Search Results for: back to school

Back to School Prep | Toss & Tidy Up

August 8, 2019 by Heather Filed Under: Kids & Family Organizing, Organize, Organizing Projects, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources Leave a Comment

It’s back to School prep time which is also a great time to toss clutter, outgrown clothing and tidy up before the school year begins. Hopefully they’ve had a fun summer filled with vacation play, camps, projects and book reading assignments. Before you head out to shop for supplies, lets get toys, rooms and supplies you already have in order first.

Did those notebooks, textbooks and book bags languishing in the closet, play room, kitchen or bedrooms? If so, you never know what you might find growing by now, arm yourself if necessary!

This should take no more than 30 min’s for most grade and high school kids and I recommend doing it within the first week of school ending but if it didn’t happen at the end of school, it’s a great way to get in the back to school mindset now! Have them gather their book bag/backpack, any supplies and textbooks in their room or anywhere else they study. Put them all in a pile, on the floor, their bed (lots of kids like to work on their bed-it’s comforting) or a table/desk.

Back to School Prep | Pitch It

Remove the contents of bags and backpacks (if you didn’t do this at the beginning of the summer). Evaluate the condition of the bag and reusable supplies.
Go through notebooks and remove anything that you or your kids want to keep (for sentimental reasons or other), add these to a sentimental box (each child should have their own, separate from the parents).
Recycle papers, notes and notebooks no longer needed.
Gather books to return to the school, hand down to younger kids or donate to a library.
Save supplies that can be re-used in one area and before you shop for back to school, check here first!

Back to School Prep | Supplies

Shop school supplies you have on hand before you head to the store. It might not feel as exciting, but with younger kids you can create a “store” and offer to exchange some kind of reward for items “purchased” at home. This will help teach and reinforce the value of reuse and recycling. As kids get older, I find most of them are pretty keenly aware and want to re-use/not waste materials!

Shelves, cabinets, closets and basket systems, all work great depending on your space and needs. Just be sure it’s easy for you and your kids to get to. If they are older, they may want to keep some of their favorite supplies in their room, otherwise they can all go in one place.

Back to School Prep | Toys

This might not be something a lot of parents think about at back to school time but games, toys and crafts can collect and then languish in the lost corners once school begins. So it’s really the perfect time to asses what toys and games your kids are still using and donate what they have out grown. Craft and art projects can be stored in sentimental bins or just snap a photo (which you can always print later) and let it go! Keep only their favorites and rotate what is kept out because there won’t be as much time for games and toys.

I’ll share my tips about Back to school prep for your kids wardrobe and shopping for supplies in the next couple posts! Happy Back to School Prep!!

Optimizing Your Home Office or Study for a Productive Back-to-School

August 26, 2024 by Heather Filed Under: Kids & Family Organizing, Organize, Paper management, Productivity, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources 2 Comments

Keeping an organized home office or study area is hard when you’re tight on space. When papers are everywhere, you can never find something when needed, and the piles on your desk can be exasperating and overwhelming! Below, I’ve outlined seven steps to maximizing space in your home office or study area for a productive Back-to-School season.

Have a productive Back-to-School season in seven easy steps

1. Assess Your Space

Before rearranging furniture or buying new items, take a step back and assess your current space. The most common mistake people make when they try to get organized is running to the store and buying all the cute containers and systems before sorting through things. (That’s understandable because we see it everywhere these days!)

First, identify what’s essential and what’s not. You’ll need to sort through everything that’s in the space already. This might involve going through your books, papers, and office supplies to determine what you actually use and need.

2. Declutter

Decluttering is a crucial step in maximizing space. As you sort through each pile, stack of paper, or box of clutter, use boxes or bags to create categories like trash, recycle, keep, and donate.

I recommend eliminating as much paper as you can. With more and more online information, we no longer need as much paper as we used to. Be sure to shred anything with sensitive information.

The bottom line? Remove items that no longer serve a purpose or can be stored elsewhere.

~ Expert Tip ~ Stay Focused!
It’s easy to get off track when you come across things that belong elsewhere in your home. Instead of walking around and getting distracted in other rooms, keep a box nearby labeled “Elsewhere” or “Other Rooms” and place things that don’t belong inside. This helps you remember to take care of it later but keeps you focused on the space.

3. Consider Your Preferences

Do you like everything tucked away and streamlined? Or do you need to see certain things for fear of “out of sight, out of mind” problems?

