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Entries Tagged 'Kids Organizing' ↓
As parents, we can sow the seeds to help our children learn many lessons that will carry them through life. I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention organizing, but today I want to talk about MONEY! I didn’t really have many lessons about money growing up, the only one that really stands out in my mind is a conversation with my dad when I was a teenager. I remember my dad talking to me about setting up a budget and to remember to account for gifts that I would need to buy for people that month. Well, as it turns out, there’s a whole lot more to learn than that and I had to learn by good example from others and by reading books on the topic.
Not everyone will agree with me on this one, but with my kids, I haven’t tied allowance to chores. I took a parenting class many moons ago, and the instructor felt that chores should be expected as part of living in the home together and teaching kids about money should be a separate issue. So, I went with that.
These are the steps I took to teach my own kids about money:
- I gave them 3 piggy banks: One for savings, one for spending and one for charity.
- I gave them a set amount of cash each month that could be divided into each piggy bank. If they received $20, then $9 would be to spend, $9 would be to save and $2 would be for charity.
- My kids could pull from charity whenever a need arose that pulled at their heartstrings.
- When they received a gift of money, they had to save half and could spend the other half how they wanted to. As they’ve gotten older, the percentages have shifted.
- We opened savings accounts that earned interest for the portions that they had to save.
- Now that they are older, they receive pre-loaded debit cards for school clothes and they have to make the most of it by looking for good deals and even through thrift store shopping.
- When they each received $1000 from a family member, they were allowed to spend $100 and then took $900 to a financial planner to invest in mutual funds. They could really make this money work in their favor if they just let it grow. Every other month they add a contribution.
Don’t overlook the opportunity to teach your kids how to be wise with their money at a young age. Even if they go broke in their 20′s by running credit cards sky high, at least you will know that you did what you could when you could.
To make sure I cover all my bases today, here are some bedroom organizing tips to help your kids too! 
Tags: budget, DIY organization, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, kids organizing, organizing kids bedrooms
Oh boy, oh toys! Toys, toys, a mixed blessing of stimulation for the young mind and clutter for the family room floor. A birthday rolls around: Toys. Christmas rolls around: Toys. A trip to Target: Toys. Quick stop at a garage sale: More Toys…
Let’s think outside the toy box today and look at options for 5 clutter-free gifts for kids:
Clutter-Free Gift #1: Buy a Beloved Membership
- This is something I wish more grandparents would do for young families, it’s expensive to go for fun outings!
- Ideas for memberships: Your local zoo, the local children’s museum, aquarium or a punch card for open swim sessions at the local pool.
Clutter-Free Gift #2: Pay for Lessons
- Again, another great one for grandparents, aunts or uncles to help young families. As a stay-at-home mom, I would have loved this!
- Ideas for lessons: Gymnastics, swim, dance, horseback riding.
Clutter-Free Gift #3: Books
- Ok, I’m on a slippery slope with this one since it’s “stuff,” but I love books for children, they are small and they can easily be passed on when they are outgrown or you can organize your own book exchange.
- For tips on organizing books for children, please watch my short video (under 2 minutes).
Clutter-Free Gift #4: Share an Activity
- This is what memories are made of, spending quality time together. Think about what the child in your life loves and do that.
- Ideas: Go to the movies, volunteer together, go see an Imax show, go to the auqarium, go to the park & then for ice cream or bake together.
- Being on a budget, I had my daughter and her friend bake & frost a cake for his birthday. His mom was a little skeptical, but he came home talking about how great it was and they actually did it two years in a row!
Clutter-Free Gift #5: A Pony-Just Kidding! Gift Cards for Services
- This option is more for older kids/teens, but gift cards are welcome for iTunes, massages, pedicures, manicures and movies.
Give clutter-free gifts this year when special occassions roll around and see how great it feels!
Tags: clutter-free, clutter-free gifts, DIY organization, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, organizing, organizing books, organizing kids, toys
Dress up days in my house are long-over, but recently a good friend called me asking about dress up clothing storage as a gift for her two nieces. She had something very specific in mind that she was on the hunt for: a plastic storage container so she could paint a design on the outside and it had to have a hinged lid. It was the hinged lid that made it tricky because all bins I’ve seen have a separate lid. So, I was up for the challenge! In doing my research, I came across a variety of ideas that could work for storing storing dress up clothes so I thought I would share my favorites.
In general, I do not like toy box type storage as it turns into a black hole, but I do think it’s OK to use large bins for storing one type of item vs. a bunch of different toys. So, here are my top 4 and the links to the sites should you want one of your very own.
Kroom Storage Trunk through Amazon
KidKraft Storage Unit through OneStepAhead
DIY Dress Up Option from the site: ohdeedoh
The the final one that was plastic AND a hinged lid….
Woot woot for Organize.com
So there you have it, if you have play dress up clothes for your kids, you’ve now got some solutions! Easy access to hours of dress up fun!
