TIME SAVING TIPS

Time Saving and Organizing Help

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Time Saving Ideas for Every Mom....
By Kelly Land, © 2005-2008, All rights reserved.

If your like most moms, then time is a commodity you wish you could buy! Alas, it isn't.  Time keeps on ticking even as we race against it.

Organization and routines go a long way in helping control lost minutes. Looking for a pair of your son's tennis shoes or your daughters ballet tights can steal 15 minutes if your not careful.


But where do you start?

For me the most logical place was the  kids rooms. Keeping their things organized went a long way to helping prevent those 15-minute time zapping searches. Running late and then having to "find" something on top of it causes stress for everyone.

Doesn't matter of you have a 10 year old son or a 4 year old daughter. Get their rooms organized. This doesn't mean picking up after them every day or doing it all for them. Make them a part of your organization plan, so that they understand it will help them as well.

Under the bed storage bins: These are great and can be purchased inexpensively at home improvement stores and discount stores. I got the kind with wheels so they roll in and out from under the bed easily. Throw the legos, blocks, train sets, Barbie dolls and their clothes and more in these bins. Tell the kids what they take out, goes back in when they are finished.

Dresser drawers: Instead of throwing the shirts in one drawer, the pants in another and so on -- match up the outfits BEFORE you put them in the drawer. This is especially great for the younger kids. Having the shirt, shorts and socks bundled together makes for fabulous time saving! Even my 10 year old son appreciates not having to "hunt" up an outfit. Because boys typically don't care what they are wearing --  this time saving trick works for the older kids too. The older girls get, well....it can get tricky because they like to pick out their own clothes, which is fine. You can still have a dress with matching tights hanging in the closet together to snip off those tight hunting minutes. Laying out outfits the night before for school is a absolute rule at our house. The kids have their outfits, backpacks, snack -- all of it ready to go!

Plastic storage boxes with lids: This might seems a bit like overkill (which is what I thought at first too), but trust me, it's been incredible at saving time and energy. I bought about 12 of these for each kid. ON the outside I label it say...."Polly Pockets". All the Polly Pocket items go in there. When she wants to play with them, I get out that one box and when she wants to play with something else, we put the Polly Pocket box away and get out the "My Little Pony" box and so on. Your kids will enjoy themselves more by having all the pieces to something. And you won't have to do those bi-annual room clean up sessions that take all day! You know the ones? You dump everything out in the toy boxes and in the closets, match it all up and clean the room only to have it a disaster within a week!

More tips...

!. Keep snacks and juice boxes in the car.

2. Have special bags or totes or backpacks for things like ballet, Boy Scouts etc. Keep the necessities for those activities packed and ready each week so you're not up at midnight washing a dirty dance leotard for the next day.

3. Keep a day timer or some type of organizer ON YOU. Doesn't have to be fancy, just something you can check daily and have daily to write down new appts.

Being a mom is hard enough. Carving out quality time with your family is getting exceedingly harder. You don't need more distractions , frustrations and lost minutes. Make time saving an important goal. The pay off is priceless. The pay off is.....time!

 

Additional Information

Organizing Plain and Simple: A Ready Reference Guide With Hundreds Of Solutions to Your Everyday Clutter Challenges
by Donna Smallin



How to Organize (Just About) Everything : More Than 500 Step-by-Step Instructions for Everything from Organizing Your Closets to Planning a Wedding to Creating a Flawless Filing System
by Peter Walsh