Archive for kids and toys

Take a Fresh Look

June 12, 2010 at 5:01 pm · Filed under Garages, Mail, Spring Cleaning, closet, decluttering, kids and toys


Life is moving fast and throwing lots of stuff at us everyday.  We can be neat, orderly and even organized, but the stuff keeps coming at us and often will get ahead of us.  Emails, mail, phone calls, shopping, permission slips, registration forms, seminar and meeting notes…the list goes on.  The point is no one is expected to be perfect all the time.
We are working so hard and fast to keep up that we lose track of what is happening.  Here is an idea that might help you step back and take a small moment to see what is going on.
The idea of “take a Fresh Look” is based on re-looking at your space, home or office, as others see it.  In-other-words, you are blowing right by things and not looking at all.
Go out your front door (or office door) and come back in with a renewed focus.

LOOK, I mean really LOOK at what is there…
what do you see?

  • Post-it’s littered all over.
  • Toys strewn all around.
  • Coffee mugs and glasses all over the counter.
  • Piles of mail, magazines and catalogs that have been sitting for week’s.
Now you get a clear picture of what is really going on.  You see your space as a guest, colleague or client sees it.

To address the issues use the “Power De-Cluttering” that I mentioned a few weeks ago.  5 quick minutes might be all you need to sort through one pile of mail on the coffee table.   5 minutes will let you consolidate all those loose Post-its to one list.  I bet a bunch will get tossed out too.  Clear off the mugs and glasses and the counter looks neat.

Give it a try.

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Power De-Cluttering

June 12, 2010 at 4:56 pm · Filed under Mail, closet, decluttering, kids and toys

POWER DE-CLUTTERING

Piles of stuff here, there and everywhere.  It seems exhausting and over-whelming just looking at it all.  How are you ever going to get started let alone get it done?

I love to suggest the “break it down to its parts” theory.  You know this from project management skills at work.  Well bring it home.  After all, cleaning, organizing, storing, purging…it is a project.

POWER DE-CLUTTERING is the idea of taking small parts and attacking them one little part at a time.

Let’s say your dining room table or desk is buried under piles of paper, up-opened mail, kids schoolwork, your work, phone messages, old newspapers…well you get the picture.  It sounds overwhelming.  Don’t look at the total pile.  Instead commit 15 minutes and start grabbing papers that are ready to be recycled.  With a bin or bag at your side, just grab and toss.

Here is why this is easier.  You committed to a short period of time (15 minutes) and you are only making one decision (keep or recycle).  In just 15 minutes you will have made the first dent in that big pile and it wasn’t so over the top….

Tomorrow, try another 15 minute stint.

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Back to School Tips that are not just for Kids

September 1, 2009 at 1:43 am · Filed under kids and toys

Here are a few tips that anyone can use…not just the parents and kids going back to school. Use your imagination and apply the ideas to other areas of your busy life like mail management, time management and bill paying.

1. Have a drop zone. One place where the backpacks, lunch boxes, shoes, and coats “drop”. Low hooks, a bench, baskets for each person in the household near the door will help corral all that stuff that comes home.

2. Set up the Launch Pad. This will most likely be the same place as your Drop Zone. Leave things you need to take with you in the morning including school items, but also errands, returns, and more.

3. Become a night before household. Anything you can do the night before and set out in the launch pad before bed is going to save time in the busy morning. Load homework and library books in the backpacks, have duffles with sports items ready. If you are so inclined pack lunch the night before.

4. Set up a Homework area complete with all the supplies your child needs. Maybe this is the kitchen counter or table. Have a pencil box packed with everything they need in that area. Save time and reduce frustration by having everything they need in one container and ready to go. When the homework is complete, close up the container and put it away and bring the homework to the backpack for tomorrow.

5. Get up 10 minutes earlier. Are you mornings crazy? Tempers flying? Always running late? Set your alarm ten minutes earlier and chances are you will get out the door on time. Try for one week. If that doesn’t work, delete another 5 minutes.

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Making it Easier for Kids to Clean Up

June 16, 2009 at 8:45 pm · Filed under kids and toys

How can I make it easier for the kids to do their own clean up?

1. Do a big clean up together to get started.
Seperate toys into obvious and big categories like Star Wars, Legos, tea sets, dolls, etc. While you are going through all that plastic, purge anything they have out grown.

2. CLEAR BINS are better than opaque as the children can easily see the balls, Legos, action figures or whatever toy should go in to that bin.

3. LABEL, LABEL LABEL.
Labels make it so much easier to the kids to clean up on their own later.
Little kids who can’t read: Use photos and tape or glue them to the bins.
Older kids who can read: Use the words.

4. A SET TIME EVERYDAY for clean up will make it more of an expected thing to do than a surprise. Most kids do better with consistency.

As a side note, most Professional Organizers are not fans of trunks or other large boxes as the little items fall to the bottom and are lost forever….

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