Put it where you use it

There would be a tendency to put my daughter’s hairbrush and detangling spray with her hair items in her room because that’s what the organizing books say.  If you read closely you will find that there is a rule that overrides putting like things together.  That rule is — put it where you use it. 

Ideally, you would want all things that are in a like category together, for instance, hair accessories.  But if, for any reason, you don’t do all your hair prep in one area then it makes sense that all your hair prep items are not in one area.  My daughter needs me to help her brush her golden locks every morning.  I am not upstairs so I don’t want to go upstairs just to brush her hair.  We keep her spray and brush downstairs in a special spot because that’s where I almost always help her with her hair.

Daily Flatware

Don’t be confined to using the typical drawer organizers for flatware.  The typical organizer works well for alot of people but it falls short for many as well.  The typical organizer I am speaking of separates your fork, knives and spoons into small compartments shaped like the utensil it is supposed to hold.  You know what I’m talking about.  They typically only hold 6-8 pieces each. 

In our house we can go through that many spoons in one meal!  I don’t do dishes after every meal and I don’t want to.  We have a great number of forks, knives and spoons so a typical organizer won’t work for us.  I have small rectangular wire organizers that hold pieces at a time.  I have one for forks, one for knives, one for spoons, one for serving spoons and a few more.  It works well for me because I still keep the different utensils separated but I can hold many more without one type spilling into another type.

Another option, a client uses is the small wire utensil carrier.  This is the carrier that keeps her utensils standing up.  She only has 4 people in her house and she doesn’t even set the table.  She just grabs the carrier at every meal and sets it in the middle of the table for people to grab what they need.  It is a unique solution and it works for her.  Think outside the box and think what might work for you and your family.

Tip of the Day

A penny of morning is worth a pound of afternoon.

 

 

Bathroom Towels

I grew up getting a towel out of the drawer each time I bathed and then threw it down the clothes chute when finished.  With a large family doing this my family had ALOT of laundry. 

I now have a large family and I didn’t think it was necessary to always get a fresh towel each time my kids bathed. AND — I didn’t want to do that much laundry!  So I had to decide how often I thought it was necessary to have a fresh towel.  I have decided, at my house, that I would change the towels on a weekly basis and anyone could get fresh towels in between if they thought it necessary. 

    This is a picture of the hooks in my children’s bathroom.  Each person has a hook that is designated for them so they don’t have to share towels.  Each week all the towels are removed and replaced with fresh towels and washcloths.  I chose to use hooks so I didn’t have to straightent the towels everyday.  I grew up folding my towels in 3 so that each towel layed nicely on the towel bar without the edges showing.  I thought I would like that for my own house as well until I realized that I couldn’t keep it up.  This was a nice compromise for me.

Also, the fresh towels are stored in a bench in each shower room so an additional towel can be grabbed without any effort.

A Word on Chores

I found out the hard way not to give the chore of emptying the waste baskets to the 4 year old!

Emptying the waste baskets seems a good starting chore.  It can be done in cooperation with an older sibling or with a parent.  They can walk around and empty each individually.  All is good until they start seeing what you have thrown away!  “MOM! You threw away my bunny!” “Mom, this paper towel tube would be a great sword!”  Young ones, especially if they are creative, have a hard time throwing things away and unless you want each week to be a teachable moment, it might be good to delegate the responsibility of emptying the waste baskets to an older child or until they have grown out of that keep everything stage.  Something to Consider

Shoes

“Little Shoes, Little Socks – Everywhere I turn I can see them….” I often find myself singing this line from the song from the Broadway Musical Annie.

We are a house that doesn’t wear shoes.  They come off almost instantly as we come in the door.  OK, sometimes not so instantly.  Some of the children drop their things as if they are leaving breadcrumbs for someone to follow!

