Clutter Conversions

Preschoolers and Toddlers - Preparing for the day

The two key components in getting the day started off well when dealing with preschoolers and toddlers is to establish morning routines and minimize distractions.

Preschoolers really benefit from a morning routine!  They are at the age where you can begin to mold them to be an organized individual and you can teach them about making decisions because they want to help with just about everything. Various morning routine charts can be found at www.suite101.com.

Kids learn by example and by making choices so leave enough time in the morning schedule for them to do as much as possible on their own.  Do not rush them.  Let them help pick out their clothes for the next day and sit them out so they can put them on themselves in the morning

Keep the items that distract your child out of sight.  They are easily distracted at this age by their toys and books and they do not have any understanding of time or schedules.

School is back in Session and I am Stressed!

It is really important to start a scheduling system at the very beginning of the school year so that everyone has a plan, knows what each other is doing and to avoid chaos and stress!  The key to starting the school day off without total chaos and stress is to be prepared, plan ahead and create routines.  There are various morning routine charts available online at www.parentingresources.suite101.com.

The night before you should prepare the lunches, put everything in the backpack that needs to be returned to school and sit it beside the door you exit.  Put signed papers in the backpack.  Make a prioritized, written schedule for the next day of everyone's activities.  Take advantage of the timer on the coffee pot so the coffee is ready in the morning when you are.  Have the kids do a nightly fifteen minute pick-up so there is no clutter to work around in the morning.

I recommend you start the morning routine two weeks before school starts so that it is not a shock to everyone the first day of school and you have time to make any necessary adjustments to each persons routine.  Preschoolers can really benefit from a morning routine.  They are at the age where you can teach them about making decisions and they want to help with just about everything.  Leave enough time in the mornings to allow them to do as much as possible on their own as appropriate.  Kids learn by example and by making choices.  Do not rush them.  Minimize distractions for them.  Keep the items that distract them put away.  They are easily distracted by their toys and books and do not have any understanding of time.

Do Not Over Schedule!  It is really easy to do as the kids get older and become involved in after school activities.  Having a centralized calendar with everyone's activities on it will make it much easier to see if activities are overlapping and to gauge the amount of activities being done.  It is recommended that kids should not be involved in more than three after school activities.  You need to leave time in their schedule for friends, family, studying and rest.

Back to School Organizing Tips for College Bound Students

*Space- Remember that they most likely will not have the amount of space in the dorm room that they had at home. Think compact.  Use multi-purpose containers and furniture.  Some colleges and Universities will not allow you to put holes in the wall or paint so check with them before you begin packing.   Also, if you are able, visit the college and measure the dorm room to see how much space you will actually have before packing things that will not fit.  Use a small cleaning caddy to carry personal items back and forth from the bathroom. *Packing - use collapsible storage containers to put items into while moving and then they can either be used for storage in the dorm or folded down and stored away. *Time management is key to success!  Use a calendar/planner to map out a routine.  College is supposed to be fun but it does need some structure to it if you are going to succeed without having a major melt-down at some point.  College can be stressful enough without adding the pressure of being late for class or not allowing enough time to write a term paper. *Color code your things, label them, bring some pictures and a few loved items from home to make the room more comfortable and relaxing. *The Container store has a couple of great articles to help you get through the college transfer.

School is back in Session and I am Stressed!

It is really important to start a scheduling system at the very beginning of the school year so that everyone has a plan, knows what each other is doing and to avoid chaos and stress!  The key to starting the school day off without total chaos and stress is to be prepared, plan ahead and create routines.  There are various morning routine charts available online at www.parentingresources.suite101.com. The night before you should prepare the lunches, put everything in the backpack that needs to be returned to school and sit it beside the door you exit.  Put signed papers in the backpack.  Make a prioritized, written schedule for the next day of everyone's activities.  Take advantage of the timer on the coffee pot so the coffee is ready in the morning when you are.  Have the kids do a nightly fifteen minute pick-up so there is no clutter to work around in the morning. I recommend you start the morning routine two weeks before school starts so that it is not a shock to everyone the first day of school and you have time to make any necessary adjustments to each persons routine.  Preschoolers can really benefit from a morning routine.  They are at the age where you can teach them about making decisions and they want to help with just about everything.  Leave enough time in the mornings to allow them to do as much as possible on their own as appropriate.  Kids learn by example and by making choices.  Do not rush them.  Minimize distractions for them.  Keep the items that distract them put away.  They are easily distracted by their toys and books and do not have any understanding of time. Do Not Over Schedule!  It is really easy to do as the kids get older and become involved in after school activities.  Having a centralized calendar with everyone's activities on it will make it much easier to see if activities are overlapping and to gauge the amount of activities being done.  It is recommended that kids should not be involved in more than three after school activities.  You need to leave time in their schedule for friends, family, studying and rest.

