Guest Post at The Confident Mom!
February 17, 2010 by Nikki · Leave a Comment
This month as a guest blogger for The Confident Mom, I wrote about different ways to store board games and puzzles. This can be an area in all of our homes that can really become out of control. Nothing is more frustrating than putting a puzzle together, and not have the last piece to finish! Or having box after box with tape on the corners, and the pieces still manage to fall out.
I have provided different solutions and I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts. As we know there are many ways to do one thing! 
The last sentence in the post, I encourage you to turn the TV off and make it a game night! It really is so much fun and a great way to bond with your family.
Happy Organizing!
Teaching Children To Be Organized
February 15, 2010 by Nikki · Leave a Comment
Recently I was interviewed for a blog post at “Organize This Life”!
One of the questions they asked was: “How can parents teach their children to be organized?
My answer.. “You teach your kids to be organized by being organized yourself. By setting the example that organization is an important part of life. Setting up daily routines and structure in your home. Teaching them to be organized is teaching them to value their belongings and space. Taking pride and being grateful for what they have.”
I wanted to share this answer with you mainly for a couple of reasons, one I believe organization is a life long skill that we can teach our children. And a very important one. Our lives are less stressful and less chaotic when there is some sense of order. When we plan we are often more organized. When we find what we need, when we need it, we are more organized. Our children see what we do, they see how we live, and often times end up living the same way.
However, this does not mean everything is perfect. In fact it never is. Your house is not always going to be clean and closets do get messy. Having children means stepping on a lego or two! Life happens.
Organization is not perfection and it’s not the same for everyone. Finding the right balance for you and your family is what we are striving for!
Happy Organizing!
(To read the entire interview, click here)
Meal Planning!
February 10, 2010 by Nikki · Leave a Comment
Grocery shopping and Meal planning! Two things that sometimes I enjoy doing and other times I dread. When I dread it the most is when I have not planned ahead. I hate the feeling of it’s 5:00pm and I have no idea what to make for dinner. Asking my children is not a good idea, they will say McDonald’s! Asking my husband is often no help, because he never cares what we have for dinner! So what to do?
Ideas to relieve the dreadful 5PM hour:
- Make a list of everything you like to cook. This gives you a list to refer back to when you are planning your weekly meals.
- When planning your meals, take into consideration everyone’s schedule. The weeknights can get busy in our house, between sport practices, meetings etc. On busy days, decide on take out, or an easy meal to put together.
- Plan your meals has a family, if everyone gets to pick out a meal within reason, you will eliminate some of the “I don’t like this”, however in my house it never eliminates it completely, but it’s something!
- Plan your meals for the week and then go grocery shopping. This saves you time and money. You will not buy anything extra you do not need.
- Keep your weekly planner of meals and reuse it for a different week. You don’t have to recreate the wheel each time.
- There are many resources and websites geared to helping you plan your menu. Check them out and see if it’s a good fit for your family. Also consider places like Dinners Done Right, where you can go and prepare the meal, freeze it and then eat it later. I know a lot of families who find this helpful during busy sport seasons, surgeries, new babies, etc. ( TCO can also help you with meal planning as part of our service! )
- Most important – schedule meals together with your family. Use this time to reconnect and talk about your day. Turn off the TV and don’t answer the phone. Just focus on each other.
Happy Organizing!
Family and Laundry!
February 3, 2010 by Nikki · 3 Comments
In the last post we talked about setting a schedule to get the laundry done. Now we focus on getting other family members involved in the process!
There have been many times in my home where I it was left to me to get this done. Now I have to say my dear husband is a great help and actually enjoys doing the laundry from time to time. And if someone has a nasty stain, he is the one to go too! But when I decided to get my children involved in the process, it really did made a difference. It actually took less time and the chore felt less daunting.
Depending on the ages of your children will factor on how much they can actually help. But I believe the earlier you start the better! Children has young as 2-3 years can help sort clothes.
Here are a few tips:
- Make it the child’s responsibility to bring the clothes to the utility room.
- Have your children sort the clothes by color. This is a great learning opportunity for smaller children. Have them separate towels from the clothes. What in this pile does not look like the others? So many great lessons to be learned!
- If your children are old enough- have them be responsible for their own laundry. My sister has two boys, both teenagers, she tells them, the weekends are yours, you do your laundry anytime during the weekend. If they don’t do it, they suffer the consequences. And believe me, they have! Unfortunately, so have the people around them!
- Once the laundry is complete, have every family member put their own clothes away. Set you your children’s closet and dresser drawers so this is easy for them to do. The top drawer is all socks and underwear, the middle is pajama’s, the bottom are pants and t-shirts.
- I have heard different ideas for the towel dilemmas we may encounter. One is to have each family member have their own color towel. Again, if your kids are older, they are responsible for their own towels. It eliminates any fighting between siblings. I also had a reader suggest towel charms for each family member. Another way to keep track of what belongs to whom.
