Morning Routines

Do you or your husband usually walk out the door in the morning and come back in because you/he forgot his wallet/lunch/etc?  How about the kids, do they usually run to the bus stop carrying their jackets and with untied shoes?  Get out the door on time and organized with a few simple tips:

1.  Prepare lunches the night before.  I know it only takes 5 minutes to make a quick sandwich and throw in some snacks, but that's 5 minutes less for the morning routine!  Place lunches in their respective bags in the fridge so they are completely ready in the morning. To go along with this idea, make sure backpacks are packed too.  I set reminders on my cell phone to remember library day, etc so we don't forget to pack those extras too.

2.  Pick out clothes the night before.  Give your child 2 or 3 choices to pick from, and they will still feel like they are making a choice - and you have now eliminated the daily argument about what they are wearing to school.  If you have room in the closet,  get one of those weekly clothes organizers that hang.  Place their 7 outfits inside and tell them they can pick any cubby of clothes they want each day. 

3.  Always place backpacks, wallets, purses, keys, cell phones, etc. in the same place.  That's right - no more crazed search on the way out the door.  You may want to try a nice shelf with hooks near the door.  Keys, coats and purses go on the hooks - wallets and cell phones on the shelf.

4.  Have a morning routine.  We get up an hour before the kids need to leave.  First, they get dressed complete with socks and tied shoes.  Then, it's breakfast time followed by teeth brushing.  We then make doubly sure backpacks and coats are packed (see #1 and 3), and read our scriptures.  None of these things take  more than a few minutes, but because we have allowed extra time, we are generally not rushing out the door.

Anyone have ideas to add?  Comment below!

Organized Clean Up

I don't remember when or where I saw this tip, but it's a great one!  Take a large basket (think medium sized laundry basket) and carry it from room to room as you clean.  Place anything that does not belong in that room into your basket.  Then carry your basket into the next room to be cleaned and remove the items that belong in that room.  Again, as you clean place items that don't belong in the room into your basket.  Repeat as you go from room to room.

I'm not sure about everyone else here, but that should save me a ton of time -- and help keep me focused.  How many times do you grab that pencil off the table and walk it into the kitchen (or office, or wherever it belongs) only to get distracted and start doing something else in the new room?  The process just keeps repeating itself until none of the rooms you planned on cleaning ever get finished (or it takes you hours to clean the house)! 

This way, you stay in the room and complete it before moving on to the next.  By the end of your cleaning, all that should be left in your basket are the items from the last room that you picked up.  Simply bring them to their respective "homes" and you're finished!  Now, I'm going to go buy myself a little laundry basket...

ORGANIZE THAT PANTRY!

 Lets talk labels. Making labels has got to be one of the easiest ways to organize your kitchen cupboards or pantries. I used Print Shop to make mine but you can just buy the labels and use a marker to identify your items. Containers are very inexpensive and can be purchased at many home, discount or warehouse stores.

Getting the kids "stuff" out of the "junk drawer" maybe a lifesaver for you moms when homework time rolls around. It is so much nicer when the kids know where their things are!