Stress . . . Annoying, Isn’t It?

Guest post by Michi Story, known also as the KenZen Coach. KenZen is Japanese for harmonious mind, body and spirit. A mom of an almost four-year-old boy, Michi draws upon this, her Japanese heritage and her training as a wellness coach, personal trainer and health & fitness specialist to help other busy moms learn how to better manage their stress, get fit, lose weight, have more energy, and create more work/life harmony. Since organization, or the lack thereof, often goes hand-in-hand with these other life issues, I invited Michi to guest post and discuss one of the biggest factors of household disorganization. . . stress. Click here for Michi’s words of wisdom . . .

Organizing Rules are Meant to be Broken

Wouldn’t it be great if I could just spew a few organizing rules, you implement them, and from here until eternity your home is “perfectly” organized?

That’s the frustrating thing about organizing, though. It is not an exact science.

The other day, I was helping a client organize her kitchen cabinets. Our goals were to increase work flow, maximize cabinet space, and purge or relocate all the unnecessary or unrelated items we discovered. Things were going well until it came to the putting-it-all-back stage. Find out how breaking the “rules” made things work so much better.

Bedroom Storage Tips

Often our bedrooms are the last place we organize. But a clutter-free bedroom can be such a retreat at the end of a busy day. Sure, organizing the “public” spaces in your home is essential, but don’t neglect your bedrooms, or yourself. Everyone deserves a calm and peaceful place to rest and re-engergize. Click here for tips for your bedroom . . .

Enjoy this blast from the past!

Simply yours,

Debbie

Strategies for Stuffed Animal Overload: Confessions of an Organized Mom

I have a confession to make. I really hate to admit it, being a Professional Organizer and all. But plenty of you have admitted your dirty little organizational and productivity secrets to me, so here goes . . . (click here to read the rest of the post)

Recently, my Blue Eyed Jane and I purged her massive book collection. (Yes, sometimes my kids are not too thrilled with the fact that their mother is also their own private organizer. Especially when it means extra chores!) Nevertheless, her bookshelf was packed, and many of those books she had long since outgrown.

As we weeded through volumes of Arthur, Junie B. Jones, and The Magic Tree House, I came across a book that had first belonged to me as a child: Benny’s Animals and How He Put Them in Order (A Science I Can Read Book by Millicent E. Selsam, Harper & Row, 1966). I had forgotten all about this tale, but right there, in the middle of our project, I plopped down on the carpet to read.

I was so excited! A book about organizing for kids! What a wonderful way to introduce sorting to my clients’ youngsters. With this book, kids can start to grasp the idea of this first step of organizing without even realizing it!

My wheels were spinning about the workshops I could hold based on this book, so I decided to finish the book to refresh my memory (and Blue Eyed Jane took a much-needed break from her own sorting and plopped down with a book of her own).

The story starts out with the young, precocious, and out of the ordinary Benny, who has to be the most organized child ever invented. Benny sorts EVERYTHING! Big books are stored separately from medium books, which are stored separately from small books. Pennies are in a pile with pennies, nickels with only nickels, and so on down the line. Benny is SO overly organized, his mother even asks her husband, “Do you think Benny is all right?” (It actually reminded me of comments my husband makes about ME when I go into hyper-organized mode! So of course, I feel for Benny up to this point!)

After Father convinces Mother that Benny is just “neat,” Benny comes home from the beach and wants to sort the treasures he has found. After learning that shells come from animals, he sorts his collection (of course), putting like with like (all the scallops in a pile, clams together, etc.). He calls this collection “Animals from the Sea.”

Soon Benny’s know-it-all buddy John comes to visit and questions whether these shells are actually animals. After much discussion about what makes an animal and what makes animals different from each other, Benny’s Mother gives the boys old magazines so they can cut out pictures of animals. Before you know it, the boys are sorting all of these pictures into different categories.

At this point, I am convinced this book is an excellent resource for explaining sorting like with like. What a great way to impress this idea upon young kids learning to organize for themselves. The boys put butterflies, bats and birds in the same pile because they all have wings.

Yes! They developed a customized system that works for THEM. That’s what organization is all about. It may not be the way someone else would categorize them, but if it is a good system for them, and they are able to keep things organized based on that system, that’s all that matters.

But then Father has to botch it all up.

”These are sort of mixed up,” he tells the boys. Birds have feathers, bats have fur, and butterflies have scales . . . they CAN’T be in the same group, he claims.

