Organizing the Chaos

First stop is the kitchen.
As a stay-at-home mom, the days can blend together so easily. I sometimes have a difficult time keeping track of what day it is and what's going on during the week. Of course, I use my calendar on my iPhone, but I still prefer something concrete to look at. In addition to needing something to keep me on track for the week, I had a lot of clutter hanging around my kitchen that needed homes.

Before I found this command center, we had our calendar and coupons on the side of the refrigerator and any mail that was deemed too important to throw out right away was just stacked on the kitchen counter. I bought the command center to help eliminate the unsightly pile of mail but it does so much more. This organizer has everything: a place for my calendar, two clear PVC packets that I use as "dry erase boards" and lots of storage pockets. I attached it to the back of my pantry door so I can have easy access to it but keep it out of sight when guests come over.

Here's how I modified it to fit my family.


Monthly calendar
I clipped my calendar to the top strip. Now, I have more room on the refrigerator for the kids' artwork.

Dry erase board #1

This area serves two purposes. I can write down what I need from the market, Target, and Costco. If we're running low on something, I or my husband can just write it down on the list for my next trip to the store. I also use this area for my weekly menu. I do my weekly grocery shopping on Mondays, and I cannot tell you how many times I've forgotten what meals I had planned by the time the end of the week rolled around.

Dry erase board #2

This is my weekly calendar for the kids. I am trying to teach the concept of "today," "yesterday," and "tomorrow" to my 4 year old and 2 year old. So, I came up with this visual for them. I divided a paper into 7 columns, one for each day of the week. I put the paper in the clear PVC packet so I can write on it with my dry erase markers. I mark school days with an "S" and "K" indicates days that the babysitter, whose name begins with "K," is coming.

I have small pictures of people we see on a frequent basis: grandparents, friends, cousins. I attach the pictures of people we are going to see that week on the weekly calendar. If we're going to see Grandma and Grandpa on Wednesday, I'll put their pictures on the Wednesday column. I use a clothespin to indicate which day is "today," so when my daughter asks who we are going to see today, I just direct her to the calendar.

Two mini pockets
 I use one pocket to hold all of the pictures for the weekly calendar. I use the other pocket for all of the miscellaneous crap that would just get lost in the bigger pockets.

Four big pockets

The kids, my husband, and I each have our own pockets. Our stack of crap? Eliminated! Where's that invitation to that baby shower? In my pocket. Where's the Frozen temporary tattoos? In the kids' pocket. The fourth pocket is for coupons. I had so many coupons that it was too heavy for one magnetic clip to hold up. They just kept sliding down to the floor where the kids could access them too easily. Imagine dozens of small pieces of paper scattered all over the kitchen floor. Every. Single. Day.

Let's move onto toys.

How many toys can one 4 year old and one 2 year old possibly have? Well, that's 6 sets of Christmas gifts, 6 sets of birthday presents, and then the 2.489 million other toys that were bought for no apparent reason. How do we attempt to keep things organized? Categorize and buckets.

I found this great bookshelf with nine cubbies. I, then, assigned each cubbie a category: puzzles (I ditched the boxes and put each puzzle in its own ziplock bag), wooden blocks and toys, play kitchen toys, trucks and cars, R's toys, and K's toys. The bottom three cubbies without storage cubes are for larger toys.

I also love my sling bookshelf. It was a bit pricier but it's so well made and sturdy. My kids have mistaken it for a step stool on numerous occasions and it's still looks impeccable if you overlook the smudge marks and stains on the storage cubes. Talk about a bonus. I filled one with some of our pretend dress up outfits (the rest are in K's room) and the other holds the dress up accessories like purses, hats, handcuffs. What? We have a police officer outfit. What did you think they were for?

Ok, so that only accounts for half of the toys that we have in the living room. Another key player in my organization game is my ottoman. Toys that either can't fit in the storage cubbies or are too annoying to have out all day long go in the storage ottoman so I can control when they come out.

I've found that categorizing the toys helps make cleaning up go smoother. The kids know which cubbie the toys go in. I assign a category to each kid. "K, you put away the ottoman toys and R, you put away the kitchen toys." (And repeat five times.)