It’s important to consider how you operate before you set up any space. There’s no ONE way to organize! (Darn, right?!)

What works for one person might be the wrong approach for another, so you must consider what works best for you and your habits.

4. Create Zones

Whether you have an entire room or a small corner to work with, it’s important to create zones in your space.

Room Zones

If your home office or study area serves multiple purposes, such as working, studying, and relaxing, it is important to create distinct zones for each activity. This helps your brain transition between tasks and makes the space more functional. You can use rugs, furniture, or dividers to create different spaces in the room.

Category Zones

Within your workspace, you’ll need detailed categories depending on your needs. Think in categories like:

Office Supplies
Craft or Art Supplies
Active/To Do Papers or Activities
Archive Information (Documents to file or reference. Remember, only keep what you’ll use!)
Reference Information

Once you’ve established your zones, you can use containers to keep them within their categories.

A quick note about paper!

Paper management organization is a huge topic about which I’ve written multiple blog posts; you can find them here. After you’ve recycled or shredded what you can, set up a simple filing system—label categories based on how you would look for items when needed.

5. Use Your Space Efficiently

Sometimes, seeing what is missing in one’s home is difficult, but I often see underutilized space when working with clients.

Hanging shelves on walls, installing furniture that stores things efficiently, and hanging lights from above are just a few ways to save space if you’re working with a small area.

6. Consider Environmental Factors

It’s also important to consider environmental factors that impact your productivity.

How is the lighting? Does your space have any natural light? Could you move your desk closer to a window?
How is the airflow and air quality in your space? Do you need a fan, space heater, or air purifier?
Does the space represent you? Consider adding plants, candles, or decor to help you feel at ease in the space.

7. Maintain Organization, Tips for Staying Organized:

Once you’ve maximized your space, maintaining the work you’ve done is just as important. A clutter-free workspace feels great and improves productivity!

Daily Tidy-Up: Spend a few minutes tidying up your space at the end of each day. This prevents clutter from accumulating and prepares your space for the next day.
Use Containers: Drawer dividers, file organizers, and cable management solutions can help keep everything in its place. Labeling items also makes it easier to find what you need quickly.
Regularly Reassess: Every few months, take some time to reassess your space. As your needs change, so might your setup. Don’t be afraid to rearrange or reconfigure your space!

For more ideas and support for back-to-school organizing, you can find additional posts about tidying up for back-to-school and meal prep here.

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Maximizing space in your home office or study area is about making intentional choices that work for YOU.

By decluttering, creating zones, and using your space efficiently, you can make a space that supports your work or studies and inspires and motivates you. Good luck!

If you’re short on time and need help getting organized, contact me to learn how it works.

Until next time, Happy Organizing!

Flip out of that Back-to-School funk!

August 21, 2015 by Heather Filed Under: Closets, Organize, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources 1 Comment

Does back to school have you in a funk?

For much of the country, school is already back in swing, and many are feeling overwhelmed. In this post, I hope to help Flip that Back-to-School funk. Last week, I shared some tips (here) for back-to-school scheduling.

This week, I’m tackling systems for homework stations, wardrobe organizing, and taming lunch/snack time stress. One suggestion all around is to involve your kids in at least part of each of these projects. You might prefer to just do it yourself and not have the hassle of the kids’ opinions and distractions, but honestly, when I work with kids, they love to be involved and tend to do a much better job of maintaining it. Most kids love order and organization!

Homework Stations

They don’t have to be fancy or complicated, but carving out a specific area where your kids know they go to do their homework is an important part of their school routine. Every child and household is different, so your system might differ, but the main components needed are pretty simple.

What’s most important is a distraction free zone with a surface, quality task lighting and a comfortable chair. Depending on the kids’ ages, this might be in a family room, off the kitchen, at the dining room table, or in their bedroom. It’s excellent to incorporate permanent and convenient storage for standard supplies: calculator, ruler, pencils, pens, erasers, notepaper, art supplies, books, and anything specific to your kid’s classes. A rolling cart and some bins may be a good solution if your kid’s homework space doubles as a family area. Kids will often find a lot of excuses to keep them from doing homework, beat them to the punch, and make them feel comfortable and supported for this essential daily task that will help them build lifelong skills!

Kids’ Wardrobe and closet systems

KIDS capsule wardrobe

Have you heard of a Capsule Wardrobe?

