Charming CHARLIE Fashion store is one Organized Store!

What kind of store will attract an Organizer? A store that is organized by Color!

This store uses two of my favorite organizing things

1) Organizes with color
2) Organizes with Cubbies

I love how they organize their whole store by colors.  There are items in several places. There might be a necklace or purse that you like in pink, but you need it in green…. go over to the green zone and you may find it!

Be sure to check out my whole post on Charming Charlies that also have a video on my Explore Ohio with Sandy blog!

Avery Celebrates Teachers Sweepstakes

If you are a teacher then this Sweepstakes is for you!

Avery wants to give back to all those teachers who have given us and our kids so much with the Avery Celebrates Teachers Sweepstakes.

Teachers give of themselves each day – all with the focus of helping our kids reach their full potential… How cool is that?  I have several friends who are teachers and I am amazed at what they do.  Personally…I don’t have the patience to do that everyday all day! So I really respect what they do!

Avery also realizes that teachers spend a lot of their own money on school supplies because school budgets are cut everywhere and very often have to use their own money for supplies.

This contest is for any teacher in the US to enter and it does include Homeschool teachers!

Just another tid bit of information that I learned and did not know – Avery is a partner in the Box Tops for Education program. You can find out more information about it at Avery.com /Boxtops

Teachers have a chance to win a $1,000 Grand Prize Package!  (Look at this…wishing I could try for this!)

* Goodie Bag of Avery products valued at $500!
* SpaFinder gift card valued at $350
* Starbucks gift card valued at $150

Second Place Prize  - There will be 3 of these!

* Valued at $200 each

Third Place Prize  - There will be 5 of these!

* Valued at $80 each

See all the rules and details at the Avery Celebrates Teachers Sweepstakes. This contest will end on September 15, 2010

Disclosure:  I  will be receiving a gift basket of Avery supplies valued up to $50 for myself and will also in turn be able to have a giveaway on my blog for my readers..in return for helping to get the word out about this cool contest for teachers.  The thoughts are my own although I did use the information off of the Avery Celebrate Teachers Sweepstakes site for this post.

Organizing tips for Back to School

When do your kids go back to school?

Are you ready?  Jumping up and down..or crying your eyes out?

But for all of us it means a Change in Routine!  There are lunches to pack, book bags to attend to, papers to see, sign and dates to put into our calendars.  Getting to bed earlier, getting up earlier.  Catching a bus or learning the route to walk/ride bikes, or moms doing the driving (like me).

This is part of a post I did last year – to give you an idea on how to make a “Routine Board” for the Morning crazies we all have.

I gave some tips for morning and afternoon routine in my Back To School Post you can see here.  Today I want to tell you about the School Routine Board you can make for your kids.  I use this same concept for a Chore Board..but this is why it is such an adaptable idea.  Here are the steps to Make your own.  Instead of the child’s name at the top of the board, you can use “Before School” and “After School”.  Then use your magnets and drawer pictures with brief description of the task that needs to be done.  Children are visual and instead of rattling off the list of “To Do’s” every morning, they will know to look at the Routine Board.

It’s just another way for your morning and after school routines to go a little smoother.

Organizing Under the Sink by Martha Clouse

Easy and Efficient Under Sink Storage

What have you tried to store under your kitchen sink? The space is different in each house depending on where the water lines and disposal end up.  You are lucky to get one skinny container on one side of the cabinet.

Then there is the mix of cleaning products; dishwashing liquids, powders and tablets; trash can liners; rubber gloves; and assorted scrubbing doo-dads. The shapes and sizes are a nightmare to organize and contain.

When you are in a hurry, something is bound to topple over.  Gooey spills, dishwasher detergent powder, and spider webs conspire against you to make a sticky, dirty mess under there!

Let me offer a few suggestions. You are free to mix and match to come up with a solution that fits your unique circumstance.

1. Store only what you use in the kitchen here. If you have an adequate pantry or space in your laundry room, keep the majority of your cleaning products there. This also helps cut down on the danger of poisons a child can reach (locks are necessary, but should not be the only safeguard!)
2. Move trash bag liners to your plastic wrap area. These boxes should fit in the drawer on their side.
3. Cover the floor of your cabinet with a rubber mat or shelf liner. The spills and grit will be easy to clean with a wet sponge. Once that cheap particle board gets wet, it is never the same. A pristine cupboard looks good when you get ready to sell.
4. Use a slide out container with a stable bottom. Choose solid plastic, mesh, or metal stripping that is less than ½” apart to avoid tipping.