Back to School Organizing Tips for Middle School through High School Students

*Keep a schedule! They should keep a schedule of the classes and activities on the inside of their locker door with a magnetic calendar/planner.  Remind them to keep it up-to-date. *Smart Locker Storage is needed to keep the stuff the kids needs at school easily accessible and neat throughout the year.  It is basically a home away from home.  They store books, papers, pens and pencils, food, clothes and who knows what else!  It needs to be cleaned out and organized weekly.  Take advantage of magnetic hooks to hang clothes, magnetic mirrors, magnetic clips to hold papers and magnetic holders for pens and pencils.  Adjustable shelving systems available at the Container Store can be used to divide the locker into sections for backpack, books, papers and other items they may need to store.

*School backpacks are supposed to be a device used to help "transport" their stuff back and forth to school not a "catch-all" for everything.  You should remind them of this every week and the backpacks should be cleaned out weekly to discard the junk and piles of papers that accumulates in it.  Help them create a list of what they need to transport back forth every day so they have a guideline to go by.  Use heavy duty, colorful pocket folders to store papers in while in the back pack.  Designate one side for homework and the other side for work that is to be handed in.

A Filing System begins now.  They need a filing system for their locker, backpack and at home.  The system should be categorized according  subject but do not limit them to that and color coded.  If they want to be creative in their thinking, they can name each category differently.  For example: if they have an art class, they can call their file "art" or "drawing.  If they have a history class in the sixth period of the day, they can call the file "history" or "sixth".  Let them name their files but if they name the file at home "drawing" then they need to call their file in their backpack and in their locker "drawing".   If they want "drawing" to be the color red, then their files pertaining to the subject should be red and so should their notebook for that subject.  You use a different color for each subject.

Preschoolers and Toddlers - Preparing for the day

The two key components in getting the day started off well when dealing with preschoolers and toddlers is to establish morning routines and minimize distractions. Preschoolers really benefit from a morning routine!  They are at the age where you can begin to mold them to be an organized individual and you can teach them about making decisions because they want to help with just about everything. Various morning routine charts can be found at www.suite101.com. Kids learn by example and by making choices so leave enough time in the morning schedule for them to do as much as possible on their own.  Do not rush them.  Let them help pick out their clothes for the next day and sit them out so they can put them on themselves in the morning Keep the items that distract your child out of sight.  They are easily distracted at this age by their toys and books and they do not have any understanding of time or schedules.

My Mornings Are Exhausting...Before I Even Get to Work!

You feel as if you have just ran a marathon and you are not even out the door yet to go to work!

Well, you are not alone!  It is a extremely common problem facing most of us on a daily basis due to the fact the most people do not have a clear reality of how long it actually takes to do a task.

For example: I had a client who had a full time job from 8 a.m.-4 p.m .  She was the stress-out mother of two elementary school aged children, a boy and a girl. When we met for her organization planning session, she described her weekday morning routine.

I get up at 6 a.m., go downstairs and turn the coffee on. I turn around and go back upstairs so I can wake up my husband.  I go back downstairs again. Then I start making the kids lunches, straighten up the den, and grab my coffee. Now I trudge back upstairs  and pick out clothes for my husband.  Did I mention that I am usually ironing his clothes at this point?  Now I can finally get ready for work from about 6:30-6:50 a.m.  Between 6:50 to 7:30 a.m. I focus on getting the kids up and dressed for school. After getting them downstairs, they get a bowl of cereal while I load their backpacks.  We head out the door at 7:30 a.m.  I'm exhausted every morning.  I don't know how much longer I can keep this up without going bonkers.

"How would you like your mornings to run?" I ask.

She said that she would relish having 10 minutes of quiet time.  Enjoying a cup of coffee would be a luxury.  It would be a miracle not having to rush getting herself, husband, and children ready for the day.   Eating breakfast?  Now she eats a breakfast bar on the run.  Would it be possible to eat at the breakfast table every morning?

