I simply save my project as it is and log out until next time. No messy clean up, and no dragging a bunch of supplies out the next time I’m ready to work on it!
I’m super excited about the new ‘Custom Path’ option as it allows for even more opportunities for personalized flair but still with the ultra simple application:
Creating digital albums has proven to save me so much time because I’m able to eliminate several other time consuming tasks that were part of the hand made process. In the long run, I believe I’m probably also saving money on printing physical photos, products and materials like paper, stickers, and embellishments that I once had to purchase regularly to create handmade albums compared to the total price to print and ship a digital album.
Before, I’d also have to complete several other time-consuming tasks in order to complete an album:
1) Upload and order photos to be printed to another location across town, while then having to wait for them to be prepared. 2) Find time to pick them up. 3) Spend time shopping for materials to create albums. 4) Spend time getting materials to create organized to use. 5) Spent a LOT of time in the creating process – lots of cutting, measuring, pasting etc. 6) Spend a considerable amount of time putting everything away after each and every creating session since I didn’t have my own creative space.
This is just my personal preference. I’m sure many people ENJOY the process of creating beautifully tailored and personalized hand-made albums. For me, it was beginning to feel like a chore, rather than a hobby. Making the decision to go completely digital in my photo organizing and archiving was just one small way I could make an effort to de-clutter my life and time while still maintaining a little creative and personalized artistic flair in the presentation and preservation of our family memories.
Perhaps one day I’ll return to the art of creating handmade albums when/if I find myself with more leisure time or, perhaps if I’m granted the luxury of a dedicated creative space to organize all my tools and supplies like Leah’s:
*Disclaimer* I was not rewarded or compensated for any products or services listed in this article. All opinions are my own from personal experience and use.