Okay, I KNOW this is a science book and I KNOW that according to science these 3 creatures are NOT related, but come on! These kids are learning to sort! They figured out a common denominator that makes sense to them! Don’t bring them down, Dad!

To teach the boys a real lesson, Father takes them to the museum to learn how animals are scientifically sorted. They learn about relatives and ancestors, and they leave the museum as mini-scientists-in-training.

In terms of teaching about animal classification, this book is very informative, and aside from the fact that they look up information in a book rather than on the internet, the 41-year-old book is still relevant today.

Moreover, it does introduce the IDEA of how to sort. But my goal as a Professional Organizer is to let kids, and adults, know that there is no perfect, absolute way to organize. If it makes sense to you, if you can easily keep track of your things and retrieve them whenever you need them, it doesn’t matter if your bats and butterflies are in the same category or not.

So I am still searching for that perfect book to teach kids how to organize without them being aware of it. It has to be out there, but now that Blue Eyed Jane’s bookshelf is streamlined, I am sure it is not on HER shelf. If anybody can recommend one, let me know.

Or who knows, maybe next week I’ll let you know the publication date of MY children’s book on organizing!

Simply yours,

Is YOUR family ready for back-to-school?  As the kids gear up to head back to the classroom, there are several things you can do at home to make sure the early morning rush goes smoothly for everyone:

Create a Lunch-making Station.
If your child brings a lunch to school, make it easier on yourself by keeping all the usual ingredients together in the pantry. Items that should go in this area include: lunchbox/lunch bags, sandwich baggies, thermos, individually packed snacks, peanut butter, bread, a pad of paper and a pen for writing “love notes,” and whatever else you send your kids off with everyday.  The time you’ll save not hoping from one end of the kitchen to the other will be more time for you to linger over that morning cup of java.

Spruce up your Family Launch Pad.
A family launch pad is the place you “launch” yourself, and your family, out into the world everyday. Now’s the time to make sure it’s functioning up to speed.  Clear out all the out-of-season clutter, make sure everyone has a designated spot to hang their jacket, store their backpack/purse, and dump their shoes.  And, as per the sage advice of the Organizing Junkie, be sure to include an “I’m Outta Here” shelf.  Mine is an “outta here basket.”  This is where I throw all the things I need to take with me the next time I leave to run errands. I just grab the basket and GO!  (Right now it has the CD I need to take to the photo shop, an outfit to drop off at the consignment store, a magazine I promised to share with my friend, and plastic bags to recycle at the grocery store.)

Break out the Labelmaker.
Make sure the kids’ gear is well labeled, either with initials or full names.  If there is a possibility that a jacket or backpack will eventually be handed down to younger siblings, just use your last name to identify the item.  DYMO has a great fabric iron-on tape that will make labeling clothing, backpacks and fabric lunchboxes neat and simple.  For school supplies, choose a brightly colored label tape to make it more fun and more easily recognizable to your child.

Synchronize Everyone’s Calendars.
EVERY family member needs a personal calendar to keep track of their activities.  Just make sure the method and the events posted are age-appropriate.  For example, preschoolers can place stars on the days they go to school and stickers on the days they need to take snack.  Elementary-age kids can track their extra-curricular activities and begin learning how to juggle homework and fun.  And middle and high-school students can start taking more responsibility for being where they need to be when they need to be there.  Of course, Mom and Dad need their own calendar systems, too.  With all of these calendars floating around the house, be sure to synchronize everyone’s schedules on a weekly basis so there will be no conflicts or oversights.  Sunday after dinner is a great time for such a family meeting.                                                 

Designate a Homework Zone.
Make sure each school-age child has a special spot at home for working on their assignments.  This area should be free of distractions, well-lit, and stocked with adequate school supplies.  A bedroom desk is ideal, but the kitchen table  or home office work just as well, too.  Provide each child with their own homework bin, stocked with all the supplies they need.  The bin can be stored when not in use, but easily accessible and portable when homework calls. Check out the homework box at Housewife Hiccups:

If your kids have already started their new school year, it’s not too late to implement some of these ideas in your own house.  If you’re kids are still counting down those last precious days of summer vacation, take some time to establish these systems.  Like I’ve mentioned in the past, be sure to include your kids in the processes you establish, you never know what clever input they might be able to provide.

Good luck and HAPPY BACK-TO-SCHOOL to everyone!

Simply yours,