Holiday Organizing with Buckets

You may recall that I love using buckets to organize and store things—it’s just one of my (uh, many) quirks. Lucky for me, the holiday season offers new opportunities to organize things with buckets (hooray!) and, it turns out, the holiday season also offers the opportunity for finding new buckets.

Yesterday I discovered some new buckets on my way to an in-home client appointment. I arrived very near the client’s neighborhood about fifteen minutes early. It just so happens that my client lives very near to a very nice and very new Target. So, I thought “I have just enough time to stop at Target to return those pillowcases and use the ladies room.”

So I run into this very new, very nice Target and stop at the returns counter—which happens to be right next to a very well stocked Dollar Spot. This very well stocked Dollar Spot happened to have some very cute holiday buckets—in red, blue and green. Now remember, I have fifteen minutes to a) use the ladies room, b) return pillowcases and c) drive the remaining three miles to my client’s home. And arriving on time is a priority. So, those buckets really complicated things. Do I use the bathroom or do I buy the bucket? I opted to stick to the original plan and use the ladies room, reasoning that I could easily swing back by Target on my way home.

Fast forward 4-1/2 hours…and I’m back in the very new, very nice Target. I have $2.50 in my hand and I am ready to claim my lovely green bucket. To my shock and horror, there are only red buckets left! That’s right—all the blue shiny buckets and all the green shiny buckets are g-o-n-e, leaving me not only green-bucketless, but also realizing I am not the only crazy bucket-loving lady on this planet. In fact, there were many bucket-loving people in that one very new, very nice Target buying up my shiny green buckets while I was happily and unknowingly organizing with my client. Who would have thought?

I decided to settle on the red bucket and head home, slightly bothered that all those green buckets got away from me—every single one of them. Gone.

Now a rational person would let it go. I had a red bucket, I should be happy. Right? Nope. Not me. That green bucket kept calling me and that green bucket kept nagging at me. The red bucket simply wouldn’t do. I had to have a green bucket. (Yes, I was becoming an even crazier bucket-loving lady than I was just hours earlier.)

So, I did what any crazy bucket-loving lady would do and headed to my not-so-very-new Target to see if, by chance, it had shiny green buckets. And alas—it did! I am now the happy owner of a shiny green bucket (and a red bucket, too. Because…well…you just never know when you might need a red bucket, right?)

So, what do I plan to do with these buckets? Well, when I first saw the green bucket, I thought it would make a great spot to store incoming Christmas cards. Without a designated spot, incoming cards can quickly become a source of holiday clutter.

These buckets would also be a handy container to corral card sending supplies – the cards, pens, stamps, address labels, etc. so that this project can be portable and move from room to room as my mood strikes.

I also thought it would be fun to use a bucket to store coupons, catalogs, receipts, and other holiday shopping gear throughout the season. The basket I used for this purpose last year has been permanently “borrowed” by my daughter for use in her closet, so I needed a container for this purpose anyway.

These buckets are really fun colors, making them great to use in a kid’s room any time of year. (Perhaps I should have picked up a blue one or two for my son’s room…hmmm…)

You could also use these buckets as a fun gift basket filled with anything that strikes your fancy...hot cocoa with holiday mugs, for example.

Okay…I’ve got to stop because I’m about to talk myself into more buckets, and really, I have other things on my to-do list today that trump my desire to go crazy buying buckets. (Again.) So, I’ll end the bucket report here. But, if you get a bucket or two of your own, I’d love to hear how you plan to use it. (And not to start a bucket-buying frenzy out there or anything, but just keep in mind these cuties sold out very fast yesterday at that very new Target by my client’s house. So…keep that in mind as you make your own bucket buying plans.)

Organizing Quick Tip: Now is a Great Time to…

With the holidays just around the corner, now is a great time to declutter your kitchen! This week, take a few minutes each day to do a kitchen micro-clean up project. Here are some ideas to whet your appetite.

• Wipe down the cabinet fronts and appliances to make your kitchen sparkle.
• Go through the fridge, pantry or food cabinets and remove any expired foods.
• Take inventory of the items in your freezer and make plans to use up the older items in the next few weeks, creating space for holiday cooking and baking.
• Go through your food storage containers and match lids to containers. Clear out lidless containers, and container-less lids. (And while you’re at it, whittle down your collection if it’s gotten a bit out of control.)
• Inventory your spices and baking supplies. Stock up on needed items in upcoming weeks—ideally when they go on sale.
• Pull unnecessary items such as extra fast food drinking cups, dated (and un-loved) freebie coffee cups and mugs, and tattered dish towels from your drawers and cupboards.