- If you are teaching your kids to do the laundry, place a list of directions on how to run the washer and dryer. Have pre-made bags of detergent ready to go. Have a list of items that do not go into the dryer.
Tips on socks! This is a huge sore spot in my family! My husband wants to have the socks for everyone to be rolled up and put together. I understand this is easier. My issue is the time. I don’t have time to put everyone’s socks together. His argument is it takes time to find the matching sock. True. My solution: buy all the same kind of sock in the same colors, no more wondering if they match, because they are all the same. So the next time you go to buy socks, remember it will be easier if they are all the same! But we still have some issue with my daughters socks. I have delegated this matching and rolling socks to my husband. He is now in charge of socks. You can also delegate this task to your children. They may have a lot of fun, searching for the missing sock. You can also pin socks together before washing them. This makes it easy because they are never apart from each other.
How do you get your family involved? If you have a great tip, please share! We would love to hear from you!
Happy Organizing!
Coming up: Recommend products for your Utility Room!
Build a Laundry System!
February 1, 2010 by Nikki · 1 Comment
Recently I asked my readers, “what is your biggest organizing challenge?” Laundry fell into the top 2 headaches we have in running our households!
We all have it and most of us dread it!
To eliminate the nagging feeling of when is the laundry going to get done… Think about creating a system for your laundry. Creating a system means creating a schedule.
Here are a few ideas to get you started!
- Decide on a schedule - do you prefer to do laundry during the week or leave it for the weekends? There are pros and cons for each. Doing a little each day means having your weekends free. On the flip side waiting until the weekend, means you do not have to worry about it during the week. Some like to do a little bit of laundry everyday. Others have designated days for different loads. For example; Mondays- towels, Tuesdays – adult clothes, Wednesdays- children’s clothes. The point is to have some kind of schedule you can follow as a guideline. This will not always be the same every week as schedules change, but it’s a good starting point.
- Once you set a schedule, make sure your family is aware. If you have decided Friday is the day, make sure all of the laundry is in by 8am! Family involvement will help maintain your system. More on this later.
- Do laundry from the beginning to the end. This does not matter if you haven chosen one day or every day of the week. Finishing from beginning to end means all clothes washed that day are put away. By making it a priority to complete the loads means you will not accidently leave anything in the washer! And your utility area will stay neater and be more organized!
- Make sure each family member has their own hamper. To eliminate some of the sorting, do the laundry by family member rather than putting all the clothes together. First load belongs to Suzy, second load belongs to Johnny, and so on. Buy hampers that are divided into sections. Teach your family to put the whites in one section, darks in another. It can eliminate you from doing all of the sorting.
Quick Tip: Some will say to start your washer before you leave for work, and then when you come home, put in the dryer. Well, I am one to not recommend this. About 2 years ago, we had a flood in our house due to the washer machine. The water never stopped filling up. I was home, so I lucky caught it in time to where it did not cause too much damage..I can’t even imagine if I was not home, what the outcome would have been. My tip: Run all of your appliances, washing machines, dryers, and dishwasher only when you are home!
What is your system at home? Do you have something to share? Believe me, mom’s all over are looking for ideas! We would love to hear yours!!
NEXT BLOG POST: Getting your family involved in helping with the laundry!
Coming Up at TCO!
January 31, 2010 by Nikki · Leave a Comment
I am trying something new. I wanted to bring a little more structure to my blog posts. So for the next few weeks I have chosen different themes to talk about for the week.
This week, I am going to be discussing The Laundry Room! When I asked mom’s to tell me their biggest challenges, this was one that came up over and over again!
Starting Monday, February 1st, read about: Laundry Systems. Coming up: Family & The Laundry, and Recommended Products.
If there is a particular topic you would like to see … Please let me know…You can comment on this post, you can send me a note on my site, you can send me a direct message at nikki@takecontrolorganizing.com, or send me a direct message on Twitter@TCOrganizing. Let me know! And I’ll keep working to make this site a destination for organizing tips and tools that help you keep your house in order!
Happy Organizing!
the Confident Mom – Controlling Toy Chaos!
January 18, 2010 by Nikki · Leave a Comment
Last November, I found a tele seminar series through Twitter about Parenting. It was through the Confident Mom. Susan Heid, the owner, is a Parenting/ Family Manager Coach in the Seattle area. The tele seminar is based on the book, Screamfree Parenting, Raising your kids by Keeping your Cool, by Hal Edward Runkel. 
I highly recommend it for any parent, who is looking for tips and ideas from a real parenting coach who can specifically give you ideas on issues you are having in your home. Parenting is hard and at times can be very frustrating. I learned new techniques to use with my children that has kept the calm in our household. The best part of the series was being to able to talk to other moms. We all had stories to share and we all learned from each other. Click here for more information about upcoming tele seminars.
After the series was over, Susan asked if I would be a guest blogger for her blog. Of course I was honored and my first post came out this morning. Controlling the Toy Chaos! If you have kids, you have toys, which often means chaos. Here are some great tips on how to contain the chaos, it won’t ever go away, but we can make it easier to live with! Enjoy!
