Whenever
I meet someone who wants help getting organized but doesn’t know where to start
– I always advise them to start in the area that bothers them the most. You can always start small and go big – there
is nothing wrong with that. However, if
you start with what bothers you the most and organize it – think of how
wonderful you will feel. And even one
step further, how inspired you will be to keep going.
So
I decided to take my own advice and find what frustrated me the most. It was not a room. It was not a cabinet. It was something bigger!
Homework,
Backpacks,
And Lunchboxes!
Every
night I would make sure backpacks were at the bottom of the stairs and
lunchboxes were in the kitchen. My quest
to find them was always an adventure….in the car, on the couch, by the garage
door, in the playroom, once in the hamper.
Blah. I knew I could save myself
10 minutes a night, 50 minutes per week… (Wow I could actually watch a TV show!
Or read a couple chapters of that book my darling friend Tracy keeps bugging me about.) Er uh,
where was I, oh yes, wouldn’t it save time to have a designated spot for
the kids to put these things everyday!
While
on the subject of “wouldn’t it be nice…” I would love to have a kitchen table
that didn’t have to serve as the homework station! Oh and I would love a better place to
organize all the handouts of upcoming events and projects due for school. Oh and lets throw the piano lesson stuff in
there too.
Making dreams come true…
Planning the space:
Ideally I wanted a space that could house the following
activities:
- Area for the girls to do homework
- A spot for backpacks, lunchboxes and piano lesson stuff
- Information Center for handouts, projects, and reminders
- Visual Tracking of homework and piano practice
- Storage for needed supplies.
When I first took on this project a month ago I
decided two things 1) I was going to keep it very simple, and 2) I wasn’t going
to spend any money. My plan was to set
up a temporary 30 day space and if it worked I would invest in making it permanent
and pretty.
Identifying the space:
Finding a place was easy for me. We have never been a formal living room type
of family. Maybe someday when the kids
are a bit older but for now the concept is truly lost on us. Our previous home had one too – only there we
had used it as an office space. Our
current house has one additional bedroom so that became the office. The formal living room here had become a
parking spot for baby stuff. The walker,
the pack in play, the swing – you get the idea.
So
now that I found the space I had to clear it.
I removed everything that was not completely necessary. Everything went with the exception of the
pack n play. We needed a downstairs
changing option so it stayed.
Filling and organizing the space:
Next,
I shopped my house for things currently not being utilized. I came up with all sorts of gems:
·
Card table and
two chairs (garage).
·
Wipe board and
cork board (garage).
·
9 cubby shelf (office
closet).
·
Filing basket,
file folders (office)
·
2 folding
fabric bins (girl’s room).
·
2 decorative baskets
(under the stairs closet).
Here is what I came up with:
 |
Not beautiful but functional, organized and free :)
|
 | ||
| There's Jacob he looks forward to being big enough to do homework here! |
The
homework section was pretty straight forward.
The table and chair area works well – there is a basket of supplies in
the center of the table (not shown). The
girls love having their own special spot.
They also appreciate not having the dinner time constraint. So do I!
We tidy the space up at the end of the evening. We repack their backpacks so they are ready
for the morning. If we have a super busy
day, it can wait until the morning. It
only takes a few moments when you have everything in one place.
 |
| Girls went a little nuts with the placement of the colors :) |
The
9 bin shelf helped us organize everything.
Lunchboxes go on top (easiest to grab).
We have the small DVD player to watch our piano lessons. Next to that is the filing system for all the
school paperwork for each child. Each daughter
has a bin for her backpack and one for her piano bag. The remaining open bins and the two fabric bins are items we use at
the table. Supplies, paper, books,
puzzles, etc.
The
white board we use to track homework and piano practice. We also attach upcoming projects there. The cork board is used to display art brought
home from school that week. Both are a
bit crowded after 30 days :) even with the rotation. But that will be a future post…How we
finalize and beautify our “”Study Space”!
What
about you? Could you use a “study space”
in your home? How would you organize
it? Where would you put it? I would love to hear ideas!
Possible spaces:
- A corner of your child’s room
- The workstation in the kitchen
- Part of your existing office
- A transformed closet
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