Tackle these simple projects while you’re waiting for the pasta water to boil. Then, as you see progress (and love what you see), add to the micro-project list. Best of all, if you start now, your kitchen will be in ship-shape well before the holidays arrive!

P.S. If you'd like more weekly tips like this, delivered to your email in-box, sign up for my organizing quick tip.  

Freebie Friday— Win a Spot in an Upcoming Online Workshop!

Yay, it’s Friday—my favorite day of the week! Woohoo! It’s been a while since I’ve had a Freebie Friday. But the wait is over! Today is officially Freebie Friday here on the Creative Organizing blog. 

What’s up for grabs you ask? Well, how about a little peace of mind brought to you courtesy of clear surfaces? How about a little less paper clutter, and a whole lot more paper organization? All this can be yours if you win today’s Freebie Friday for a spot in Organize Your Paper Clutter. The final session of this workshop for 2009 begins on Tuesday.

Now…you may be thinking “Sure, I’d try this online workshop thing if I win…but can an online organizing workshop really help me with my paper clutter? You haven’t seen my piles of paper.” Here’s the answer:  yes, this workshop will help with your paper clutter! I get emails and comments in my forum all the time saying that this workshop changes people’s lives. People who were once burdened by paper are now free of that burden. They’re now off doing other things like (happily) organizing another area of their home or enjoying a hobby like scrapbooking, or simply enjoying the company of their family, in a home free from paper clutter.

Now…you may be thinking “This sounds great, but I’m going out of town during a week of this workshop.” Or “This is a busy time of year for me.”  I’ve heard that before, too, and the bottom line is this:  if you start now you’ll be much further ahead the next time this workshop is offered than if you wait until then to begin. Regardless of how much time you can put into this workshop, you will get something out of it. You will make progress! You will feel better about your paper, and you will, in the end, have more time to focus on other things that matter to you.

So, that’s the scoop on the paper clutter workshop! If you’d like a chance at a free spot in the workshop, simply post a comment in the comments section about your biggest paper organizing challenge. I’ll close up the comments on Sunday night at 9 PM Central and draw a winner on Monday. Good luck!

Oh…and be sure to stop by next week for an exciting Freebie Friday. Let’s just say I’m giving away something that is very hard to find…

Finish It Friday

What’s on your weekend to-finish list? Here’s my list as of right now:

• Drop off donations at Goodwill. (Yes, more stuff is ready to leave my house. It is an ongoing process, I tell ya’.)

• Finish a creative project (or two!) I’m working on some new projects for this year’s Get Organized for the Holidays. These projects will be my top priority this weekend, and I’m really excited! I’ve been really focused on other things for quite a while…the house, the kids, other projects…so playing in my scrapbook room with craft supplies will be an absolute treat. I can’t wait.

Speaking of Get Organized for the Holidays, the 2009 session is now open for enrollment! (Woohoo!) You can check out the details here. 

I’d love to hear what’s on your “to-finish list” this fine Finish It Friday. If you’re new to Finish It Friday, feel free to join in any time you get the urge. You can learn more here. I’d love to have you join in on the finishing fun.

Have a happy Friday. And keep your eyes open for a Freebie Friday blog post later today. (So fun…I love Fridays....)

Organizing Magazines

The next session of Organize Your Paper Clutter starts next Tuesday…so the topic of organizing paper is top of mind again! How to organize magazines is one of the popular questions in this workshop, so I thought I’d share my system for keeping my vast collection of magazines under control. If you’ve stopped by this blog of mine a time or two, you may have picked up on my love of magazines. I have always, always loved to flip through magazines and catalogs. I think I love magazines the way some girls love shoes, and other girls love chocolate. Yet, the professional organizer side of me knows that too much of a good thing, when we’re not careful, can equal clutter.

So, here’s how I keep magazine clutter at bay.

1. Establish a home for your magazines. Now, ideally this would be a single home, so that you always know how many magazines you have, and they don’t begin to take over, if you know what I mean. However, I have a couple of homes for my magazines. The most current magazines live in a reading basket in my family room, and the ones that I’m currently in the process of reading are on my night table. (Well, at least they were until I painted…now I’m in search of a new night stand, one with a drawer to hold a couple of books and magazines. Less clutter, if you know what I mean.)