Two things have to happen in order to take control of the shoe clutter:

1) A home for the shoes has to be created and communicated.  This can be a single basket for all the shoes to go into or it can be individual spots that are specifically designated for a specific person’s shoes/belongings.  It needs to be in close proximity to where the shoes come off.  It has to be easy for them to get the shoes into.  (Sometimes it is just too much trouble to pick up the shoes and neatly put them into a shoe cubby.)  Ask each family member what they are willing to do in order to help with the chaos at the door.  Some people like to kick their shoes off.  Some can’t imagine putting them into a shoe box with a lid.  Others won’t put them on a shoe tree if the trees were growing in every room of the house!  The key to a good home is easy and accessible.  Find what kind of home works for your family’s shoes.

2)  New habits must be formed, encouraged, and shaped.  This can be done with incentives as well as consequences.

Yesterday the house was Clean!

Yesterday morning the house was clean.  OK, not clean but at least straightened up. 

And then life happened –  A birthday gift was unwrapped and the beautiful paper was tossed aside as the contents were anxiously anticipated.  The paper remains on my living room floor.  Preschool papers came home and were dropped on my living room chair.  Shoes were taken off inside the door and left.  Dinner dishes are left as if they were waiting for a dish fairy to come in the middle of the night to clean them and put them away.  And a fort made out of sheets strewn across my furniture remains to be played in again.

Can you relate to this picture?  This is my life and I am sure your life looks somewhat similar.

It is one thing to discipline yourself and establish new habits and routines for yourself but when others are also involved it gets more complicated.  If you rely on being around to nag and conjole others to pick up and put away then guess what happens when you aren’t around.  You go it!  We need to establish rules of the house that work even when the “mom police” isn’t around.  What punishments or rewards have you established in order to help your family members follow the rules?  Perhaps, a clutter jail is in order.  Items left out and not in their rightful place gets put in clutter jail and the owner must pay “bail” to get them out.  Remember that new routines also take 21 days to establish.  Perhaps you might want to give a reward if a family member does a new routine 21 days in a row.  Just some things to think about.

Iron

     It is a good idea to have a “home” for your iron.  Rubbermaid makes this holder so you always know where your iron is.  I also don’t have to wait to put it away until it cools down.  This can be hung on the wall or cabinet door.  Remember to store your iron in the place you use it.  If you iron in your bedroom then store it in your bedroom.  If you iron in your laundry then store it in your laundry.  The idea is to make it easy to put away!

Joy

As I played peek a boo with my 9month old son around the cereal boxes this morning I was reminded of the joy that life brings.  It is sheer joy that I see on the face of my son as I come to pick him out of his crib in the morning.  It isn’t just his face that lights up but his whole body tenses in delight.  Oh, what joy that smile brings to me!!  Isn’t that what we all really need?  Don’t we all just want to know that our presence delights someone?  Isn’t that what father’s desire when they come home from work and all they want is to have someone greet them at the door?  Isn’t that what our daughters want when they want those hugs in the morning?  We all want to make a difference in each other’s lives.  It is our responsibility, as parents, to show our kids that we delight in them!

I sometimes have to force a hug onto my teenagers.  I don’t let the turned head deter me from giving a kiss to my teenager.  They don’t always acknowledge your love but I know they desire it.  Today let’s all show our family’s how much we love them!

Where have all the scissors gone?

Can you relate?  It seems like no matter how many scissors you buy they never are around when you need them.  It is kind of like kids and dishes!

I digress….

The best solution to prevent scissors from walking away is to create a label and put it around the finger hole denoting where the scissors’ “home” is.  When I say “home” I mean the location where you will look to find the scissors.  For instance, I like my sewing scissors in my sewing room,  my kitchen scissors in the kitchen, a scissors with the wrapping paper and so on…  Some people make the mistake of putting all the scissors in the same place but they inevitably walk away because you use scissors all over the house!  Put a pair of scissors in the places you use them. They will be much easier to find and much easier to return to their rightful place.

Here is a picture of what I mean when I say placing a label on each of the scissors.