Ever since I was in college and worked at a shoe store I've had a love affair with shoes. Once I had kids, I transferred that love to buying them shoes instead of buying shoes for myself. They have smaller feet and their shoes look much cuter than mine.
Consequently, our entry was always strewn with shoes. It was always messy and sometimes impossible to find mates for each pair without a major excavation dig.
A couple of months ago, while shopping at IKEA, I noticed some black plastic shoe caddies that were designed to hang on the wall. They were UGLY. But I saw potential. They came in a pack of three, and I happen to have three kids. I bought them, brought them home and went shopping for paint.
I found some dark chocolate brown spray paint for plastic and asked my husband to paint the caddies. With the new brown exterior, they look much better and each of my kids has his or her own caddy to put all their shoes into when they come in from outside.
Our entry is much less cluttered!
Showing posts with label organization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label organization. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Keep Your Kids Shoes in Check
Shoes should not be a problem at our house.
I'm the only girl here, which means our equation is:
# of shoes mom owns = # of shoes all 4 boys own + a few more if we're counting flip flops
I mean flip flops don't really count, do they?
Nonetheless, we have shoe issues. Each boys owns 1 pair of tennis shoes, 1 pair of loafer-type shoes, and 1 pair of boots. Plus, they each have eighty-five pairs of sporting goods shoes since apparently every sport requires a different type of cleat. And basketball shoes, which, thankfully, require no cleats. Also, they need some sort of cool sandal to wear to the sporting event, because you would never want to show up in your game shoes, ready to go. Duh.
If your house even slightly resembles mine, you will recognize this frequent conversation.
5 minutes before it's time to leave:
Kid: "Mom, where are my shoes?"
Me: "Are they in the shoe closet?"
Kid: "No. Mooom, where are they? I need them."
Me: "Gee, honey, I haven't worn them lately."
I am actually considering just recording this whole thing and hitting "play" when it starts, so I can leave the room and get a much needed diet Pepsi.
To help our growing offspring get a clue in life--and get themselves organized--we got crafty.
First, we ripped the old bifold doors off of the "shoe (and coat) closet."
I'm the only girl here, which means our equation is:
# of shoes mom owns = # of shoes all 4 boys own + a few more if we're counting flip flops
I mean flip flops don't really count, do they?
Nonetheless, we have shoe issues. Each boys owns 1 pair of tennis shoes, 1 pair of loafer-type shoes, and 1 pair of boots. Plus, they each have eighty-five pairs of sporting goods shoes since apparently every sport requires a different type of cleat. And basketball shoes, which, thankfully, require no cleats. Also, they need some sort of cool sandal to wear to the sporting event, because you would never want to show up in your game shoes, ready to go. Duh.
If your house even slightly resembles mine, you will recognize this frequent conversation.
5 minutes before it's time to leave:
Kid: "Mom, where are my shoes?"
Me: "Are they in the shoe closet?"
Kid: "No. Mooom, where are they? I need them."
Me: "Gee, honey, I haven't worn them lately."
I am actually considering just recording this whole thing and hitting "play" when it starts, so I can leave the room and get a much needed diet Pepsi.
To help our growing offspring get a clue in life--and get themselves organized--we got crafty.
First, we ripped the old bifold doors off of the "shoe (and coat) closet."
Then, we ripped out the nasty old linoleum, and started working.
We could've just stuck with a nice new linoleum, but I find that setting tile is a wonderful way to enrich your marriage. Try it sometime, you'll see.
Next, we drew dimensions, cut and painted wood, and got out one of my very favorite tools, the nail blaster. (Pretty sure that's not the official name, but I think you know what I mean.)
The final touch was adding those baskets. The SHOE baskets. The ones you PUT YOUR SHOES IN the minute you take them off. Theoretically.
The good news: We have the "Where are my shoes" conversation about 90% less often.
The bad news: Have you ever smelled a basket of boys' shoes?
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
My Number One House Cleaning Tip
Hire someone to come every day.
Ha!
Ha, ha, ha, ha. That’s a good one, isn’t it?
In the world I actually inhabit, a daily housekeeper isn’t feasible. However, it’s not a job I save a lot of time for. Between writing, speaking, being a mother, friend, and wife, if I have two hours free, mopping is not at the top of my list of things to do.
Plus, it’s seriously valuable for kids to learn these tasks early, right?
It took me years to come up with a plan that worked, but I finally did.
It’s as simple as a deck of cards.
What you’ll need:
Poster board
Pencil
Sharpie
List of tasks
Clear Contact to “laminate” your tasks
What you’ll do:
Think about every cleaning job you do and break them down into tasks. Think do-able jobs for kids. “Clean the bathroom,” for example, will not get you a clean bathroom. I guarantee it. Instead, you might break that job down into these tasks: clean the bathtub and shower, scrub the toilet, scrub the sink, clean the mirror, dust, and mop the floor.
Once you have your list, if your kids are uninitiated, you need to show them exactly what each task entails. How do you want them to clean the toilet? What, precisely, do you want them to dust. Skip this step and live with the dirty results. This, too, I can promise.
Once everyone understands the tasks, it’s time to make the cards. Use a pencil to mark off rectangles on a colorful piece of poster board. In each rectangle, write or draw one task with a Sharpie. (I do a crude drawing along with a short description.) Cut out the rectangles and use the clear Contact paper to laminate each one.