 My reading basket is home to current magazines and books.

Magazines that I’m keeping for the long-haul are stored on shelves in my office storage closet. These are organized by title, year and month, and stored in magazine holders from IKEA.  

2. Decide which magazines to keep long term.  There are several magazines I plan to keep indefinitely. These are mostly magazines that are no longer in print such as my Simple Scrapbooks, Cottage Living, Mary Englbreit, and Organize. I also include really great decorating magazines—special issues that are chock-full of great ideas—too many to clip. These magazines take up about nine (in total) magazine file boxes and just over one shelf. In addition, ever since the great magazine purge of 2009, I have allocated two magazine boxes for one year of Real Simple back issues. 

These magazine boxes are now home to magazines I'm keeping indefinitely, such as Cottage Living and the like. I now keep just one year of Real Simple back issues.

3. Decide what to clip. So what about all the other magazines? Well…when my reading basket starts to get too full, I have a magazine clipping party. I tear out inspiring photos and articles that I will refer to again. And those last five words are key:  I try (really hard) to only keep clippings that I will actually use, or in other words, refer to again. This is something I learned the hard way, after over-accumulating a bunch of really lovely, or super interesting clippings that served no practical purpose in my life. Now, don’t get me wrong, I am using the word practical a bit loosely. I keep a few clippings around simply because the photos are inspiring.

 

4. Organize and store the clippings. Immediately after clipping an article, I temporarily store it in this [IN] PLACE SYSTEM Expanding Document Wallet 

 
Organized into the following broad categories:

• To read
• Scrapbook ideas
• Recipes
• Decorating ideas
• Project ideas
• Organizing ideas

 

Then, once the document wallet gets full (or the mood strikes!) I move my clippings to one of several binders—such as my decorating ideas binder.

This binder includes tabs for each room in my home. So when I come across a decorating idea that I love, I have to decide where I am likely to use this idea—the master bedroom, one of the kid’s rooms, etc. The clippings that make the cut, get stored in a sheet protector behind the appropriate room’s tab.

Aside from storing magazine clippings in this decorating binder, I also store paint and fabric swatches, my paint sample floor plan, and other decorating resources such as catalogs for window covering companies, and things like that.

5. Recycle everything else. Once I go through my magazines and clip things I want to keep, the rest of the magazine gets recycled. If I don’t clip anything (or too much) from a magazine I take it to our library and place it on the free table, passing it along to a happier home. (And I try really hard not to take anything off the free table that will start the cycle all over again.)

So this is what I do…but this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s the perfect system for you. For those of you who have taken my workshops you know that I don’t believe organizing is a one-size-fits-all proposition. The best organizing solution is the one that works for you.

For some people binders and sheet protectors are simply too much work for how often they will refer to their magazine clippings. For me, because I truly do use the items I clip…it’s a terrific system. It allows me to have my favorite ideas, photographs and articles just a flip or two away, all the time.  

Do you have a great system for organizing your magazines and clippings? If so, I’d love to hear from you! Please share your ideas in the comments. And if you’re looking for a complete paper organizing system for every type of paper that comes into your home, remember that Organize Your Paper Clutter begins on Tuesday! It’s the last time this workshop will be offered in 2009—so grab your spot today!

Thanks for reading and sharing…I can’t wait to hear your ideas. 

11 Reasons to Organize Your Closet

I’ve been spending the week putting the finishing touches on my brand new workshop Organize Your Closet – A Quick and Simple Online Workshop. So, today, I thought it would be fun to share eleven reasons why organizing your closet is a rewarding endeavor, plus give you a bit of info about this workshop and the benefits of taking it. Sound fun? Let’s go.

Reason 1: The weather is changing and you want to buy some new clothes. And honestly, who could blame you. There is a strong association between the back-to-school time of year and buying new clothes. At least there is for me. But, you’ll save yourself time and money if you organize your closet first and shop second. You’ll know what you have from prior years that still works for you, and you’ll know what you need to spruce up your wardrobe for this year.

Reason 2: An organized closet saves you time. With an organized closet there’s no more hunting for that other black shoe, or getting 80% of an outfit on only to realize the missing piece is missing a button (or still in the laundry.) When your closet is organized, it’s simple to know what you have because you can see it all and reach it. This means getting dressed in the morning is a quick and simple endeavor. 

Reason 3: An organized closet gets your day started on the right foot. And who couldn’t use a little less stress first thing in the day?

