Family Organization Center

  • June 2, 2009 10:17 PM

I found this old school-house chalkboard on Craig’s List for 20 bucks.  It’s huge— 8 feet long and 4 feet high.

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For convenience our center hangs on a wall in our garage!!

Details:

  • Artwork— Each kid has a section to display their favorite artwork of the week!
  • Kids Communication Binder—  allowance, permission slips, notes, chore chart and happy thoughts
  • Home Communication Binder—  receipts, coupons and notes
  • Tiny Buckets—- spare change & small collectibles
  • Bags (not shown, they hang below each name)— essential for a grab and go kinda day; diapers, wipes, snacks, small toys, sun screen…
  • Daily Clipboards— Whatever I need to do/deliver/mail for the day will be ready to go!  YES!!!  I love this part!  Permission slips, mail, checks, to-dos, coupons…  ready to go!

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YESSSS!!!  Now I will never forget a permission slip- coupon- directions AGAIN!!! Ya, right, but at least I’m semi in-control over the never-ending paperwork mountain!

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Organizing Art Supplies!

  • May 2, 2009 3:02 PM

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Glass jars and a couple vintage peanut butter cans (aren’t they cute?) make for easy access for our daily art supplies.

10 Supplies We Can’t Live Without:

1.   Markers  My current favorites are Crayola flip tips– never lose a lid!  Mason likes the twistables.  I’m thinking of adding those yummy smelly ones just for fun!

 2.  Paint  

3.   Paint Brushes   Big. Small. Fat. Skinny. Foam.

4.  Crayons of course!   

5.   Adhesives   Gotta have elmers white, double stick tape, glue sticks, and Zip dry.  I bought a big thing of YES and don’t like that for kids projects.

6.   Scissors   Mama’s special sharp one are hidden, but I have several sizes available for the kiddos.

7.   Dotties

8.   Colored Pencils & Chalk

9.   Roll of Butcher Paper   I bought mine at Sam’s Club… it was a bit expensive, but worth it for large scale projects.

10.  Heavy Construction Paper in a Variety of Colors & Newspaper

 

10 Fun-to-have-on-hand supplies:

  1. Cotton Balls & Pom Poms
  2. Popsicle Sticks
  3. Buttons— all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors
  4. Punches Circle, Square, Heart & Star
  5. Ribbon
  6. Googly Eyes
  7. Clothes Pins
  8. Recycled Everything Jars, Cans & Boxes oh my!
  9. Lunch Bags
  10. Yarn and/or Twine

Meal Planning

  • February 10, 2009 6:17 AM

This has been a life-saver for me!!  We were spending a colossal amount of money on groceries AND it seemed like I was at the super-market almost everyday!

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All you need to get started is velcro, two thin canvas boards, punches/scissors & colored paper…

  1. As a family BRAINSTORM all of your favorite dinner foods.
  2. Color code SIDE DISHES, MAIN COURSE, and VEGGIES
  3. Use velcro to adhere all your choices on canvas #1
  4. Select menu items from canvas #1 and add to canvas #2 to make a new meal-a-day

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TIPS:

  • –Leave room for recipe of the week or chef’s choice
  • –Makes lots of extra tags for new ideas
  • –Alternate every week– each family member gets to plan meals (our kids love this being in charge for week!)
  • –Make extra tags for sides like salad that you may eat more than once a week

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Since implementing our new system we shop ONCE a WEEK… instead of every other day!  Preparing dinner is now a BREEZE *seriously*!!  Each family member gets to be be responsible!

Yes, I Love it!  Hope you do too!