The many uses of lavender

Patricia knows about lavender and has a whole site dedicated to it. Check out her lavender craft ideas.

Hang it on a wall

I love the ideas in the article Getting My Wall Organized with Command Adhesive Products by 3M. I need that for my office.

Stop and think

In the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it is good to sit back and think about life in general. I love this article 75 Life-changing Truths Written While Lying on the Grass.

Humor relief

After the chaotic week of back to school fun, I could use a good chuckle or two. These lovely ladies really make me laugh:

• All Questions are not created equal by Surely, You Jess!
• What I learned last week is that if I go topless, animals die. Or something like that. by Guilty Squid
• I expected rocky mountains to be a little rockier than this by Raising Colorado
• Car Booster Seats by The Meanest Mom

Happy weekend!

Handmade gift idea

Bake some delicious cookies and present them in a beautiful gift package created from a Pringles can.

This is a great idea for a back-to-school gift for your child’s new teacher. Add a tag saying “Have a great year!” to the front.

Find the recipe and package creation instructions at The Paper Pony. Print this easy gift idea and keep it in your Custom Cookbook in a tab called “gift ideas”.

Endless cooking advice and recipes

Ever realized you are missing an ingredient and wish you know what you could use as a substitution?

Check out Chef Tom’s recipe forum at Recipesnoop.com. It is full of recipes, tips, definitions, and advice. I don’t think there is a cooking question that doesn’t have an answer in this extensive collection of cooking information.

You can get his free cookbooks, too. I have been trying out his recipes 2-3 nights a week for awhile, and they are easy and delicious.

Quarterly room clean out

I periodically go through the kids’ rooms and clear out the junk, but I like the idea of scheduling it on a quarterly basis. Find out more at PenelopeLovesLists.com.

Cheap decorating idea for a small kid’s room

Check out how cute little dresses hanging on a clothesline looks in a little girl’s room at Momspark.net. You could use sports-type shirts and baseball hats to create a boy version.

Shameless self promotion

Check out my new blog at Finding The Humor. My favorite post is “What I could have done with $900″.

Did you discover any cool finds this week?

Navigating the jungle

I used to borrow my teenage son’s Wii for my workout each morning. My ten-minute warm up consisted of clearing an area of the floor big enough for the balance board to fit, and I was constantly doing push ups while staring at potato chip crumbs. Sound familiar?

Identify what starts the clutter and fix it

In an article about clutter, I showed how I figured out that the cabinet in my son’s room was the culprit in spurring the clutter disaster in his room.

Since I solved this problem, his room has remained immaculate…almost to the point of obsession. It took a while for me to identify him as the same child who used to live in a room where you couldn’t see the floor.

His console games are in alphabetical order! I’m beaming with pride.

Once the initial clutter problem was under control, the room stayed clean. Everything has its place now, and he takes great pride in his new, organized room. It has lasted for over four months, so I believe this is permanent.

What is this pile?

The other week I was surprised to find a small pile of miscellaneous stuff sitting outside his door. I curiously asked, “Is this trash?” He replied that he was cleaning through his room again, and the pile was stuff he thought I might want.

I combed through the pile with interest. There were old baseball team pennants, notebooks, some pencils, and…what is this? A crumpled up school hall pass! I faked wild excitement at the fact that he saved the hall pass for me. “I’ve been searching all over the house for this important document! Thanks for keeping it for me!” After my jumping up and down and running around the hall waving the pass in the air in triumphant joy, he just looked at me with a cute grin and rolled his eyes. Sorry, you are stuck with me as your mom.

There is hope

If you have a child that is battling clutter, read my article on Clutter and the Avalanche Effect and take the time to find the the spot that starts the clutter in the room. You will be pleasantly surprised at the results.

It is such an advantage to help kids learn to be organized, at least to some point, while they are young. This skill will be an important asset as they become young adults, on their own for the first time, trying to balance studies, work, and fun.

Sometimes you have to laugh so you don’t cry.

With my mouth hanging open in both shock and terror, I took it all in as I scanned the room. Every drawer, bookshelf, and container had been emptied into the middle of the floor. Her attention to detail was impressive, and nothing had been left untouched.

There, teetering atop the mountain she had so proudly built, was my two-year-old grinning from ear to ear at her accomplishment.

It is one of those moments as a parent that you simply must freeze with a photo so you don’t forget, or in case you need a favor when they are a teenager, you can whip out the picture as proof that they owe you one.

Four hours later the room was back to its original state, and only then could I see the humor in it.

Now do you feel better about what you are facing in your child’s room?

Kids are disorganized by nature.

Their rooms become a mess overnight leaving Moms throwing their hands up in the air in surrender to the floor covered with “stuff”. Despite what we Moms think, kids really don’t want to live in a messy room.

Ask yourself, “Why is the room messy?”

Does he/she have too much stuff? If there is more “stuff” than can reasonably fit in a room, it can be overwhelming or even impossible for a child to keep the room neat. Maybe it’s time to re-evaluate the contents and “spring-clean” the room.

Clearing out the unused and outgrown

Start with the closet and work your way around the room. Closely examine the contents and determine what needs to stay and what can go. Have they outgrown this? Are they ever going to use this? Have your child participate since you may need their advice on items.

Make a pile of clothes, toys, and books that you need to:

• pass down to a younger child or neighbor
• toss (broken or missing pieces)
• donate to a charity or sell at a consignment store

Once you are done, you will find you have ample space available to organize what is left.

Everything needs a “place”

The key to keeping the room organized is everything having a “place”.

Have you noticed how the toys, puzzles, etc. at a preschool are arranged? How does it stay neat with 20 kids playing every day? The answer…everything has a place. When “clean up” time comes, even the smallest of toddlers knows where everything goes and can participate in tidying a room.

Now apply that philosophy to your child’s room. Assign a place for clothes, games, toys. Use baskets and plastic containers to store groups of small items. Use labels to mark the contents so your child will know where to put his toys when he is done. If your child didn’t participate in the organizing, give him a tour of the new room so he is familiar with the arrangement.

I recently organized my teenager’s room. Things he had outgrown long ago were taking up precious storage space. I was able to remove 4 lawn/leaf bags full of items from his room. His little sisters thought it was Christmas when they received a few lost treasures such as Lite-Bright. With more space now available in the closet, I was able to get items such as musical instruments off the floor and onto a shelf in the closet.

Identify the trouble spot and solve the problem

What is causing the most clutter?

My child’s collection of game systems, games, and accessories was the cause of a constant mess on the floor. Every time the cabinet door was opened to look for a cord or controller, out spilled the contents in a tangled ball of cords and accessories, and he wasn’t able to find what he needed. I realized this was the main source of the clutter in his room, and it needed to be fixed.

Solution:

Since three drawers in his dresser were now available from the cleanup, I took his game system controllers, cords, accessories, etc and created a drawer for each type of game system. This freed up space in the entertainment center to actually place the games neatly so you could see them all. Now when he needs a cord to a specific item, he knows exactly where it is without digging through a mess. Problem solved. Since reorganizing the room, he has kept it immaculate, and I couldn’t be more thrilled.

As you make more space available, you are able to organize the room so it functions well. When toys are off the floor and in closets or drawers, the room immediately evolves into an inviting, relaxing atmosphere free of the chaos of clutter.

No longer will you have to brace yourself as you open the door, scared of what you will find.

Related Articles:

Clutter and the Avalanche Effect
7 Ways to Combat Clutter