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DeAnn M
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| Posted: July 29 2009 at 11:18pm | IP Logged
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Wow...I'm so impressed. I don't know where to begin! I think I'll look at my saran wrap/alum. foil drawer first! Who knew? Don't you think they should write that on the box somewhere? (Hee Hee...I just looked. The box clearly says, "Push in Here to Secure Roll." ) Really makes me think that if I would just slow down, take a deep breath, and pay attention to what I'm doing, maybe I would find some help where I least expected it!
I knew you guys would have some gems! Keep it rolling ladies!
Blessings,
DeAnn
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ALmom
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| Posted: July 29 2009 at 11:55pm | IP Logged
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Sorry, Jennifer, I should have put a winky thing up there. I loved the way those baskets looked - you have really good taste, honestly and everytime I've seen your home, I can feel the beauty and order. I'm just learning, myself. But, don't worry, you never make me feel badly - I just admire your very aesthetic sense of beauty. I would love to have very beautiful and artsy baskets - but without your post, it just never would have occured to me to put books in baskets. Normally, I spin around trying to get things just perfect before going with it - I'm learning. (Those perfectionist melancholic tendencies often keep me spinning my wheels longer than I should - but this time I took the basic idea from you and ran with it in my own way figuring better was good enough.  I have a few really pretty baskets that I put on the top where we can see them. I'm also sure it would look better if I'd held off for all white or something - but right now, I just needed to do it.
I'm so impressed with so many moms organizing ideas. I love the clothes organizing tip. When I get to my closet, I know what I'm doing!!!  Thanks to all you ladies, I may one day actually get organized. I keep thinking of the old man with the sword running around in Russians are Coming saying, "We've just got to get organized." My whole family broke into hysterics at that scene cause it was a direct quote from mom and probably looked a bit like me running around the house in a panic saying this mantra over and over.
Janet
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mcchatty
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 12:12am | IP Logged
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Over the door pocket organizers! And I mean ALL over- I have one in each of my kids closets to hold- athletic cups, belts, specific socks(for sports, etc..) batting gloves, ties, tights ,hair clips, cranks for palate expanders, you name it! The ones I have have a front pocket, so we make a label with an index card and a sharpie and now all those things have a "home". My utility closet has one,- glue gun, flashlights, batteries, string, duct tape and a lot more. My hall closet has one, holds leashes, mittens, hats ice scrapers in winter and bug spray, sunscreen, and pool tags and sunglasses in summer. We have an older home with thick solid doors, so for some of mine, they are mounted on screw hooks on the inside of the door, instead of over the door. My bathrooms have them and each kids has a labelled pocket- REVOLUTIONIZED my bathroom counter- I won't say the young 'uns always put everything away, but everything (contact stuff, clearisil, toothbrushes, rubber bands for braces, medicines, etc...) has a specific spot- drawers turn into a morass in my house. These labelled pockets work for me.
mcchatty
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 6:41am | IP Logged
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ALmom wrote:
I keep thinking of the old man with the sword running around in Russians are Coming saying, "We've just got to get organized." My whole family broke into hysterics at that scene cause it was a direct quote from mom and probably looked a bit like me running around the house in a panic saying this mantra over and over.
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This has me rolling, Janet!!!
I'm so glad you took an idea and ran with it, made it your own, fitting in your budget, and the outcome is pleasing to you!!!!!!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19 , ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 6:47am | IP Logged
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Waverley wrote:
| Store similar clothing and shoes regardless of size in one box. |
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 Ok, that is an awesome tip, ladies!!!! Everyone...dig out your attic and basement outgrown clothes storage this weekend!!!!
Seriously...I had done this to some extent with pajamas, winter coats and hats, shoes......but not completely and it does make sense! Especially because one child may be in 2T clothes, but a 3T Easter outfit would still fit. If they were grouped in this way, it would be easy to see what's at hand. AND...I actually have a pile of outgrown clothes to put away that was on my **to-do** list for this weekend!!!! Excellent organizational tip, Waverley!!
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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JennGM
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 7:07am | IP Logged
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ALmom wrote:
I keep thinking of the old man with the sword running around in Russians are Coming saying, "We've just got to get organized." My whole family broke into hysterics at that scene cause it was a direct quote from mom and probably looked a bit like me running around the house in a panic saying this mantra over and over.
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This is one of most used quotes in our family growing up, and we still use it! We must have similar temperments!
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to  & ds1  '03 & ds2  '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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JennGM
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 7:10am | IP Logged
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I keep wanting to contribute to this thread, but alas, I have no great organizational tips.