I hadn’t until I ran across this article. I love this idea, and I’ve naturally done this to some degree on my own (gravitate towards colors I love, etc). The full article is worth a read, but I’ll give you a quick 5-step summary:

1. Clean all the clothes and gather them in one place.

2. Sort and eliminate any that are not in good shape, don’t fit or are impractical.

3. Look at the overall colors and style your kids gravitate towards, and start grouping them into categories, eliminating duplicates and oddballs that don’t fit with the scheme.

4. Put clothes away, hang them, and fold them. Try the Kon-Marie folding method (See the tee-shirt video here) or use a folding board. Arrange them by category (shirts, pants, shorts, etc.) and color to make it easier to mix and match outfits.

If you find wardrobe gaps, you may have to fill in some pieces to make this work. Now, you have the makings for a funky, fun, and easy mix-and-match wardrobe system! This could be a great way to simplify your kids’ wardrobe, and from there, the closets and clothes storage might be a little easier!

Easy lunch and snack time

Cat Bento Box Instructions

This category would require many posts to cover, and I’m sure I’ll return to it because my clients often struggle with food prep and meals. Here are a few ideas for easy make-ahead lunches and snacks. Please don’t feel bad if you don’t have time to make kitty bento boxes daily!

Start with a well made, insulated and cute lunch box that’s easy to clean!

[Cute lunch boxes via honest.com]

Stock up on snack friendly foods (pre-packaged if you must or make ahead portions) and create snack stations in the fridge and pantry. Contain items that are snack friendly in bins, baskets or boxes and label them so everyone knows these are mom/dad approved. These should be age appropriately placed (lower shelves for smaller kids) and available with supervision and permission. Older kids can help themselves.

[tons of lunch and snack ideas via realsimple.com] Make lunches ahead and stock up on easy-to-prepare lunch foods. There are a million or more ideas on Pinterest and entire websites dedicated to kids meal prep. So many great ideas that I’m really just passing them along here!

I hope you no longer want to pull your hair out or flip at the idea of returning to school. If you can’t get it ALL done before school starts, remember it’s a process you can ease into. Pick the one or two areas that drive you the most nuts and tackle them first. Once you’ve got a handle on them, add on other systems. Remember to keep your kids involved, and most importantly, have fun with them!

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Photo Organizing Old-School Style

August 7, 2017 by Heather Filed Under: Kids & Family Organizing, Organize, Organizing Projects, Paper management, Systems & Techniques, Tips & Resources, Uncategorized 2 Comments

I had someone ask me to cover the topic of Photo Organizing this month so here we go! I have never gone too far into this subject here on my blog because it’s quite a HEFTY topic to cover in one post. Here are the basic’s for paper photo organizing systems, I’ll return to cover digital photo organizing another time. It’s helpful to know before you begin if you will be doing this yourself or hiring help. There is an entire trade organization, APPO, dedicated to Photo Organizing!Most of us want to keep at least some photo’s to look at in frames, albums or loosely. But we don’t get to enjoy the photo’s we love because they are in a big jumble with the one’s we don’t care about, the duplicates, damaged photo’s and photos of people you have no clue about!

Chances are that at some point you will be inheriting old photo’s if you haven’t already.

To Digitize or Not? Since many of us don’t print photo’s anymore, at least we know the quantity of printed photo’s isn’t growing exponentially! If you’re someone who still prints photo’s, stop doing that until you have a great system in place. You may also want to digitize your photo’s but it’s best to sort and purge what you don’t want first, deciding what you want digitized as you go. If you’re beginning this process with the thought of digitizing, you may want to buy a package for this service. Companies like Legacy Box send you a box that you can fill, return and have scanned. The box is returned within 1-3weeks with original photo’s as well as your digital photo’s (on a CD).

Gather all your photo’s into one area to work on. This can be a fun project to work on when your Binge watching a favorite series:) Before you begin, have a method to sort photos into such as file folders, shoe boxes, large envelopes, plastic bags etc.Label with temporary labels to keep track of what you have sorted, eventually permanent labels will be attached to bins or albums.

