Creative and Fun Ways to Organize your Child's Bedroom

Thank you to our guest contributor: Anna Berry

When you plan to have a child, you must also plan for their bedroom to become very messy.  Parents shouldn’t have to be the only ones to clean up the messes after the kids have gone to bed.  Children learn new things very quickly, which is why you should encourage them to clean up and organize their belongings.  

Organization is needed because it helps children develop a sense of discipline and a knack for cleanliness.  Not only does this free up more time for you in your day, but you’ll be teaching one of the most vital building blocks for future success; staying organized!

1)   Build Shelving for Your Child's bedroom     

Installing fun and colorful shelving in your child's bedroom may inspire them to put away their belongings, the correct way, once play time is over.  Kids love to collect things!  And when they have a shelf to display their treasures, they will be able to learn how important it is to keep their room neat and tidy.

2)   Put Leftover Containers To Good Use

There’s nothing more excruciating than accidentally stepping on a piece of Lego that your kid forgot to pick up.  You can give a new meaning to your unused boxes by letting your child use them as make-shift containers.  Small, unused containers cater to tiny toys and treasures, which can help kids learn to organize better.

3)   Combine Design with functionality

Instead of cluttering your child's bedroom with book shelves and drawers, why not opt for an adorable cupboard that not only looks great, but comes with plenty of shelf space and drawers! This will undoubtedly help you save space in your child's bedroom.

4)   Always have extra storage

As your child grows, the amount of stuff they have will accumulate as well.  By providing pouches, bags and boxes, you and your child can ensure that the room stays spic and span all year round!

5)   Labeling storage boxes

There can be nothing more upsetting than losing something precious to you; or hiding it for safe-keeping, only to forget where it was stored.  Make sure you instill in your children the necessity to label everything that will be kept and stored away for long periods of time.

Instilling that sense of organization will help formulate good study habits for high school, plus later on in college.  Start teaching these healthy routines as soon as possible, so it becomes ingrained as a lifelong principle.

Simple Steps for Sorting Printed Photos

Simple Steps for

Sorting Printed Photos

The ABCs of Photo Organization

Deciding what to keep can be overwhelming. Following a few simple guidelines can make this process easier and I rely on the ABCs of photo organizing to stay on track.

A Stands for Album

These photos are the most important and belong in an album. It’s important to understand that not all photos need to go in an album. The ones you choose are often the most personal, and cherished. Less is more!

B Stands for Box

Photos that are important enough to keep should be stored in archive quality boxes for long term storage, or backed up thoroughly if digitized.

C Stands for Can

These photos can go in the ‘trash can’ or your delete file. Toss duplicates, blurry or unflattering photos, excess scenery photos, etc.

S Stands for Story

This is the most important part. Does the photo tell a STORY! Keep any photos that clearly tell a story.  An old blurry photo may have your Dad’s first car in the background! Be careful you aren’t tossing history.

Sorting Photos

Our natural tendency is to sort chronologically, but with today’s high volume of photos it can be

overwhelming. Whether you are organizing printed or digital photos, the process is always the same.

Choose to organize in themes that represent your life.

Weddings, Vacations, Sports, Heritage, By Child, Pets, School, Christmas, Birthdays

These are just a few examples, and themes will vary from one family to the next. Themes can

also be sorted in chronological order for easy access.

Safeguarding your photos

With today’s rapidly changing technology, protecting our photos continues to be a challenge.

The experts recommend that you back up photos in 3 ways.

2 Computer Sources

Besides the computer drive that your images are stored on, you should have an external hard drive where your photos are backed up regularly.

Two computer locations will ensure your photos are safe in the event of a computer crash, and easily restored.

CD/Picture Keeper Backup

Schedule a monthly backup reminder and store images on Archival CDs. These types of disc are high quality and designed for long term, stable storage. The likelihood that disc’s will be readable 10 years from now are high. Even today, we are transferring obsolete media into current readable forms easily.

Picture Keeper is a space saving device that has built in software that intuitively seeks out your digital images from your PC or MAC. This USB flash drive is small enough to store in a safety deposit box outside of your home.

Online Storage

Appo recommends storing your ‘A photos’ with an offsite service, known as cloud storage.

I can recommend a cloud based storage system that offers the security you need plus the added advantage of unlimited photo storage and accessibility from many devices for easy, private sharing.

Print your photos

This is by far the safest and most reliable form of back up. Getting your printed photos into albums, or printed photo books is the best way to ensure that your photos will survive technology changes and cloud storage. Everyone will still have ‘eyes’ 50 years from now, but technology will be vastly different.

If photo organizing feels overwhelming to you, or you simply don’t have the time, Adventures In Organizing, a proud member of appo.org can provide this service for you. 

We can recommend products for you to use and have several photo organizing packages that may suite both your needs and budget.

Check us out at:

www.adventuresinorganizing.ca  

email us at adventuresinorganizing@gmail.com

or call 613-668-6306

Original content from APPO    www.appo.org

I won! Office Candy Rocks!!!

Wow,   I never win anything.... well that is not entirely true,

the only other time  I won something was in middle school and I won a pair of cordory pants from Mountain Dew.

