Organize Your Children & Save Your Sanity

It may be difficult to relate saving money with organziation but the two terms really go hand in hand. If you're able to organize right down to the smallest detail, then not only will you save youreslf countless panic headaches, but you will have more time on your hands allowing yourself to be more productive and get more accomplished. Organizing your own personal belongings can be a daunting task in itself, however if you're also trying to take care of all your children's things, it can be an overwhelming, impossible task . When children are old enough and capable, they have a responsibility to take care of their own belongings. This includes (but not limited to) toys, clothes, bathroom items, sports equipment, and of course school books and supplies. It should not be the parents' responsibility to clean their child's room, or pick up their wet towels off the bathroom floor. How is this tecahing children to be responsible for their own belongings? If we teach our children HOW to be organized, this will lead to a more productive and hopefully a more responsible child in school and at home.
However take note, if you expect your children to be well organized, you must also do the same to provide a good example, or "model", for them. As the saying goes "practice what you preach" :-) For the time being, we will focus on ideas to help organize your children's plethora of gadgets, toys, clothes, games, and whatever else may be piled up on the closet folor or under the bed. Color Coordinate Everything ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The most important idea to incorporate in your family lifestyle is to color coordinate everything.

Regardless of how many children you have, assign each one a specific color ie: green, red, yellow, orange, etc... The color you asisgn each of your children will go on every item that belongs to them. You will need to get a permanent marker in each of your kid's colors so you can mark/dot each and every item they own. Here's a list of the most common items you'll want to start out with.

Use this list as a starting ponit to help harvest ideas that are relevant in your family's lifestyle. - clothes - toys - towels - batrhoom utensils - closet - shoes - games - puzzles - sports equipment With their items, simply put a small colored dot/mark in an inconspicuous area.
For example, socks-dot the toe or heel; shirts-dot the collar tag; puzzles-dot the back of each piece; toothbrushes and towels- purchase these in each of your children's assigned cloor. Once everything is color coded, you can then quickly scan rooms and bathrooms and see wihch one of your little angels has left things out of place. To quickly reinforce this new orgainzation method, simply make the rule that if you find items haphazardly strewn about, you'll deduct 25 or 50 cents from their allowance.
If that isn't relative, they can always earn additional work like washing a dish per item that is left out or "doggie clean-up duty". After a few times, your children will start picking up after themselves since they hate to lose money and play time, right? ** Again, these are merely suggestions. Adapt and change these practices as you see fit. Organizing Their Closet Space and Room ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Let's face it, children are learning by trial and error unless they have somebody or something to model after. So naturally, they are going to make their choices and dceisions on what they think is best.

If your child(ren) haven't had much success maintaining an organized closet, maybe it would be best to start from scratch. However, before you clear out their closet completely to start reorganizing, first observe what seems to be the problem area. Are their clothes scattered on the ground?
Are toys out of place, thrown here and there?