Your "In A Snap" Solution: Knowing how many tasks are in a project and how long each task takes. Step One: I had her write down every single task that she did in the morning.  Beside each task, she had to write how long she thought it took to do it.  Next she added up the total time for all her morning tasks. Her first list did not include every single task because she still kept lumping things together.  She combined her shower time with dressing, hair drying, and make-up time.  I had her break out her list in detail.  She added each individual task. Step Two: I then asked her to write down a new list.  For the next 4 days she was to write down how long it actually took her to do each task.  She quickly realized that she was trying to do way too much in the time she allotted herself. Step Three: I sat down with her.  It was time for making a few tough decisions. With gentle coaching, we walked through the process of deciding what she could do the night before : Straightening the den, packing the kids lunches, preparing their backpacks and sitting them beside the door, having the kids help her pick out their own clothes, and setting the timer on the coffee maker.  Then I asked her what could she delegate to someone else (her husband).  He could wake himself up, pick out his own clothes, and make sure they were pressed.  This allowed her husband to lend a hand with the morning routine. Step Four: After giving her new routine a test run for just one week, she was de-stressed! She was thrilled, her kids were less moody, and her husband was able to lend a helping hand. The morale to our organization story: Are you setting the stage each morning for a positive day or a rushed, stressed out day?  Let Clutter Conversions in control..Organized Living in a Snap!

Hurry! Get in the Car!

Do You Find Yourself Rushing Around Every Morning?

Are You Completely Stressed Out Before You Get to Work?

There are thousands of parents who are trying to get the kids dressed, breakfast and lunches prepared, backpacks packed in the morning, as well as, themselves ready for work and by the time the family is headed out the door, parents are already stressed and tired. 

Are you one of these harried parents?  Do you hear yourself say, "There's never enough time in the mornings to get everything done?" 

Here are a few "In A Snap" tips that will make your mornings much more enjoyable!

1. The night before, set out the children's clothes they will be wearing to school the next day.
2. While you are preparing supper, make the children's lunches, put them in their lunch bag and designate a place in the refrigerator that you will put it every night.
3. Every night before the they go to bed, set aside about 5-10 minutes for each child to pack their back pack.

 

Develop this plan and make it a part of everyone's routine every night.  By doing these 3 things, you will be teaching your children how to plan and organize while at the same time reducing everyone's stress in the morning.

Our guarantee:  You will save yourself at least a half hour every morning!  Relax and enjoy that extra cup of coffee.

Dorm Room Tip #1

Off To College We Go!!!

Now is the time of year that you are going to leave the comfort and security of your parents home and move into a whole new world. It can be exciting but also very overwhelming and stressful.You will be going to live in new place with people you don't know, making new friends as well as experiencing deadlines like you never have before. Here are some tips from "The Container Store" to help you make the transition less stressful and more enjoyable.

make a list By making a list of items you want to take to school, you're less likely to forget something important. It's not necessary to list and pack certain things, like your winter sweaters, if you'll be coming home for a visit shortly after school begins. Make sure you include items that might not be so obvious, like cleaning supplies, a sewing kit, tools, plastic dinnerware and silverware. Include toiletries and linens that you know you'll need. And you'll want photos or special keepsakes that will make your new space feel like home.

things to do Let your friends and family know your new mailing address, phone number and email address. Update your address book with their information. If you have a cell phone, make sure your plan will cover any long distance charges you might incur while at school. You may need to secure a calling card to make long distance calls from campus — check with the housing office. You may want to open a local bank account. Back up important computer files and leave an extra copy at home. Check with the housing office about guidelines for electronic equipment and appliances. Communicate with your roommate about who will bring shared items such as a microwave, refrigerator and television. Label items like CDs and reference books that you are likely to lend to other students. It's always a good idea to label your clothes in case of a mix-up at the Laundromat. If you have a car, have it serviced before leaving for campus.

prepare to pack Pack everything you can inside storage containers. This will save on the number of moving boxes you'll need. Plus, you can use the containers once you get to school to organize your belongings. If you're driving to campus, use collapsible containers to pack your things. You can use them to store stuff at school or fold them down for easy storage. If you're shipping most of your things to campus, make sure to use the proper packing materials and shipping boxes to protect your belongings. Insure the contents of the boxes and always include an extra address label inside each box.

Dorm Room Tips #2 - Packing

What Do You Mean, I Can't Take That!!

Trying to decide what to take and what not to take with you to college can be an extremely hard decision.  Just remember that you will have almost no space of your own and the rest of the space is definitely going to be shared with others. However, that does not mean you have to give up your own style and personality.  This web site http://www.containerstore.com/experthelp/tips/collegeMovingTips.jhtml;jsessionid=UWGTZVYZTKPRFQFIAILCM44AVABBOJVC will give you some packing tips to help you plan on how to take what you want.  If you are lucky enough to meet your new roommates, see what you all have in common and who is bringing what so there will not be duplicates, (dvd's, c.d.'s, hair dryers, small t.v., stereo, etc...).  This will save alot of space in your room.