Ladies, with your book baskets or bins, are they on the floor?
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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amyable
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 7:11am | IP Logged
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Waverley wrote:
Store similar clothing and shoes regardless of size in one box.
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We've been doing this for a few years thanks to advice from SuzanneG on a long lost thread here. It's been great! Although we don't have enough of anything to have a whole box of white shoes, for example. 
Which I suppose leads me to my only tip (because I'm organizationally challenged): get rid of 50% of what you own, then another 25%. The rest will be much easier to deal with. 
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Amy
mom of 5, ages 6-16, and happy wife of
The Highly Sensitive Homeschooler
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Mackfam
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 7:58am | IP Logged
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JennGM wrote:
| Ladies, with your book baskets or bins, are they on the floor? |
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Some of mine are up on shelves, and some are on the floor. It depends on how *protected* a basket of books needs to be from Octo-baby - who enjoys visiting with all the books.
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Jen Mackintosh
Wife to Rob, mom to dd 19, ds 16, ds 11, dd 8, and dd 3
Wildflowers and Marbles
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jdostalik
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 8:29am | IP Logged
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A laundry tip that saved me from laundry chaos...I was always able to get the clothes clean, but they usually ended up in huge folded piles on my love seat and then, you know, someone has to find "that shirt" or "those socks" and was digging through piles in frustration and of course, the piles would fall over, get mussed...
So, on a friend's recommendation, I bought small round white laundry baskets at WalMart for each of my children. I used a sharpie to write each child's name on their basket. The laundry comes out of the dryer, goes into a big basket. Then, I grab the stack of kids' baskets, line them up and begin folding and putting the kids' clothes directly into their baskets.
The best part of this is when you get interrupted in your laundry and someone needs that certain item and it hasn't found it's way home to their dresser drawer--you can say, go check in your basket...It is kind of like a temporary "drawer." And the kids know they must empty their basket each night and put their clothes away. This single tip has helped me to remain caught up on laundry...I am such a visual person, that I gain pleasure lining up their little baskets and then filling them with clean, folded clothes.
The baskets also stack well and take up little space in the laundry room--another plus.
All these tips have been wonderful! Thanks!
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God Bless,
Jennifer in TX
wife to Bill, mom to six here on earth and eight in heaven.
Let the Little Ones Come
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 9:14am | IP Logged
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Mackfam wrote:
Waverley wrote:
| Store similar clothing and shoes regardless of size in one box. |
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Ok, that is an awesome tip, ladies!!!! Everyone...dig out your attic and basement outgrown clothes storage this weekend!!!! |
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Oh don't get too carried away .. I tried it and while it's nice for *some* things.. especially shoes.. I can NOT do it for clothes..
We switch out clothing at least twice a year for seasonal reasons and..
imagine.. 8 sets of clothings and having to pull out all the old clothing and then do each outfit for each child at once.. OR go through every box each time for each child..
I think it would probably work well for fewer kids but when clothing is by size.. I can pull out 2 boxes or so.. take all of one child's clothing out.. put away all their new clothes and then do the next child. Which means even if I check up a size for a special outfit for a child it's only one extra box out.. not EVERY SINGLE BOX for EVERY SINGLE CHILD..
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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hylabrook1
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 9:20am | IP Logged
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I'm very much with Suzanne on "containerizing" little things. Dishpans are so useful for this.
Peace,
Nancy
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 10:29am | IP Logged
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Housework Done Incorrectly Still Blesses Your Family (thank you, flylady).
Paying for good organization is cheaper than an addition. Sometimes its worth it to buy a good system for an area and have peace for the next 10 yrs. I splurged on shelving at the Container Store in order to find one that was exactly the right size for my laundry space rather than making do with something from Lowes that didn't fit. And we paid for IKEA closet organization so that I could fit three girls clothes into one closet, including off season clothing. We also bought IKEA cubbies for the basement family room and craftroom, which has made daily clean up much more doable for children. We don't have a schoolroom. Cheap pink IKEA desks (two fit under one loft bed and the third is in a corner) and nice canvas bags for the 3 girls for school (got the bag idea here somewhere) have saved my sanity more than once. And a $20 labelmaker from any old store is well worth the money. 
IKEA is over 2 hrs away for us. Its an all day trip where we squoosh into the big van and take two rows out, knowing we'll come home with lots of flat long boxes (we have lists made before we go). We go once every few years, when things are feeling out of control. But they always seem to offer exactly what I'm looking for (which reminds me, I am in desperate need of more school shelf space and have no floor space left. Need to talk with dh about some more billy bookcases ).