Tags: Amazon, DIY organization, home, Home Organization, KidKraft, kids organizing, ohdeedoh, OneStepAhead, organize.com, Organizing Products
- Toys sorted & purged
- Closet doors removed
- Floor to ceiling shelving
- Toys of the same type stored together
- Easy access to toys, nothing stacked more than 2 high
Tags: closet, DIY organization, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, organizing kids, purged, toys
If your teen could use a little extra help in the organizing department, then this is THE organizing book for you and your teen! It’s a book with colorful pages and it makes for an easy, quick read. Recently, I’ve had some parents looking for extra help now that the school year is in full-swing so I quickly browsed through my recently purchased copy.
You may find that teens may rather read a book from you then get a lecture from you. Here’s a bit of what is covered in this book:
- Setting up space to work on homework
- Organizing backpacks
- Organizing lockers
- Organizing binders for school work
- Organizing bedrooms
- Organizing time/planning
The whole book is less than 100 pages long, so there’s a lot of great information packed into this great little organizing book! For more tips on organizing kids, please stay here and read some more!
Tags: DIY organization, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, homework, organizing backpacks, organizing book, organizing kids, organizing lockers, Where's My Stuff by Samantha Moss and Lesley Schwartz
Cluttered Child's Room
How can you help your kids get organized if they are struggling to keep it together in their own room? Maybe they don’t even want to get organized. Actually, the odds are that they don’t want to get organized! I’m a mom and a professional organizer and no, my kids rooms are not always neat, actually they are frequently quite messy. And I have found that a lot of it is age-related. When they were really little I was right in there cleaning up and helping them put things away. As they get older they seem to go through a phase of being fine with a mess and then the next phase seems to be wanting a more mature room and cleaning it on their own as they see fit. Now I was a neat thing in my own room growing up so this is all new to me.
Follow these 5 organizing tips to help your own kids get organized as you see fit:
1) Teach children from a young age to put away items of the same type together. Keep a bin of blocks, a bin of dolls, a bin of dress-up clothes, a bin of Legos, etc. When it’s time to clean up, help them sort so everything doesn’t just get tossed together.
2) Give your children tools to succeed by giving them enough places to put things away so they don’t all end up on the floor. Give them shelves to display keepsakes and toys as well as labeled bins to put things away. Give them bookcases for books, hooks for coats, closet space for clothes and toys.
3) Maximize storage space: Don’t be afraid to place shelving up high just for display items that your child doesn’t need to reach. Move your child’s clothing bar down low in the closet and place extra shelves as high as you can go for more toy storage. Use the back of the door for hooks and use bins under the bed for storage. They have a lot of stuff in a small space, maximize it.
4) Cut them some slack. If you child is getting older, consider letting them have a mess but choose one day a week that order has to be restored. That’s what I did so I didn’t go crazy every time I walked into the room knowing that on Sunday it would be cleaned up so things couldn’t get too out of control.
5) Help kids go through old toys and clothing for a good purge at least twice a year. Allow them to sell items if they would like to get some money from their belongings. This will make room for the new stuff that is sure to make an appearance.
For more reading about organized kids and messy rooms, please follow me here!
Organized Child's Room
Tags: DIY organization, get organized, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, kids organizing
Household Hub Notebook
When school starts, the paper keeps on a rollin’ in! When I work with clients they often struggle with the paperwork for upcoming events for school and sports as well as party invitations . These papers usually end up on the kitchen counter in piles, on the fridge or plastered all over a bulletin board. Enter the ‘Household Hub Notebook’ that I created and use with my clients who have children. This is a notebook to store the backup information for upcoming events. You enter the event into your planner and then keep the backup info. in the notebook. When the event has passed, pull it out and recycle. And I’m going to tell you how to create your own!
The front of my notebook has a reminder sheet slid into the front of the binder for the types of papers that I recommend storing in your notebook:
1) Sports Schedules
2) Snack Schedules for classes or teams
3) Team Phone Lists
4) Part Invitations
5) Travel Itineraries
6) Event Invitations such as weddings & birthday parties
7) Gift Cards
Many people like to have a “Menu” section for take-out menus and coupons
9) School lunch menus
10) Event tickets or event flyers
Start with a sturdy 3-ring binder. In the front of the binder you may want to place business card pages for frequently used cards:
Then I place a sheet in a page protector for emergency contact information:
Next I place a sheet for emergency health information should someone have to contact 9-1-1:
Next I use page dividers labeled with each family member’s name so they have their own section:
Many families like to have a section for each family member as well as school & menu sections.
In each section I place 5 heavy duty page protectors so you can slide the information into each section easily:
The “Household Hub Notebook” is stored near where you would want to access these papers on a regular basis. Families love this notebook because everyone knows where to look for their event information, even Dad and it eliminates piles! For more organizing tips for paper that comes home from school, please read more here.