On the days of your choice, hand each child the cards with their tasks for the day. I found that my kids were much more receptive to this “game”: Place all of the cards face down on the table and let them take turns choosing cards. The drawback to this approach is that you can’t try to keep things even. The same child might draw "scrub the bathtub" and "dust the living room. " It’s the price of fun, I suppose.
To keep things interesting, you can add a few cards like “Free Pass: Give mom one of your jobs,” or “Earn $1 by doing an extra job.”
Fair warning: This will not go smoothly from the get-go. It will take you just as long, maybe longer, to get the house clean as you help them learn. But eventually, eventually they will learn.
And that’s a day we can all celebrate!
Ha!
Ha, ha, ha, ha. That’s a good one, isn’t it?
In the world I actually inhabit, a daily housekeeper isn’t feasible. However, it’s not a job I save a lot of time for. Between writing, speaking, being a mother, friend, and wife, if I have two hours free, mopping is not at the top of my list of things to do.
Plus, it’s seriously valuable for kids to learn these tasks early, right?
It took me years to come up with a plan that worked, but I finally did.
It’s as simple as a deck of cards.
What you’ll need:
Pencil
Sharpie
List of tasks
Clear Contact to “laminate” your tasks
What you’ll do:
Think about every cleaning job you do and break them down into tasks. Think do-able jobs for kids. “Clean the bathroom,” for example, will not get you a clean bathroom. I guarantee it. Instead, you might break that job down into these tasks: clean the bathtub and shower, scrub the toilet, scrub the sink, clean the mirror, dust, and mop the floor.
Once you have your list, if your kids are uninitiated, you need to show them exactly what each task entails. How do you want them to clean the toilet? What, precisely, do you want them to dust. Skip this step and live with the dirty results. This, too, I can promise.
Once everyone understands the tasks, it’s time to make the cards. Use a pencil to mark off rectangles on a colorful piece of poster board. In each rectangle, write or draw one task with a Sharpie. (I do a crude drawing along with a short description.) Cut out the rectangles and use the clear Contact paper to laminate each one.
On the days of your choice, hand each child the cards with their tasks for the day. I found that my kids were much more receptive to this “game”: Place all of the cards face down on the table and let them take turns choosing cards. The drawback to this approach is that you can’t try to keep things even. The same child might draw "scrub the bathtub" and "dust the living room. " It’s the price of fun, I suppose.
To keep things interesting, you can add a few cards like “Free Pass: Give mom one of your jobs,” or “Earn $1 by doing an extra job.”
Fair warning: This will not go smoothly from the get-go. It will take you just as long, maybe longer, to get the house clean as you help them learn. But eventually, eventually they will learn.
And that’s a day we can all celebrate!
Tuesday, December 1, 2009
What am I gonna wear?
As a female, I can always remember having issues with "what am I gonna wear today?!" After staring into my closet for 10 minutes, I'd try on 15-20 different outfits, finally decide on one and then frantically rush to finish up because now I was running late to school, to work, to ______ you fill in the blank.
{Even now as a work at home mom, I still have this issue. Probably because my maternity clothes are too big and my other clothes are either too small, too worn, or don't fit right any longer....but that is a whole other story. Please don't get me started!}
Once my kids were born, not only did I have to get myself ready but two babies too. After maternity leave, I headed back to my corporate career while my babies stayed home with a nanny and eventually daycare. Every Sunday, I checked the extended weather report and picked out clothes for each day of the week, folded them and stacked them in a pile by day in their closet. Then each night, I'd set out the clothes for the following day. This led to a less stressful morning and me being able to get out the door on time, except on those separation anxiety days (again another story for another post.)
Fast forward 2 years, I became a work at home mom and this organization went by the wayside, we had a lot of pajama days. In September, my big kids started am preschool and that meant getting 4 kids ready and out the door.
I'm back to every Sunday night, getting their clothes picked out for the week, so come Monday morning, all I have to do is grab the pile, add socks and underwear (or diaper) and we are good to go. No extra minutes figuring out what to wear (except for me) or fighting over clothes at least for now.
I'll just enjoy this time until my two girls get older and stare into their closet and say "what am I gonna wear today?!"
What do you do to solve this morning dilema?
{Even now as a work at home mom, I still have this issue. Probably because my maternity clothes are too big and my other clothes are either too small, too worn, or don't fit right any longer....but that is a whole other story. Please don't get me started!}
Once my kids were born, not only did I have to get myself ready but two babies too. After maternity leave, I headed back to my corporate career while my babies stayed home with a nanny and eventually daycare. Every Sunday, I checked the extended weather report and picked out clothes for each day of the week, folded them and stacked them in a pile by day in their closet. Then each night, I'd set out the clothes for the following day. This led to a less stressful morning and me being able to get out the door on time, except on those separation anxiety days (again another story for another post.)
Fast forward 2 years, I became a work at home mom and this organization went by the wayside, we had a lot of pajama days. In September, my big kids started am preschool and that meant getting 4 kids ready and out the door.
I'm back to every Sunday night, getting their clothes picked out for the week, so come Monday morning, all I have to do is grab the pile, add socks and underwear (or diaper) and we are good to go. No extra minutes figuring out what to wear (except for me) or fighting over clothes at least for now.
I'll just enjoy this time until my two girls get older and stare into their closet and say "what am I gonna wear today?!"
What do you do to solve this morning dilema?
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