Back to School

It’s time to start planning for a new school year. Good planning can prevent lost paperwork, late assignments, and the chaos of looking for misplaced homework.

Designate a spot for:
1. Papers

*For parents to sign/fill out and return to school.

*To recycle (Keeping all papers for a few weeks will prevent assignments from accidentally being thrown away.)

*To keep (Limit this to a few special pieces.)
2. Homework
3. Backpacks
4. Library books

Allocate an area for doing homework. Stock the area with needed supplies: pencils, pencil sharpener, eraser, paper, glue, crayons, dictionary, calculator, etc.

Developing the routine of putting all school items in their assigned spots can help the school year go more smoothly.

Traveling with Children

When planning a summer vacation with children, preparing for the travel is almost as important as planning the actual vacation. I recently took a 13-hour road trip with my three children. I was nervous about being the only adult with a 9-year old and two 11-year olds. Here are a few ideas that helped make the car ride go more smoothly.

1. Listen to a book on tape/CD checked out from your local library.

2. Play car games: travel bingo, the alphabet game (find each letter of the alphabet on signs), 20 Questions… The list is endless. If you need ideas, check out www.momsminivan.com/.

3. Pack snacks & beverages.

4. Set up a reward system. For each hour that the children get along and are pleasant, they earn a reward. Young children need rewards more often, possibly a quarter for each half hour. Older children may be motivated by the opportunity of earning $1-2 per hour.

5. Can the “How much longer” question be avoided? Prior to the trip, have each child make a chart counting down the number of hours the trip is expected to be. If the trip takes 10 hours, have the child write the numbers 10 down to 0 on a paper. After each hour of driving, announce that an hour has gone by. Have the child cross off the number 10. Now the child can see there are 9 hours left. Continue the countdown until you've arrived at your destination!

So, as you are preparing for your summer vacation, be sure to plan for the travel times. Good planning will help to make the trip a memorable experience. Happy Traveling!!!

Stop and Smell the Roses

An organized space contributes to reduced stress, financial savings (no need to buy duplicates), and time savings (less time looking for items and less time maintaining your belongings). Life seems to be busier than ever. With children, work, laundry, maintaining our home, and the list goes on, I certainly am guilty of getting caught up in the "rat race". Keeping a balance of work and fun is so important.

Make sure to include time in your week to relax and enjoy yourself. If you never seem to find the time to “stop and smell the roses”, schedule the time. As Charles Buxton said, “You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.”

A goal of having an organized space is having more time to do those things you enjoy doing. What is it you love to do? Schedule it!

Sorting, Purging & Painting

In April I posted pictures of a project, a bedroom being used for storage that needed to look like a bedroom again. (Under “Articles” in the gray box on the right side of the screen, click on “project” to see more photos.)

It took Marybeth and me seven hours to sort everything in this room into categories, and box and label everything for the move. (Marybeth was able to quickly make decisions about what to get rid of, which made the process go much faster.) The label on each box included the room the box will go to in the new home as well as the items in the box. We stored some of the items in the closet and the rest in the garage.

Finally, after removing photos taped on the wall and a few coats of paint, this room appears much larger! A few finishing touches and we'll have a bedroom!

Tackling the Garage

25% of people with 2 car garages don't park any cars in the garage and 32% park only 1 car in the garage, according to the US Department of Energy. It’s time to organize the garage!

Start by getting everything out of the garage. As you remove items from the garage sort them into categories, which may include: car care, lawn care, tools, toys, fishing gear, etc. Also have: garbage, get rid of (donate or garage sale), and belongs elsewhere piles.

Now it’s time to purge. Look at all the car care items. Do you use all these items? Do you have duplicates of items? Get rid of what you aren’t using. Do this for each category. Remember, we only use 20% of our belongings. If you get rid of those things you aren’t using, maintaining the area is that much easier!

Before returning belongings to the garage, assign a home for each category, keeping all the toys in one area, all the tools in another area, etc. Using containers for small items and labeling containers and shelves simplifies finding and returning items to their assigned places.

Finally, maintain the area by always returning items to their assigned homes. Now, how many cars can you park in your garage?