The problem with that was, they mixed up the leg length with the waist - there are not many kids with a 34 inch waist in middle school so needless to say, while I did win, I could never wear the pants because they just fell right back off again.

But such is not the case with this great win!!!

File Totes at Officecandy.com!

Office Candy had a fun contest on their Facebook Page & website and guess won?    ME, that's right!   I love this Patent Leather File Tote so much.    It has been out "on the job" with me all month, my clients love it, and I really like having easy access to all this week's clients at my finger tips.   So what do I carry in it?

• This weeks Clients

• Extra Copies of Time Sheets and Contracts

• My agenda for booking future organizing appointments.

It is sleek and sexy (yes a file tote can be sexy) and makes me smile.

I like the product quality and how quickly it was shipped so much, I joined their affiliate program.   If you are interested in taking a peek at Office Candy and all their fun "candy" check out the link below.


File Totes at Officecandy.com!

 Thanks Office Candy!    Jennifer  

Organizing By The Letter: J is for Jewellery!

J is for Jewellery.    

I don’t know about you, but I really love Jewellery.   I do not have much, but what I do have I really like.   I have some that was my mother’s, some that my kids have given to me, some that my husband has gifted to me, and even some that I have had since childhood.   One of my favourite childhood pieces is a charm bracelet that has the Ten Commandments link all the way around.   Several of the charms have gone missing (my parent`s would tell you I just removed the commandments I was not too fond of ) but I still love that little bracelet and will keep it for my grandchildren

Jennifer, why all the “way too much information”?    Well, I really want you to understand that I am not saying throw all your jewellery away or donate things that mean a lot to you.   Even though I will never wear the little charm bracelet, I want to be able to pass it to my grandchildren – my daughters can toss it in the trash if they wish but for me, I just cannot do it!

So, let us move on to de-cluttering and finding storage solutions for our Jewellery.   We embark on our Jewellery Adventures just as we do it just like everything else: 

1.    Sort: Put all the earring together, all the bracelets together, all the necklaces together, all the rings together and then look at each one.

Do all your earrings have mates, do they need backs, are the broken – do they turn your skin     green or cause infections?   Are any of the necklaces broken?  Are they worth having repaired?  If they are worth having repaired, put a time and date in your planner to take care of this.

2.     Purge: Toss any broken costume jewellery (any broken gold or silver can be sold to one of the many gold buyers in North America wherever you live). 

3.     Donate:  Any pieces that are in good condition but you no longer like, pack them up in baggies and donate them to Salvation Army or Goodwill.

4.    Store: Look at the pieces you are keeping and think about the best way to store them.        

   Don't run out and buy any thing new without thinking about what you have now, what you might really need and what the best solutions for you might be.

    I really like long necklaces and they never fit into a jewellery box – I use a simple “Command” type hanger on the back of my bedroom door.    

    For my rings and earrings, I use ice cubes trays from the dollar store to keep them organized in the top drawer of my dresser.   Bracelets sit in small boxes.  My entire Jewellery storage system maybe cost me $30.00 - and that is erring on the high-side.

Here are a storage options for you to consider:   

Ahhh Umbra, always the coolest ideas!    This one hangs in your closet and you can see through the pockets.   Hang some clothing over the top to protect against theft  - or teenage daughters - whichever comes first!

This is a big investment solution for your jewellery from The Bombay Company.   Visit Bombay.ca to learn more.

I use ice cube trays from the dollar store but the above organizer is a little fancier and has larger compartments.

I use a simple hook like this to hang my long necklaces from. Attached inside a closet or on the back of a door, it works great and is extremely cost effective. 

As you can see, storing your jewellery can be an expensive endeavor or a thrifty one, it is totally your choice?

·       Visit us on Facebook and let us know what your favourite Jewellery storage solution is.   You will also be able to receive our Daily `Take 5`Organizing Task. “Take 5” challenges are posted Monday-Friday as well as other organizing tip and treats.

·        Our monthly newsletter launched at the beginning of November.   Subscription is free so please visit our website and subscribe to receive the December issue.  We are going to have an “Ask The Organizer” section in upcoming issues – to ask a question, simply email us and put “Ask The Organizer” in the subject line.

I If you are looking for a more personalized organizing solution, subscribe to our new program Minute-By-Minute Organizing to receive personalized service and plans created just for your needs.

The Organizing Olympics, Day 6: Training Camp

Yesterday's event was the Powder Room Paddle and it was clear that some of the competitors required some additional training for this event.

Toilet Paper  (aka TP) solutions and how to make the space under the sink seem to be the two areas where intensive training was needed.

So here are a few quick and easy solutions to the TP dilemma.   The basket of course that was shown in yesterday's event.






 

A pull out shelf be used but stacking technique is critical with this method

A  TP Tower, some even come with magazine rack and the actual TP dispenser built in

For this without drawers built in, plastic pull out drawers and bins could be the perfect solution for your home

OR

Using a System like the one above that adjust around your pipe system could work.

If you require a detailed organizing program LVSonline registration from January 2013 begins on December 10th, 2012 and of course, please join Adventures in Organizing on our Facebook Page  
Subscribe today to our newest program - Minute-By-Minute Organizing