Using Time Wisely

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Organizing: Enlisting the Help of Family Members

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When I am cleaning the house, putting away the laundry, or organizing coupons, my girls are at my feet asking begging to help.

Though I can get the job done much quicker without their help, I try to find something they can do. Encouraging them to help by giving them age-appropriate activities, teaches them to contribute to the maintaining of our household.

Please know that I struggle with allowing my children to help. In using time wisely, I have a set agenda that I am attempting to complete in a specified time frame.

Distracted by little ones, creating more of a mess in their effort to help, is not efficient or productive. However, I am learning that taking the time now to teach my little ones will pay off in the future when they will not need my help.

Instead of getting frustrated with them, I am learning to spend more time with them to teach them how to complete the project. The more we fold laundry, pickup their room, and sort coupons, the more they can practice what they have learned. I can then guide them, correct them, and encourage them to the end.

Not too long ago, I was cleaning the kids’ room, and my daughters came to help. While I worked on making the beds, the girls picked up the toys and placed them in one of the following containers:

1. Blue fabric bin: Child #1’s toys

2. Green fabric bin: Child #2’s toys

3. Brown fabric bin: Books

4. Beige fabric bin: General toys

5. Cardboard box: Items that do not belong in their room

If my girls were unsure of where the item belonged, I taught them to put the item aside. When I reached a stopping place, I came over to help with the sorting.

My girls enjoyed working with Mommy. Though they did not work for a reward, I enjoyed sharing a special treat with them.

As you continuing using time wisely, remember you do not have to do it alone. Your time is valuable, enlist the help of family members and work with them.

As you train them, you might find some enthusiastic helpers willing to get the job done. If not, then try a reward program, competition, or special treat to encourage them along the way. Happy organizing!

Question: How do your children help with household maintenance? Please add your answer to the comments.

Cleaning: Ceiling Fans

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As I continue to work through my home room by room, I clean from top to bottom and from left to right. In each room, I start with the lighting fixture and/or the ceiling fan.

With my 5’4” stature, I often use a chair or step stool to reach the fans and lights. This method allows me to reach all the surfaces. For the most part, this system keeps my home clean. But once or twice a year, I work through my home giving it a deep clean.

The deep clean requires getting above the blades to see what dirt and dust needs removal. Most of the rooms have small amounts of dust build-up. The one fan that accumulates lots of dirt and grime is the kitchen fan. Located near the stove and oven, the fan collects grime due to the settling condensation on the blades mixing with the daily dust.

As I worked around my kitchen, I spent a good 30 minutes wiping down each fan blade and light globe. The result was a clean fan and a filthy floor.

But in working from top to bottom, I only need to clean each item once. The floor is the last item cleaned in each room.

In using time wisely, I rose above the fan, examined the situation, and the cleaned off the grime. Though it would have been easy to overlook the dirt-covered blades on the fans, I chose to rid my house of the clutter, dust, dirt, and grime.

Cleaning the ceiling fans thoroughly keeps our home clean. By completing the deep cleaning twice a year, I save energy and time for the next six months by dusting the surfaces. As you schedule your cleaning, consider deep cleaning occasionally while keeping your surfaces clean. Happy cleaning!

Question: How often do you clean your ceiling fans? Please add your answer to the comments.

Maintaining: Preserving your Children’s Artwork

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Paper clutter can quickly overtake a space. Without constant attention, my kitchen counter will sport a mound of paperwork by the end of each day.

On top of the normal mail items, you probably have lots of school paperwork and artwork to handle. Though I enjoy all the lovely art projects brought home, I refuse to keep paper clutter.

The Dilemma

Realizing that my son worked hard on his projects and wants to display them, how do I find space for these items when they will be forgotten by the end of the week?

My Immediate Solution

Allow my son to display his beautiful artwork on our kitchen bar. The displayed artwork is visible and accessible for a few days.

My Permanent Solution

After a few days, I will ask my son if he still needs his artwork displayed. If he wants to keep it a little longer, he will ask. But if done with the project, he responds with, “Mom, you can do whatever you want with it.”

When I get the latter answer, I will take a picture of the item and then toss it in the trash. Yes, throw the item away because I have preserved the artwork via a photograph.