• A 6 qt plastic shoebox with no lid will do for the side of your cabinet that has the most head room.  This is the frugal organizer’s option.
• The Rolls Royce of pull-outs for the tall side is the 11” X 21” chrome Lynk Professional Kitchen Under-Sink Rollout Double Drawer.  There is an 11’ X 18” version as well.

• Finally, I love the 1’ X 1’ ITSO wide tray  toat Target ($5.19) This can hold sponges, rubber gloves, scrubbers on the short side.

Once you make these changes, you will be surprised at how easily and efficiently you can access everything you need from your now beautiful under sink storage!

Martha Clouse is founder of Organized For Life, a professional organizing company.     After moving 11 times in 20 years as a military wife while raising four children, Martha shares with you what she learned “under fire” about coping with change, using time to your advantage, and how to create a calm oasis out of chaos.

To learn more about setting up rooms for maximum utility while retaining a spacious feel, the basic systems you need in your home office to guarantee productivity, how to save an hour a day consistently, and to receive access to the free e-booklet “60 Tips to Get Organized NOW!”, visit Organized For Life.

Hanes and Organized Undies Drawers

Is your underwear drawer Messy or Organized?

I was in New York City for the big BlogHer conference for bloggers.  I was invited to this Hanes party and what do you think I thought when I saw this display? LOL  Yep…right up my alley!

This place was decorated so cute with underwear on pillows and umbrellas made from T Shirts. But they had a display showing a messy underwear drawer and an organized underwear drawer.

And then an organized drawer.  Aren’t these cool?

Now…here is the kicker. They were having contest to see who could organize a drawer the fastest. They were giving out gift certificates. They had one more contest and of course my friends nominated me.  Ok…this was too much pressure. I am the organizer…of course everyone would expect me to win… and I should right?  LOL

There was a laundry basket of underclothes, sweatpants, underwear, socks, tshirts and bras. We had to take them and fold them and organize them in our drawers the quickest. The fastest time before our last group was 1 min. 50 some seconds (I think).

My hands were shaking!! Literally.  But….. I didn’t win. The girl you see in the picture beat me by a split second. I think our time was in the 1 min. 30 second range….so I also beat the record. Does that count? LOL

But it was fun….

Michael Moloney from Extreme Home Makeover was there as the MC. He was so nice!  And of course very nice looking! {drool}

But it got me thinking. My underwear drawer is not really very organized. I have everything in it’s “area” of my drawer, but I don’t have any official boxes or “sectioned off” areas.  Hmmm….I might have to do that especially with the new fun undies and bras that Hanes gave me as swag.

Baskets can Organize your Laundry Room

They can add some color too!

Aren’t these fun baskets?  They were the solution for me in my small laundry room.  Theses were an “impulse” buy.  I was in Target and spotted the lime green laundry hampers and decided they would look so fun in my laundry room. Then I saw these smaller baskets that matched and decided to outfit my laundry room with them.

They serve a great purpose and brighten up a room that isn’t the funnest to go into.

I’ve used these photos before..so you may have seen them, but here is my full (small) laundry room.

Using Baskets to organize office supplies

Re-purposing a bookshelf in a closet is thinking outside the box.

This picture is actually looking into a closet.  I had a challenge with a client. Organize all these office supplies.  There was a small closet in the room and a bar across it and a couple of little shelves that had been left by a previous owner. There was no need for clothes for this office….and I wanted to utilize this space.

The client had  this bookshelf that wasn’t being used.  I did all the measurments before I had it moved into the room.  It was going to fit! I was So excited!

Now for the containers.  I wanted to use a clear plastic so that you could easily see what was in them.  I measured the shelf height and length to make sure I could get the most use out of the space…knowing I was buying the right size baskets or plastic boxes.

If you notice I have the lids off the boxes.  It would look very nice and neat to have them on, but would things get put back as easy if you had to lift a lid to do it?  This was a place that I could leave them open and easily accessible.  But….I did put the lid directly under the basket so that you don’t have to worry about losing them…and they are there if you want to use them.