Handling…if you have very old, fragile or valuable photo’s you may want to wear lint free cotton gloves while working on photo’s to keep oils and moisture from damaging them. You can also wipe the photo’s gently as you go. If you find photo’s stuck in albums, don’t force them. Try prying up a corner with something like a flat spatula and dental floss! The floss can be used to “saw” the under side of the photo from the adhesive backing. If you still can’t get it, set it aside and get professional help. Don’t write directly on the backs of photo’s with anything other than an archival pen, I like these.Sort photo’s chronologically and/or by event or person. Your system may be some combination of these. As you start the process of sorting and purging, think about other family members or friends who you might want to send photo’s to and set them aside (labeled) to give them when you’re done. If you’re not sure who someone is, snap photo’s of the photo’s as you go and text or email someone who might be able to help you ID them. It can be fun to share “vintage” photo’s with family and friends as you go! Keep track of what size the majority of your photo’s are and if you plan to organize into albums or boxes, this will be important to know.

Storage can be decided on once you have finished sorting and you know what size collection you have. If you plan to digitize, send the photo’s off at this point. Do your research before you buy storage containers. Look for Archival quality boxes and albums. If your photo’s are standard 4×6 or 5×7 you will have a lot of options to choose from. Remember that larger boxes will get very heavy. Use archival paper dividers to further separate photo’s by category or date and label the cards with detailed information about events, family members etc. Don’t use sticky notes or clips that can damage the surface of original photo’s. If you have negatives that correspond to the photo’s you are keeping, label the plastic sleeves they come in to correspond to the storage system you are creating and store negatives separately. Keep your photo’s in climate controlled, low humidity and light conditions to best preserve them.Cross reference storage-Note in your photo box what negatives and digital photo’s you have copies of and where they are stored (on CD’s, cloud, external hard drive, separate bins etc).

Maintain your system on a regular basis if you are adding to your paper photo collection or if you inherit photo’s. I’ll share tips for organizing your digital photo’s in a later post. This is a great time of year to work on photo organizing and perhaps create some beautiful books with some of the old and new photo’s you come across. Have fun traveling down memory lane!

(Re)Discovering Personal Style in Design

January 7, 2014 by Heather Filed Under: Art, Art & Design, Inspiration & Education

I’ve gone back to school in a manner of speaking and am (Re)Discovering Personal Style in Design! I signed up last year to take the Ultimate Guide to Repeat’s over at Pattern Observer. I’ve followed Michelle and her blog and business for the past few years. She began the site in 2010 right around the time that I left the Carpet and Textile design industry full time. I will always keep an eye on what’s happening in textiles regardless of whether it’s a part of my business or not. That being the case I’ve gotten a bit rusty here and there with my design skills and I’ve had to switch from a very expensive industry software package to the more commonly used Illustrator and Photoshop…neither of which I am quite the master of…yet!

Pattern Observer to the rescue! The e-course “The Ultimate Guide to Repeats” shows you how to use and master Illustrator as a textile design tool! This year she has launched a private membership site that allows you access and interact with a variety of e-courses and the other members taking them. I’m trying it out and so far I LOVE it! I decided to investigate my own personal design style as I continue to slowly get back into the world of textiles as a consultant and perhaps as a designer.

In “The Sellable Sketch” course one of the first lessons is all about investigating what and who inspires you and why. I took the time to really think about the designers I really love and have loved for many years. They are not trendy although their designs may come and go, they have a certain staying power. The four designers I chose as my “Hero’s” are textile design icon and legend, Jack Lenor Larsen, Bauhaus artist and textile designer Sonia Delaunay, modern day design legend Amy Butler and European rug designer Jan Kath.

Discovering Personal Style in Design

By investigating these inspiring designers I was able to see common characteristics such as the use of cheerful, funky and playful colors in a sophisticated way. Geometrics are balanced with bold organic shapes, subtle texture layers used in contrast with clean flat color. I found the root of what I love in these design styles and most of them have a midcentury feel. As a weaver at heart I love structure but I also love to break it up so it is not purely geometric. There are not a lot of details, they are not needed in these styles. The colors, line work and bold graphics are what appeal to me.

Project 1

After investigating these influences I took a look at some of my own art and surroundings. I was able to see some similarities with some of my influences and by just noticing these elements I hope to be able to better understand and develop my own design style. Other people may be able to look at my style and easily see a common thread but I’m too close to it and I spend so many years designing for clients specific needs that I feel I sort of “lost” my own personal style. This year, with the help of Pattern Observer and other artistic PLAY I hope I will find what I thought I’d lost.