Reason 4: You’ve been meaning to call a closet company to get a custom closet installed. If you want to upgrade your closet system, it makes so much sense to organize your closet first, as counter intuitive as that might sound. When you call in the closet company and your closet is already organized—filled with the clothes, shoes, boots, and other accessories that you really, truly wear—your newly designed closet will work great for you. Why design in forty-eight inches of dress-length hanging space if you only really wear two of the dresses hanging in your closet? Just think…all that space could have been used to organize and store your shoe collection.

Reason 5: Your closet is small so it’s hard to keep it organized. If your closet is on the small side, it is important to regularly go through your things and evaluate what you have and what you need. This helps keep clutter at bay, but also, once you go through the organizing process, you can purchase space stretching storage solutions with confidence, helping you make the most of your available storage space.

Reason 6:  Your closet is big…and you know it’s filled with things you don’t really wear. While a big closet feels like the answer to all your closet organizing dilemmas, a big closet can become a clutter magnet. Did you know the average person only wears 20% of the clothes hanging in their closet? That 80% hanging there (or jumbled on the floor) is not being worn, it’s just cluttering up your closet and your mind. Clearing closet clutter frees up time and space, and when your closet is organized you’ll actually feel like you have more clothes…even if you really have fewer.
This happens to me every single time I organize my closet…and yet it always surprises me. How could it be that I just carted six bags of clothes to Goodwill and now feel as if I have more clothes than I did before organizing my closet? Here’s why…what’s hanging in your closet after you organize it are just those things you wear and love…and now you can see them and reach them just when you need them. It’s a truly great thing. 

Reason 7:  An organized closet feels good! Have you ever done this? You reorganize your closet and then give yourself excuses (for days, if not weeks) to just open the door and stare inside, taking in all it’s orderly glory? If you have…then you know first hand how great an organized closet feels. And if you haven’t…then oh wow…now is the time my friend! You have to experience this simple pleasure first hand. 

Reason 8: Organize Your Closet—my brand new online workshop—begins next Tuesday. So if you’re in need of an extra nudge to organize your closet, consider yourself nudged! This two lesson three week workshop makes it simple to organize your closet, determine what items to keep and what to let go of, and figure out what storage solutions will solve your closet organizing dilemmas—if you need any at all. Best of all, you’ll share your closet organizing journey with an online community of students who are organizing their closets, too, right along side of you, sharing their photos, closet organizing challenges, and generating ideas for you and your closet. (Oh, and I’ll be there to help, too.)  

Reason 9: An organized closet will save you money. An organized closet helps prevent “mistake-wear”—things you purchase that turn out to be big mistakes (and therefore just hang out in your closet reminding you of this past mistake!) If you prevent just one mistake-wear purchase this season, Organize Your Closet will pay for itself. The content in this workshop help you figure out not only what you need to keep, but also where to spend your money to make your wardrobe work for you. It will help you identify the holes in your wardrobe, so you spend your clothing budget wisely (and avoid mistake-wear.)

Reason 10: Organize Your Closet is being offered at a special introductory price. Or in other words, I totally blew it when setting the price for this workshop. For just $20 you’ll get two lessons (over forty pages of instructional content) plus a twelve page handout all about closet storage solutions and how to select the right ones for your closet organizing dilemmas. Plus, you get five worksheets and forms that take the guess-work out of organizing your closet. Plus, you get three weeks of online access to a professional organizer helping you every step of the way. (Yes, I’ll be out in the classroom forum throughout the workshop answering your closet organizing questions.) 

My goal with this workshop wasn’t just to tell you how to organize your closet, but to teach you the thought processes behind all the decisions that go into creating an organized closet. How do you decide what to keep and what to let go of? How do you figure out what storage solutions will stretch the space in your closet? These questions and more are answered in the workshop.

Reason 11: You can get started today! The online classroom for Organize Your Closet opened yesterday. This workshop includes a pre-class assignment which is now available. So…you can take the first steps toward an organized closet today!

Thoughts on Decluttering…

If you get my weekly quick tip, you know that clutter and decluttering have been on my mind lately. Not that this should come as any big surprise given my line of work (a term which makes what I do sound far less gratifying than it truly is.) But nonetheless, my normal pondering about clutter and the hold it has on our life has been cranked up a notch lately. Perhaps it’s the change of seasons. Perhaps it’s the fact that Organizing 101 starts on Tuesday. Or perhaps it’s Janine’s fault. Most likely, it’s a combination of all three.