In my small laundry room, I have a shelf set up with one square laundry basket per bedroom. Clothes get folded into the bedroom they go into and get emptied every afternoon with chores. By ordering everything per bedroom instead of per person, I simplified and decluttered my entire laundry process.
Don't rotate children's chores monthly or weekly. Give them the entire job for a year so that they get really good at it, and cannot pass the blame onto someone else ("It was so and so's job to do it last week, not mine"). Thank you, Maxwell's.
Consider storage space in an out-of-the-box way. For instance, under the bed boxes can store cases of canned goods under a couch. And the Pantry Principle saves tons of time (both from Amy Daczyczyn of Tightwad Gazette).
Finally, a master grocery list on the computer (Maxwell's again) that can be easily edited before shopping.
Now if only I could get organized enough to actually shop only once a month! 
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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MrsM
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I'm going to Ikea today, Books! At the top of my list? Containers for organizing! We are blessed to live 45 minutes away from Ikea, and I probably go two or three times a year, plus send my dh another 2 times. That place is a homeschoolers'/organizing junkie's dream, don't you think? My tip? Live near Ikea. Move if you have to.
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Lynn in California
Homeschooling dd13, dd11, ds10, and ds8
Mom to Miracle Baby ds3
Mom to darling Elizabeth and Francis, held in Mary's arms and always in my heart
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Bookswithtea
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 11:23am | IP Logged
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MrsM wrote:
| I'm going to Ikea today, Books! At the top of my list? Containers for organizing! We are blessed to live 45 minutes away from Ikea, and I probably go two or three times a year, plus send my dh another 2 times. That place is a homeschoolers'/organizing junkie's dream, don't you think? My tip? Live near Ikea. Move if you have to. |
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Yes, it is a dream place for those addicted to organizing  , and who are also working with tight spaces . Baskets, candles and color seems to mask the kind of sterile look it could have. I redid my desk area a year ago with IKEA stuff and some pretty colored organizing boxes/etc from other places. Got a really nice wicker file basket at IKEA that hangs above my desk with flowery files that peek through the open wicker. I am really happy with how it turned out.
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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Waverley
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 12:24pm | IP Logged
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JodieLyn wrote:
Oh don't get too carried away .. I tried it and while it's nice for *some* things.. especially shoes.. I can NOT do it for clothes.. |
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I agree with not doing it for all clothes. For regular everyday (non-special event) clothes, I store those by size. I can't imagine an enormous bin of winter clothes for 5 kids. But for discrete items it has worked for us. If its time to break out the swimsuits, I get out the swimsuit bin and I know that if one of the swimsuits in the bin doesn't fit, I don't have anymore. It's one bin for all swimsuits instead of having to pull out 5 bins of different size boxes looking for swimsuits. Also, since we swim all year round (indoor and out), if a child outgrows a swimsuit, that child can go down to the basement, pull out the swimsuit bin and select another one.
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Waverley
wife to Dh for 19 years, dd (16), dd (11), dd (8), ds (6), dd (4), dd (9-13-1996)
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Donna Marie
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We are still working on the clothing storage thing ourselves...I am learning! As a matter of fact, I blogged about that today. I think that I can divide most of my clutter into laundry woes, bursting from shelves books, and overabundant dishes. I have been culling all 3.
One thing that took me awhile to get into practice was the fill the sink with hot soapy water before you eat dinner and make sure the drain board is cleared for action. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! I fight less with ...certain individuals who shall remain nameless... to get them to WASH THEIR OWN. This way my under 10 crowd can learn to wash and be thorough with just 3ish things that haven't been encrusted yet
I have even taken to keeping only a few more dishes/plates/bowls then we need in the cupboard and the rest are neatly stacked in a box on the shelf at the top of the attic stairs. I have SHARPIED(this comes off ceramic) the kids names on their mugs and give them a parking spot on a tray. Every day I change the color of the sharpie so ...certain individuals who shall remain nameless don't forget to wash their cups! I only have out one mug per child and that is it. They are forced to live with less...and I will fine a scrubbing chore to anyone who doesn't stick to their own...they learn fast! There is less on the counter...less cluttering up the kitchen. And even if we have every dish dirty and need to make dinner...there is ROOM to do so! (not that this happens in anyone elses' home..I'm just sayin
When we are schooling...I CANNOT be everywere! So I am trying to make the house work FOR me. I hate doing this sometimes. But I know it will save me a headache later. I've said it before, and I will say it again...there ain't enough chocolate in the world for this job!
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God love you!
Donna Marie from NJ
hs momma to 9dc!!
