Category Archives: organizing

Keeping Kids Organized

Right off the bat, let’s get this out of the way:  we are not, by any stretch of the imagination, the most organized family on the block.  We like order.  We crave it, even.  But with 85 million legos and 14 footballs, plus myriad scooters, tennis balls, lacrosse sticks, and soccer balls, we have a very small chance of winning a “Most Organized Family” prize on any given day of the week.

However… 
There are a few areas where we shine.  (Don’t look in my vehicle – that’s NOT one of them.)  A few months ago, when I posted about our locker project, phd in yogurty left this comment:

“Please tell me it stays neat like that forever.”  

At the time, I had my doubts.  But we added a few bins, set the expectations, and voila!  Our kitchen counter may be overflowing with of random piles of paper, but our lockers are neat and tidy, people.  Neat and tidy.

(Boys currently at school = no coats or backpacks on hooks.  Even tidier!)
What does this really mean?  
We can find school papers! 
We can find boots and gloves and all the rest of that bitter-cold winter stuff.  
We can usually find a few extra socks down in the shoe bins.  Not clean ones, mind you, but still.
We can hide stuff in the baskets when company’s coming over.
We like how it looks when we walk in the door.
If you don’t have lockers, you have a couple of options.  Build some, like we did.  Or be creative with the space you have to achieve the same outcome.  Find a place for shoes, backpacks, and mittens, and you, too, will be able to find dirty socks, whenever you need them.

Starting to Get the Shakes: I Can’t Find My Camera!

Remember that post I wrote about having a place for my things? Well, I do. I have a cabinet where I keep my camera, the videocamera, both cases, and any randomly related objects. Here’s the problem: my camera’s not in there.

It’s been two and a half weeks now without a camera, and I’ll be darned if I’m buying another one yet. I know it’s here. Or there. It’s somewhere, I just can’t put my hands on it.

It all started the weekend we found out our beautiful Labrador, our faithful pet for 13 ½ years, had liver cancer.

I don’t really want to talk about that now, other than to say that I had the camera on his last day, because I have the pictures to prove it.

And I had my camera here in my house, because I loaded them onto iPhoto. The following week is a bit of a blur – back and forth between our house and our cottage, breaking the news to the kids, trying to deal with our own emotions.

The camera was the last thing on my mind.

Except now it’s missing and it’s on my mind all of the time. I can’t get a picture of anything, and it’s driving me nuts.

Do I buy a cheap one, at Costco, for the interim? How long do I wait until I concede defeat?

I already had to borrow one last weekend, to take pictures of my son on his 13th birthday.

What’s around the corner? Football, soccer, and the first day of school for starters.

Oh, where could it be?! I need that camera!

Oh, Where Is My Hairbrush?*

A place for everything and everything in its place.

It sounds so sensible, doesn’t it?  And it is.  It is!  Having a place for everything—a defined place, makes it easier not only to put things away, but to find them, too.

Ah, if only we could find the time to create those magical places.

I have been extremely successful with this philosophy in some areas, and embarrassingly poor at it in others.

The Ones That Have Worked:

  1. Eyeglasses.  I didn’t wear glasses until I was 25, so I never had to worry about misplacing them as a kid.  As an adult, however, I searched for them on a regular basis.  It was my father who suggested creating a “spot” in each room.  If I took them off in that room, I should put them in that spot.  Then, I would only have to check the designated spots, rather than digging through drawers and handbags at all hours.  Brilliant!  This suggestion has worked like a charm, and nowadays if I can’t find my glasses, I’m probably wearing them.
  2. Purse.  After several scrambling, panicked moments of “where could I have left it?,” I chose a hook near the entryway to keep my purse and, astonishingly, I manage to put it there 95% of the time.  The other 5%?  I never claimed I was striving for perfection.
  3. Shoes.  In a sensible scenario, finding shoes would not be a problem.  And really, it’s not finding a pair of shoes that’s difficult, it’s finding the pair of shoes.  Which, essentially, means I have too many shoes. 
  4. Camera.  When we first went digital, we were constantly tossing that tiny camera in our coat pocket or a purse or just carrying it outside for a quick snapshot.  No film!  No strings!  But who knew where to find it later?  Camera-hunting was the basis of many an argument.  “Well, you had it last.  I’m sure.”  We finally designated a cabinet to store camera-related equipment only.  The videocamera, extra tapes, batteries, and the actual camera can all be found in there.  Almost always.

The Ones I Haven’t Figured Out Yet

  1. House Phone.  Now this seems silly, doesn’t it?  I mean, there is an OBVIOUS place you can put the phone.  Somehow, though, ours never seems to be there.  Perhaps it’s the price of freedom.  No longer tethered to the machine, as I was for all of my talkative youth, I wander aimlessly around, multi-tasking at it’s worst, while jabbering away with my friends.  When I’m finished chatting, I simply set the phone down.  And when I need it again, the hunt is on.  Now where did I put that thing…?
  2. Cell Phone.  See #1.  I try, I really try, to put this in its “spot.”  I think it might have feet.
  3. Credit Card.  Okay, sure, this should be in my wallet.  But when I need to run into a store quickly, I don’t want to be all heavy laden with my big old mom purse.  Who needs all that?  I just grab a credit card, a little cash, and my Driver’s License.  I stuff them into my pocket, and then…oh, which pocket was it?
  4. Checkbook.  Hmmm.  Despite the fact that there is a clearly designated place in our desk drawer, I can never, ever find the darned checkbook.  As I’m typing this, I’m wondering why 2 of the 4 items I can’t find on a regular basis are related to money.  Perhaps I should be one of those cash-only people.  Or would I lose the envelopes?  Highly likely, I’d say.

So how about you?  Am I alone on this one?  Are there some things you can always find and some that elude you on a regular basis?  Any tips from you uber-organizers out there?  Love to hear them.

*This title is borrowed from an old Veggie Tale song.