See when the season’s change, I simply get the urge to declutter. I think it’s hardwired in my genes. The air gets cooler in the fall (or warmer in the spring) and I just want to let stuff go. If I lived in an area where there was no change of seasons, I’m not sure what would happen. (Would things just pile up around me?) Nah…I don’t think so, especially since I’ve now been through several sessions of Organizing 101. Yes, I am the instructor and all but chatting online with students about their own decluttering and organizing journeys has caused my thoughts on my own “clutter” to evolve. (I’ll get to where Janine comes into this in a minute.)

Now before you gasp and say “What, Aby has clutter?” let me back up for a minute and share my thoughts on three different types of clutter. At the one end of the spectrum is clutter that prevents us from living our best lives because it is either physically or emotionally getting in our way. In this case, the clutter is homeless—there are no designated spots for the things that are out or there isn’t enough room for the things that are out to be put away. Let’s call this kind of clutter backlog clutter, for the sole purpose of distinguishing it from the other kids of clutter.

The next kind of clutter is surface clutter. With this type of clutter, the clutter items have a home, but at present they happen to not be in said home. Instead they’re laying on random flat surfaces.

Now to clear things up, I don’t have backlog clutter. Everything in my home has a designated spot. Throughout the day I do create surface clutter (remember, I am human and live with other humans, too) but I declutter the surface clutter on a regular basis and help / encourage the members of my family to do the same. So…let’s get to the third kind of clutter, and finally spill the beans about where Janine comes into the equation.

So, Janine is my friend and fellow professional organizer. And yes, it is very fun when you have friend that is a professional organizer. See, Janine wanted some help organizing her pantry, not because she couldn’t organize her pantry on her own, but rather because we both thought it would be loads fun (and faster) to swap services and work together on some of our projects at home. Janine went first, and we organized her pantry, which for me, is akin to going over to someone’s house for some sort of decadent chocolate and peanut butter dessert—yes I love organizing pantry’s that much. But as if that weren’t fun enough, it got better. Janine returned the favor and came over to my house to help me with some projects! Woohoo!

So Janine and I tackled a space in my home that was organized, but contained some things I really didn’t need any more. In that sense, some of the items in this space were clutter. Yet it was organized clutter. Prior to our intervention, the stuff was already sorted and grouped together in logical groupings, and it was even stored in labeled containers. But none the less, it was clutter because these items were things I no longer needed or used that were simply taking up space and serving no purpose in my life. That’s organized clutter.

I became much more aware of this type of clutter while hanging out and chatting about clutter in several sessions of Organizing 101, because organizing is an evolutionary process. As one of the past Organizing 101 participants puts it, decluttering and organizing are like peeling back layers. Often when we take the first pass through a space to declutter and organize, we keep some items that later on (maybe just two weeks later) we realize aren’t actually very useful to us anymore. So organizing is an evolution…like peeling back the layers of an onion.

Now…you may be wondering why I’m sharing all of this. (And that’s a good question, as I could be verging on rambling. Hopefully you find the topic of clutter as fascinating as I do.) But anyway, I wanted to share these thoughts on clutter because often people get really bogged down by their clutter. They feel bad about it. But the truth is, unless you went through your home yesterday with a fine tooth comb, there might be some clutter, whether it's backlog clutter, surface clutter, or organized clutter.

Because organizing and decluttering is an evolution, things that were yesterday useful can today become clutter. The key is this:  how do you feel about the stuff in your home? If it's weighing you down, get up and take action! Invest some time in creating change—clearing out items that are no longer useful to you. Fill your home (and I don't mean to the brim) with items that lift you up, and let go of anything that's bringing you down. There is a tremendous kind of freedom that comes from letting go of things.  

Second, I wanted to share how helpful Organizing 101 is…for everyone involved (including the instructor.) There truly is power in discussing our stuff with other people, and sharing our organizing journey with a group of like-minded individuals. You gain new perspectives on your things and your life and the role your stuff plays in your life. Are your things moving you forward? Holding you back? Lifting you up? Or weighing you down?

Admittedly, organized clutter is a bit more neutral than other clutter. It’s organized so it looks okay which makes it feel okay, too. But when you realize it’s clutter, you have the opportunity to create space and let go of things that are no longer serving you—even if they were previously organized, labeled and contained. Case in point: Three years of Real Simple Magazines left my home the day Janine came over. If you’ve been around this blog of mine for a while you’ll know that letting go of three years of magazines is H-U-G-E! (Really huge, especially since they’re Real Simple.) These magazines were previously sorted by year and month, and stored in labeled magazine holders, so it could be argued that they weren’t really hurting anything. But truth is, these magazines were organized clutter.

