Seasonal Switch-Up

I don’t care how organized you are (and believe me, I am), changing out the kids’ clothing for a new season is never fun! However, with some foresight, a little preparation, and the following tips, you can make it as seamless and painless as possible.

1. Declutter Regularly. Stay with me here…I’m not saying take everything out from all the drawers and closets on a weekly basis. Rather, if you can see the outline of your child’s belly button in a t-shirt, or your kid’s athletic pants are looking like high-waters, simply add those pieces to a “Sort Later” or “Donate” bin. Or if their pants have a rip, go ahead and toss in the trash. One less item to worry about later and wonder if it’ll pass for another season. News flash: It won’t!

2. Sort Smartly. If you’ve got multiple kids, designate a bin/shelf in each’s closet for pieces that are outgrown. Then, when you go to change-out for the season, you’ll know that everything in that bin is the same size — that is, the most recent one your child was wearing.

3. Involve Kids. I’d never say this when we’re talking about toys, but with clothes, kids like what they like, and are usually more than ready to part with things they aren’t wearing, be it for reasons of comfort, style, or “just because”. In this way, kids are effectively decluttering for you.

4. Label Everything. No matter how many times I swear I will remember what a bin has in it…six months later is a long time and I never do. It’s for this reason that we recommend labeling everything! Instead of your kid’s name, label it with the size. Got multiple genders and sizes, specify “Boy 5T” and “Girl 5T”. The more specific you can get in the label, the easier it will be to change things up and out.

Clothes storage is an ever-evolving, necessary evil of having kids, but it also means our households are growing and thriving, which ultimately, is our highest priority. These four tips are designed to make the seasonal switch-up for clothing decluttering, hand-me-downs and storage as seamless as possible. But if it still feels too overwhelming to tackle amidst all your other "to-dos”, give us a call!

The Ever-Evolving Charging Station

My biggest pain point…It’s not the endless socks that my boys drop throughout the house like Hansel and Gretel lifeline crumbs. And it’s not the shoes they place exactly NEXT to, instead of IN, the designated shoe basket. (Yep, we organizers have our crosses to bear too). You want to know my biggest challenge to keeping my home “Organizer-Approved”? It’s what I call, my Tech Station — i.e., where we charge and store our household phones, tablets and smart watches.

With five people in my house, multiple devices per person, and three different charging heads (still waiting on universal charger mandates!), these are some of the options I’ve tried and/or want to try that meet my qualifying criteria:

• Must be aesthetically pleasing

• Must be able to charge no less than five devices simultaneously

• All devices must be easily accessible to connect/disconnect

For the time being, what’s been working for me is the use a multi-port USB charging brick, where I then thread the cords through the basket weave of a decor-friendly hyacinth basket. All the cumbersome cords and devices stay [largely] hidden in the basket and are easy for everyone to grab and go.

We’d love to hear your ideas for the charging stations that have been working for your families. Drop a comment!

Schedules, calendars, and planners...Oh my!

The lazy days of summer are no more, as school and extracurricular activities have begun, or are about to! And we all know it’s a lot to keep track of, so we’ve rounded up some best practices for making it all work seamlessly.

Then there’s the wall whiteboard calendar. As we suggested earlier this week in our social media posts, color-coded pens associated with each family member make for easy identification of commitments and quick viewing at a glance by the entire fam.

Smart digital calendars are another great option. These tablet-looking devices hang on your most frequented wall, and can not only display the family’s real-time calendar, but also the week’s weather report, a shuffling family photo album, and you can even stream your favorite show while you’re cooking dinner.

There’s “Old Faithful” as we like to call it — your phone’s calendar. Always on-hand, easily updated, and automatically shared with the rest of your family (if you’ve done your settings right).

As all well-oiled machines (er, families) know, communication is key! And with work, kids, and our own commitments, that is no small order! Case in point, I was just talking to my cousin who recently instilled “MMC - Morning Marriage Connection”, a half-hour block each morning at the same time where she and her husband touch base to review their daily plans/conflicts.

So whether you use MMCs, digital calendars, spiral planners, or Post-Its, there’s SOMETHING out there for everyone, we promise! And if you need help finding one that works for you, give us a call!