Tags: DIY organization, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, household hub notebook, organize paper
Picture walking into a room and looking at the desk in front of you, a desk meant for your child to sit at to complete their homework. The desk is sporting an empty chip bag, some library books, a few Legos, coloring paper, random toy cars, 3 puzzle pieces and pencils and markers are strewn about. Or is this your desk? Either way, it’s not a desk that is functioning properly for anyone to work at.
Let’s turn that around and easily turn a cluttered desk into a fully functioning desk-yeah! Just follow these easy organizing tips to help your child clear a space and get their homework done with fewer hassles.
Organizing Tip #1: Remove everything from the desk that shouldn’t ‘live’ there, this is the time to remove wrappers, puzzle pieces and Legos, etc.
Organizing Tip #2: Place items that are used less frequently further away from the workspace. A great solution is to place shelves above the desk to house reference books or extra supplies like computer paper. This is a great way to use often overlooked wall space.
Organizing Tip #3: Place items that are used the most, closest to the workspace and don’t keep more than you need; you don’t need 3 pencils cups when one will do. Place items like scissors, glue and pencils close at hand.
Organizing Tip #4: If your child likes to move around your home to do homework such as on the floor or in another room, then create a mobile supply caddy. For more on how to create a homework supply caddy, please read more here.
Organizing Tip #5: Help kids maintain their now neat desk by decluttering and organizing on a regular basis. Just like areas in our own home don’t just stay organized, neither will theirs. Set a schedule to deal with the wrappers and toys that may find their way back to the desk once again. When you have a system in place, restoring order should be much easier than it was starting from scratch.
Help your child learn valuable organizing skills while getting homework down with fewer headaches because who really needs another headache anyway?!
Organized Children's Desk
Tags: Decluttering, DIY organization, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, organizing kids, organizing skills, organizing tips, paper organizing
Disorganized and Messy Floor
Can your kids be organized and succeed in school when they have a messy room? Well, it all depends…Some kids can function quite well in a room with clothes on the floor, dishes on the dresser and make-up strewn about. Even though their room looks like a tornado hit it, they know how to restore order from time-to-time, when they feel like getting around to it… These kids are usually self-motivated, they know where their homework is and they get it done on their own before it’s due. They may be messy, but really they know right where everything is and they are functioning just fine. Leave them alone.
Then there’s the other type of messy. The kids who have a room that’s blown up, a backpack that’s blown up, they’re losing papers all the time, turning in homework late and feeling a lot of stress and pressure. Those are the kids that are going to need some extra guidance, some structure and they will need you to help them with some organizing skills. It’s very important that you work with them in a way that works well for them naturally, not in a way that works for you. If you set up your child’s organizing system in a way that won’t work for them, you will both be frustrated. I featured a blog post on a super, duper book recently called: “The Organized Student,” by Donna Goldberg. This is an excellent book to help you help your child succeed!
Tags: DIY organization, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, homework, kids organizing, organized, organizing system, The Organized Student by Donna Goldberg
Organized Backpacks
How do you maintain home organization with kids and maintain your sanity too? Sometimes you just have to pick your battles. Sure, I am all about teaching kids organizing skills that will take them into adulthood. But I’m also a mom who believes in trying to avoid making myself crazy. So I think it’s important to really think about what is a ‘must’ in your home and what can slide.
I really learned that I needed to take it down 2-3 notches when my oldest child was about 4 years old. I know this story is going to sound over the top…but it was practically giving me anxiety at the time: She had a dollhouse that had specific people and accessories meant for the dollhouse. Well, she is creative and she was mixing and matching furniture, food, toys, etc. from other toys and using them in her dollhouse. Well, at the time, I was getting so stressed out because I wanted her to use the ‘right’ toys in the house. WHAT?!! How crazy is that? I had to stop and figure out why this was important to me. Well, it was because I had it in my head that if we ever sold her toys at a garage sale I wanted to have the right sets together. Thankfully I realized how silly this was and that she should be able to be creative. And who really cares-we could just donate the whole lot and it wouldn’t matter if the sets were still together. See-that was some over the top thinking!
What will be a must vs. what can slide at your house?
Perhaps bringing the dishes to the sink after dinner is a must, after all, you did do all the work to make dinner. But maybe backpacks on the floor by the door instead of on hooks can slide.
Maybe keeping a clear path in the bedroom between the bed and the door for safety is a must. But leaving an unmade bed isn’t going to make your home come crashing down.
Possibly taking shoes off to maintain a ‘shoe free’ home is a must to protect your carpets. But maybe you can live with kids kicking shoes into a basket instead of neatly lined up on a shoe rack. Kids aren’t going to line them up so you might as well live with a basket of shoes.
So, make sure you find that balance between staying organized and staying sane and it will be all good!
Tags: balance, home, Home Organization, Home Organization Blog, organizing kids, staying organized