Happy Organizing!
Organizing Children’s Clothes!
January 11, 2010 by Nikki · Leave a Comment
Children grow up so fast! I remember people telling me this when my first child was just born. At the time, especially during those sleepless nights, I wasn’t really sure I believed them! Here we are now, 7 years later, and boy do I believe them! I am reminded of this often, when I see my son or daughter walking down the stairs in pants that look about 2 sizes too small… ”Wait, didn’t those just fit, last week?” Crazy!
Keeping on top of the growth spurts can be challenging… Here are some tips to make it a little easier:
1. Periodically, whether it’s seasonal or every 6 months, go through the closets, dresser drawers and sort out the outgrown clothes. There is no reason to keep them in the room. Don’t forget about the PJ’s, socks and underwear!
2. It’s helpful to put clothes away as you notice they are too small. If you are doing a load of laundry and you notice these are the shrinking pants, take care of it then, don’t place them back into their room.
3. Have a place to put the clothes, a bin designated for donation.
4. Be choosy about the clothes being passed on to younger siblings or family members. Keep only the ones in good shape. Place clothes by size in a clear labeled container with a secure lid to prevent damage in storage.
5. When organizing children’s clothes, organize by type of clothing. Double rod hangers are great to utilize the space in a closet and kids love the access to their clothes. With this said, I have gone into my daughters room before, and all of the clothes are off the hangers! This is a great time, to teach them how to hang back their clothes.
6. Use the dresser for clothes like PJ’s, Pants, Shorts, Undergarments. Teach your kids where the clothes belong. At a very young age, they can help you put their clothes away.
7. Have a hamper in their room. Get them in the habit of putting their dirty clothes in there every single time.
Donation Resources: Every town has the Goodwill’s and St.Vincent De Paul, but there are other organizations who need donations, especially for children.
In the Eugene / Springfield area, here are some of my favorites: CASA of Lane County, 541-984-3132, White Bird- 541-342-8255, and Relief Nursery, 541-343-9706.
Check with your local schools and churches, often times they will take donations as well.
Happy Organizing!
What I Learned From My 4 year old Daughter!
December 30, 2009 by Nikki · 2 Comments
Last night after dinner, my daughter wanted to play a game with me… So here she comes down the stairs with her HI-HO Cherry-O Board Game…
I go to get it set up and she stops me.. “No mommy, I want to play like this”…. And I said “No, we need to play the game right and set it up this way”… After a couple of exchanges of going back and forth… I stopped myself and realized, why do we have to play this one way?
What am I teaching her, if there is only one right way to do something? What is the goal we are trying to achieve here?
All we want to do is play together, connect with each other, and have a good time!
What was she teaching me? Not only is there more than one way to play a game, but it was a good reminder that in life we need to be flexible, accept and be open to change, it can be a good thing, and open ourselves to new and different ideas…
Needless to say we played HI HO Cherry-O three different ways last night… and it was great! She won every single time.. That Lucky Girl!
I understand and agree that there is a time and place for structure. There is a time where breaking the rules just isn’t acceptable. I understand at some point she will need to understand what it means to win graciously and how to lose the same way… I figure with her older brother and her friends, she will have plenty of times to learn those lessons…
But last night, while playing with her Mommy, she was the Champion of HI HO Cherry-O three different ways!
Creating Holiday Traditions!
December 22, 2009 by Nikki · Leave a Comment
One of the things I love about the Holiday season is remembering the past! I love going to my parents house and seeing christmas ornaments on the tree that I created as a child! Or talking about Christmas memories we shared as a family during different times in our lives. The smell of homemade sugar cookies cut out like Christmas trees with green frosting and red hots as ornaments! All of these things and more mean Christmas time to me…
Now that I have my own family and Christmas is a big deal around here with 2 small children, it’s been really fun for my husband and I to create new traditions for our family. But we do this in a simple way, a way that is not stressful for anyone. Because really what is tradition? It should be something done as a family, everyone having fun, and creating lasting memories! And in our house they do not have to be expensive ravish gifts or dinners, no actually quite opposite in fact…
Here are some of our traditions in our family….
1. We drive around the neighborhoods and look at all of the Christmas Lights – listening to Christmas Music of course!
2. We bake cookies for Santa and leave them out with a glass of milk and carrots & apples for the reindeer!
3. Everyone gets to open one gift on Christmas Eve.
4. We attend Christmas Eve Church Service.
5. We watch several different kinds of holiday movies and TV shows from the day after Thanksgiving through New Years.
6. We make Hot Chocolate with Marshmallows.
7. I dedicate one day to baking and make plates for family, friends, and neighbors.
8. My sister, my mom, and I go Christmas Shopping one night together and enjoy a nice long dinner together.
9. All the gifts from Santa are wrapped in different wrapping paper.
10. Each person unwraps one gift at a time. So we can really see and appreciate what each person has received.
What do you do to make lasting memories for you and your family? Share your ideas … I am always open to new ideas and creating new memories!
Happy Holidays!