Finding Elegant Simplicity
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JennGM
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I'm looking up to you ladies. With just two, some of these tips aren't practical for me. I had just finished putting away and relabeling some of our clothes bins.
One tip about buying containers -- decide what you need to contain, where it's going to go, estimate size. Do all this BEFORE you shop for containers. In other words, decide on your needs before you buy, instead of buying containers on whims and then trying to adjust them to your needs.
A tip from a professional organizer was to get matching containers for one area, as the symmetry helps look more organized, than mismatched looks messy and disorganized, even if it's all put away.
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Jennifer G. Miller
Wife to & ds1 '03 & ds2 '07
Family in Feast and Feria
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ALmom
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| Posted: July 30 2009 at 9:28pm | IP Logged
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JennGM ; You asked about the baskets on the floor. Unlike Jennifer, none of mine are on the floor. I use the baskets right on my bookshelves and then may carry one or two into another room and set them on a table top/ top of a shelf while we are working on a unit or time period. I learned from experience (fleas which required vacuuming everyday and a German Shepherd who sheds buckets per day) that we just don't vacuum like we should if we keep having to move all those things around off the floor. (And unlike Jennifer, I'm not very good at restraining the quantity - well and if you saw the number of my books, I just couldn't allow them to wander or we'd be overrun). Oh and because the baskets take up slightly more room than the books crammed in - I did have to decide what I really use. It really forces me to the best organizational tip but one that I have a hard time actually getting to - which is getting rid of stuff. So I have a big box going out the door. I'll let all local folks peruse it first if they desire. I found some duplicates of good books and I no longer have a pre-schooler.
OH and for the hopelessly disorganized - when you decide to get rid of stuff, Immediately place it in a box and place the box in the trunk. You won't have the stuff wandering back in.
Guess that gets me to the other organizational tip. I try to make a point of having nothing stored on the floor except furniture. We just cannot handle it - we are too , well, disorganized. I'd rather purchase a little storage shelf or something than to have little items, baskets or other such stored on the floor. It becomes the place that the exploded duplos hide behind or the dog hair magnet or the thing that becomes the catch all. (Now if only someone could tell me how to keep my kitchen counter from being the catch all!)
Oh getting a tall shelf for all our music CDs, tapes, and DVDs - with doors that closed (and not glass). Before this, we had these mountainous stacks on the top of all the stuff I thought we'd get to this year - and then with each of us adding to the stack (that is 8 folks), well it became an eyesore and totally inefficient. Funny how neatly things stay when they are behind closed doors. And I can still pull that CD out and play it for all of us. If I need to - maybe I should put a little basket behind closed doors to hold this years material
Edited to add my main thought - when dc clothes get holes or become unsightly, I immediately take a pair of scissors and cut them so that they are unwearable. This way when they go through the wash, they don't end up back in the pile in the drawer. They obviously must go to my rag bag - and they stay there instead of being reclaimed!! (Sorry guys, we really are pretty bad about being disorganized around here. My children have been known to retrieve things from the trash .
OH and all black socks here - I don't match socks. Every boy wears the same kind. My dh has a green thread sewn into the top of his so the oldest boy doesn't wear them. Then oldest boys are obvious and so are youngest. One child who seems to have a collection of everyone else's hand me downs just waits till everyone else claims their socks - then he takes what is left and has plenty. It doesn't matter if one sock disappears or gets worn out. I cut it and throw it in the rag bin and there is still a sock to match - even if we have odd numbers. Eventually another one wears out.
Janet
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ALmom
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Another Jennifer organizing tip I borrowed - using notebooks.
My address box and my recipe boxes were nightmares. My ds and I were forever calling each other at the last minute hoping the other could find the recipe we just couldn't find - and then ending up with 3 copies and still having to call each other. Then I have 4 other folks who cook in this house and - no way in our disorganized bunch were any of those recipes staying remotely organized. Ditched the box and put recipes in photo pages in a 3 ring binder. We can all use the recipe's and they are always where we left them - besides the plastic pages spare the cards and are easy to wipe down if they get sticky fingers on them (mostly mine as I'm the messiest of the bunch). No more cards falling out, being knocked out and scattered by toddler on the floor.
Did the same thing with the address book. Now it isn't completely alphabetized - add too much in. But all the Bs are together at least and I can find an address quickly.
My recipes are organized with main meals first - according to types of meat/ beans. Then I have the side dishes and breads and end with the deserts. We can find what we need.
Janet
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4Real Forums : Planning and Ordering our Days
Topic: What Organizing Tip Changed Your Life?