I didn’t really need these magazines. Yes, I love them, but I have already read them. So they were just taking up space that could be better used to store things I really do use, need and love. I don’t have time to flip through them casually on a rainy day, (or a sunny day, or even on a snowy day, for that matter.) And even if a window of time sufficient to browse through three years of back issues of a magazine did miraculously appear in my life, I’d really rather do something else with that time. So while these items weren’t weighing me down in terms of how they looked, they were a lingering obligation. (And obligations can become a big weight on our psyche.)

See my routine for letting go of magazines is to go through them page by page and tear out articles of interest. Then, I organize those article of interest by topic and put them into binders for future reference. Just think of how much time I saved by simply letting these magazines go. And that’s not the end of it. I also created space in my storage room and removed an obligation off my mental to-do list. Ahhh…decluttering feels good.

Regardless of what type of clutter you have—backlog clutter, surface clutter, or organized clutter, now is a great time to do some decluttering. Take advantage of the change of seasons, or join me and a group of like-minded online friends for thought provoking (and action provoking!) discussions on clutter by joining Organizing 101. The next session begins on Tuesday (and it’s the last time this workshop will run in 2009.) I hope to see you in the workshop and to share your decluttering and organizing journey with you. But whatever path you choose, going it alone, calling a professional organizer, or joining Organizing 101, if you have things in your home that are weighing you down, take action and declutter! I promise you, you'll be really glad you did.

Getting Organized for Back to School—Who Says it can’t be Fun?

One of my underlying beliefs about organizing is that the more we love an organizing solution, the more likely we are to use it (and the happier we’ll be in the process.) The same holds true for our kids and back-to-school supplies. Fun school supplies make opening up the backpack each and every day a notch more fun. Wouldn't you agree?

If so you can imagine my glee when a box chock-full of super fun back-to-school products arrived on my doorstep courtesy of Office Max. Check these out:

(Photo courtesy of Office Max.)

Aren’t those so cute? The true test was my daughter’s reaction. She was soooo excited when I showed her the supplies…I had to hide them and put them into safe keeping until I finished up this post! The Schoolio Von Hoolio line includes all sorts of fun back-to-school essentials like notebooks, a pencil box, a pencil set complete with pencils, erasers, and a pencil sharpener, three-ring binders, a 7 pocket expanding file, composition books, a decorative clipboard, and a drawstring backsack. I especially love the clipboards and the composition books…but then again, you know I have a thing for clipboards and composition books. But these are of the super cute variety. ;)

If you haven’t done your back to school shopping yet, give the Schoolio Von Hoolio collection a look. Office Max has great back-to-school savings going on right now. If you've already done your back-to-school shopping, consider stashing a few of these items away for a mid-school-year supply perk-up.

Updated Info: The Schoolio-Von-Hoolio line is available at OfficeMax stores nationwide. You can find a nearby store at www.officemax.com/storelocator/storeLocatorHome.jsp. This line isn't offered online due to the various in-store shopping deals OfficeMax offers during back-to-school season, which you can view at http://officemax.com/penny. The deals change weekly with some products offered for the cost of one penny. (I've experienced this firsthand...I got crayons for a penny a few weeks ago!)

To kick off the back to school season, Office Max also hosted a web cast with Peter Walsh and a panel that included an award-wining teacher, a mom and two students. The web cast showed real world back-to-school challenges from the perspective of teacher, mom and student—and showed organizing solutions. You can watch the blog cast online for even more back-to-school organizing ideas. Hope you enjoy!

Last but not least, before I wrap up the back-to-school-organizing-ideas-extravaganza, I’d like to point you to the article Back To School Planning on the RachaelRay.com website. This article features a few of my favorite back to school organizing ideas, along with ideas of other professional organizer Moms.

Alright…I’d say back-to-school is a wrap! (Well…for this school year anyway.) 

Finish It Friday

It's almost Friday—yippee! The first week of school is (almost) officially under our belts. The kids have done great. I (for some reason) am exhausted. So...I'm posting this week's Finish It Friday now so I can wake up invigorated to finish something this weekend! What will it be? We'll just have to wait and see.

