3 Ways To Teach Children To be Organized

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With the holiday season in full swing, what better time than now to teach your children how to let go of items and be organized. You’re never too young to start.

The first way is in regards to their toys. Go through toys with your child every 6 months and point out which toys they no longer play with. You can suggest they donate to another child. It’s important that your child be part of this process and makes the actual decision with your support.

The second way is with clothing. With a very young child as you go through their clothing have them look at the piles of clothes that no longer fit and confirm with them that they are ready to let them go. I suggest you even ask them to come with you to the donation centre to drop them off. Including them in this process helps them to learn to let go and make decisions, which is an important step in the organization.

The third way is through artwork. Once a month you can review the pieces of art made by your children and ask them to select those that they are ready to recycle. It’s important that they physically put the item into the recycle bin themselves. Through this process they will learn to pick out the more treasured pieces from those that no longer hold value to them. If your child is struggling with letting go of a piece of their art, offer to take a digital photo for them.

Remember to reward the child for his or her decision-making. This way they will associate organization with positive reinforcement and keep them coming back for more. What methods do you use to teach them organizing skills?

Pantry Organizing

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We recently finished re-organizing our client’s kitchen and pantry. Many of my clients find it difficult to know where to start when re-organizing and decluttering this area of their home. For the pantry we removed every single item and placed them in categories, such as pastas, canned goods, cereals, snacks, spices, etc. We discarded those items that had expired or were no longer used. Once we saw what was left to house in the pantry, we recommended a few minor purchases that would maximize the storage space and make return and retrieval of items efficient: a graduated shelf riser as well as a couple of under shelf storage baskets were all that were needed in this instance.
Here’s a photo of the pantry before we started:
Pantry Before Organizing
And here’s how it looked when we were done:
Pantry After Organizing
Our client and their children loved the under-shelf popcorn basket!
Working on my client’s pantry has inspired me to do my own! What inspires you to get organized?

Organizing For Back to School – Inspirational

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Here’s something inspiring for your day to day living, especially now that the kids are back to school. Place a storage bench or ottoman (Martha Stewart brand has a neat one) close to your front door for your kids accessories, such as knapsack, gloves, hats, etc. This also gives you and them a place to sit while putting on shoes and boots.

Welcome to my organizing blog!

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Wow! Finally the day has come. I’ve been intending on starting this blog for months now, but like many, I’ve felt intimidated by technology and the whole concept around “blogging”. But here I am, now amongst a million other “bloggers”. The whole foundation of my business is based on honesty, integrity and client satisfaction. Therefore, with this blog, my goal is to keep you posted on what’s happening in the world of professional organizers, special organizing projects, keeping you updated on organizing trends & tips, and give you some insight into the organizing projects I come across along the way. I also want to hear from you! What exciting or interesting organizing projects have you started this past week? I’d love to hear about them.

With September just around the corner, business is booming! There is a whole new set of challenges with getting the kids organized and back to school. With that in mind have you thought about how you plan on handling all that paper that comes home with your children? Here’s a back to school idea for handling the precious artwork they create.

As parents we often have a spot on the fridge for their artwork to be displayed. Once a month, go through the pieces with your children and ask them to choose which ones they’re ready to recycle and re-purpose. Through this process your kids will learn to pick out their special treasures and learn that some things are no longer valuable to them but can be re-purposed for other things. Why not recycle their art work into gift wrapping for others! For those treasured pieces of art that they choose to keep rather than re-purpose, assign a special coloured tote box to be kept in his or her bedroom closet. Each week, those pieces of art that do not make it to the recycle or re-purpose box are added to this tote. At the end of the school year, make some popcorn and help your child to go through his or her tote, review their school year and pick out their 12 most favoured artwork treasures which will be kept as their memories for the year. Store them face down in the tote. Then start the process over again for the next school year, placing the new year’s artwork face up instead. This way, when you review at the end of the year, you only go down into the pile until you reach the ones that are face down, and repeat the editing process again. Have fun, take pride in the treasures your little ones create and know that it’s ok not to keep every single piece.