Laundry Baskets for your kids

Zillions of uses, fun colors…what’s not to love?

I saw these  laundry baskets at Walmart and loved the colors!!   They were only $2 each….SO ….I had to get them for the kids!!

I picked out 5 of them, each in the kids colors.  (I color code my kids – I’ll do another post on that this week)  The experiment I wanted to try was to use them for their own laundry baskets.

Normally what I have been doing, is when laundry is completed,  I take it out of the dryer and fold/hang up the clothes. The folded clothes go into a big laundry basket.  Those baskets are carried up to the top of the stairs.

Once the laundry baskets are upstairs, then I sit down on the floor and sort the clothes into the kids separate cubbies that are at the top of the stairs. They then put them away.

I decided if I am ever lucky enough to move and have a larger laundry room or better yet…get to design it (such a wish!)….I wanted to have built in larger cubbies for each member of my family. Then I could fold and put into their cubbies and they carry them up themselves and put them away.

So….my alternative – take these baskets in the kids colors and sort their clothes into their baskets right out of the dryer.  Then they take their laundry basket up and put them away. This idea only costs $10! ($2 for 5 baskets)

Here is the key to making it work. They HAVE to put the clothes away and bring the basket right back down…so I have it for next time I do laundry. They already have a taller laundry hamper in their room that works for their dirty clothes…I want to keep these just for their clean ones.

FoldTuk Pan in my Open Sky Shop

Seriously? This is a foldable cooking dish!

When I first saw this container I thought it was only for storing food. I have seen those before and although I think they are great…I didn’t realize how different this FoldTuk container really was.

This FoldTuk dish can be put in the oven…used to serve your meal and then put in either the refridgerator or freezer to store your food.

Best of all….look how compact this gets!  Can you picture your shelf with your casserole dishes in it…stacked and taking up all kinds of room. can you image having several of these FoldTuk dishes in there instead…think of the room you can save.

Open it up and you have a full size casserole dish to use. It sure doesn’t look like something that can go in an oven, but it can withstand temperatures up to 500 degrees.  You can prepare your casserole…but it in the freezer until you are ready to cook it. Pull it right out of the freeze and put it into the oven….then serve it.  If there are left overs, you can make the bowl a little smaller, put the lid on and put it in the refrigerator.

So what is the other thing I always mention with storage?  Clean containers. LOL  This one is too….so you can see what food is in it when it is either in your freezer or refrigerator.

YOU CAN GET a DISCOUNT FOR 3 DAYS ONLY!!

The FoldTuk normally retails for $22 each. If you buy them from my shop for the next 3 DAYS ONLY (July 5, 6th and 7th) you can get 2 Foldtuks for $30. You get a $14 discount!!! I’ve been very impressed by the FoldTuk and very pleased to feature it in my Open Sky Shop!

Command Central for a Special Needs Family

More than Ever a family with a Special Needs Child need to be organized

If you think you have a lot of mail coming into our home….just try to see what the mail box of a special needs family is like! They have the same amount of mail and papers coming into the house that we do…..but then they have a massive non-ending incoming stream of insurance papers, medical bills and statements, home health insurance, letters from Doctors, physical and occupational therapist paperwork and bills…and it goes on and one…

Command Centers

The Command Central pictured above of course would be anyone’s dream center. (This was from a Parade of Homes model home).
But you can make your own using this is a guideline. Here are some lower cost alternatives.

This is from Office Max…Peter Walsh inspired.  Love it.

This is sticky note/ dry erase organizer.  It is from PlanetSafe Planners.com.   I think this can be used in conjunction with other options.

This is my home made job board….grab a magnetic board and follow these instructions. I am thinking this could be used for medication time routines…G-tube feeding times, nurses schedules or just a job board.

Get a box of these magnets with the sticky back. I use old business cards and flip them to the blank side.

Peel off the back and put the business card or cut piece of paper/construction paper on the sticky part.

Then put whatever you want to on the front.

Having a place that everyone can see what needs to be done and when is essential in being able to run a smooth home. Calendar with Doctors appointment, sports schedules and adult commitments can help save many headaches in a very busy home.

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