How about you? What will you finish this weekend? I can't wait to hear because I know it will inspire me even more to finish up one of those pesky little (or maybe big...) to-do's on my list!

Also, check back tomorrow for a fun Freebie Friday. Entering will require a re-tweet via Twitter—just to mix things up a bit and up the Freebie Friday fun-factor. If you don't have a Twitter account, you can set one up for free here. (It's really easy and Twitter is really fun.) Oh, and while you're there, you can follow me, and I'll follow you back. Sound fun? I'm abygarvey on Twitter (and in the real world, just in the real world I put a space between the Aby and the Garvey.) 

(Clearly, it's time for bed.)

Good night. See you back here on Friday. :)

Tips for a Smooth Transition Back to School

Depending on the child, the first day of school is one that is eagerly anticipated, or one that’s intensely dreaded. In my household, I have one of each type of child. My girl loves going back to school. She adores school and all that it entails—reading, writing, friends, and even the homework. My boy, on the other hand, would be perfectly content if summer lasted the entire year, or at least until the December holiday break, after which summer could start up again right where it left off.

Regardless of where your child is on this spectrum, it’s important to make the transition as pleasurable as possible, while being sensitive each child’s unique feelings about going back to school. After all, the transition back to school can be quite dramatic—going from virtually no structure and routine, to complete structure where every minute of the day is scheduled and planned. In light of this, here are some of my favorite ideas for easing kids back into the structure and routine of school.

Do a summer recap. Sit down with your kids for a few minutes and talk about the fun times you and your family enjoyed this summer. This will help you end the summer on a high note—remembering the good times, and help you plan for next year. Which activities, camps, or outings did everyone enjoy? Which ones would it be okay to pass up next summer? Are there any activities you missed this summer—things you planned to do but never got around to?

In my household, there’s a bit of disappointment that we didn’t make *enough* trips to the pool this summer. Honestly, it was a bit too chilly this year to spend a bunch of time hanging out in an unheated pool! However, knowing that one child didn’t get her fill of summer pooling means we can plan a pool outing before summer ends, or even once school is in session. The end of summer, after all, doesn’t have to mean then end of fun—a great message to share with the kiddos.

Talk about the upcoming school year. While you’re chatting with your kids, ask them what they’re excited about in terms of the upcoming school year. For kids like my son, this can take a bit of probing and a bit more digging to help them unearth the fun that really does take place at school. Even if it’s lunch time, recess, or just being in the oldest class in the school this year, finding the high points can help ease the transition back. While you’re at it, find out if your child is nervous about the upcoming school year, and then help them work through those nerves. This is particularly important if your child is attending a new school. Talk about how the lunch line works, or take a quick tour of the school so your child knows how to find his or her classroom, the bathroom, and the bus line. 

Gradually adjust your schedules. A week or so before school starts, start shifting bedtimes and wake-up times by few minutes each day. My kids’ summer bedtimes are off by about an hour compared to our school year schedule. So the week before school starts, we’ll start shifting back bedtime by ten minutes or so each night. (And the week before that we’ll start talking about this upcoming shift, so no one is surprised when bedtimes start getting earlier and earlier.) This gradual shift in bedtimes will make waking up on the first day of school much more bearable (for all of us)!

Create an end-of-the-summer tradition. Say farewell to summer with a simple treat for the entire family to enjoy. It could be as simple as a trip to the ice cream shop, or fixing your kids’ favorite meal for dinner. Or you could plan a picnic in the park, a BBQ with friends, or a trip to the beach or the pool.

Have something to look forward to. One of the best things about starting school in August is that we have a three-day weekend just around the corner. Having something like that to look forward to makes the transition easier. If a three-day weekend isn’t on the horizon when your kids go back to school, schedule your own event , such as a neighborhood get-together, a sleepover with friends, or even a stay-at-home movie night with popcorn and lemonade. Put your something-to-look-forward-to on the family calendar to keep it top of mind for your whole family.
 

Decide to have a great year! It’s important to tap into your own feelings about the school year. Are you on the excited anticipation end of the spectrum, or do you dread sending your kiddos back to school? If you’re apprehensive about the upcoming school year in any way, sort that through and look for ways to frame it positively for yourself and your child. Remember, your kids reflect what you’re thinking and feeling. If you’re excited about the upcoming school year, chances are they will be, too!

I’d love to hear your ideas for making the transition back to school easier and more fun for both your kids and you. Please share your ideas in the comments! I look forward to hearing from you.