The picture solution is a win-win situation in our home. In using time wisely, our family can view the item at anytime without cluttering our living space.

By reaching a solution to one part of the paper trail, I can decrease clutter while preserving my children’s artwork. With my child’s consent, I throw away without guilt the bulky poster boards, irregular shaped foam boards, and sculptures because I have a photograph of his art projects.

By keeping the paper count from my children’s artwork low, I am free to work and play at home with a preserved photograph and without a sea of clutter.

Did I step on your toes? If you tend to hoard everything, then clutter will weigh you down. Rise above the clutter, take control, and only keep your favorites. You can create a beautiful organized space only after you get rid of the clutter. Choose wisely!

Question: How do you preserve your children’s artwork? Please add your answer to the comments.

Organizing: Creating Play Stations

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With three children, who are two years apart and both genders, our house has a range of toys. Without an organizational system, we would live among the toys. 😉

In working through each room of my house clearing out clutter, cleaning, and organizing, I decided to try creating a Little People play station for my girls.

Though my son has out-grown most of the Little People items, he does enjoy playing with the toddler. However, my girls will be playing more at this station than my son.

Determining the Functions of the Play Station

Since this space is mostly for my girls, I needed the play station to meet the following criteria:

1. Low enough for the toddler to reach.

2. Large enough to hold the 8-10 Little People play units.

3. Wide enough for both girls to play at the same time.

4. Room enough to move around the station without blocking traffic.

5. Small enough to fit in our living room with the rest of the toys.

Keeping within my limited budget, I surveyed our current options and found that our circular coffee table (which has never been used as a coffee table since my children overtake most of the furniture in the house) fit all these standards. With a $6 fabric bin to hold all the accessories, this play station exceeded my expectations.

Evaluating the Workability of the Play Station

1. My toddler loves to help clean up all the accessories since she can put the people in the box.

2. The lower level of the table holds other play units when the girls are ready for a change.

3. Both girls can play – one on each side of a play unit without getting in each other’s way.

4. The girls love playing with multiple play units at one time.

5. The circular coffee table solution continues to offer hours of fun without overtaking the space with toys.

This play station for Little People works for us. The one container for all the accessories transformed the Little People population in our living room. With one place for all the items, cleanup is easy and often done without asking. Love that!

As you continue finding organizational solutions for your household, consider creating a play station. This same system might work for legos, Star Wars, or dolls. With a simple construction play station, your children might surprise you with a picked-up area. 🙂 Happy organizing!

Question: What types of toys invade your space? Please add your answer to the comments.

Dining Room: Container Organization Improvement

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One of my projects for 2012 is purging, cleaning, and organizing my entire house. Thus far in the process, I have finished the dining room and living room. My progress is slow, but I am enjoying the help from my children and the result.

Having recently organized bookshelf #1 and #2 in my dining room, I did not like looking at all the stuff at each meal. (Yes, it is unusual to have bookshelves in one’s dining room, but it works for us.)

As a fan of container organization, I waited for a sale on fabric cubes since I refuse to pay full price for items when they will go on sale. With the sale, I stocked up on the cubes and went to work on my dining room.

Before Adding the Containers

         

After Adding the Containers

             

The container organization was a little change resulting in an improvement to the look and feel of my dining room. These fabric cubes, purchased at Target, hold our many craft items. One bin houses our paints, another keeps our crayons, markers, and coloring books, a different one holds the play dough and accessories, and the rest workbooks, school documents, and school supplies.

I love the process of removing one bin and using the items. When finished, we pack it back up and return it to the shelf. Now I need to get the bins labeled. 😉

The lead-in picture shows the result of purging, cleaning, and organizing my dining room. Did you notice the Christmas presents on top of the chairs? When my family comes for a visit in a few weeks, we will be celebrating. *Woo hoo!*

My progress might be slow, but it is progressing forward. If you are working on a goal that keeps getting trumped with sick children, car repairs, or exhaustion, then give yourself some space. Take care of the immediate needs. Feed, clothe, and snuggle with your little ones.

As you snag a few minutes here and there, prepare a plan for that goal. When you execute that plan, attack that goal head on while using time wisely. Happy organizing!