If your family is like most modern families, this means that where you live is your home base, but you also spend an awful lot of time zooming from one activity and event to another. When you have kids, it often seems that you are constantly on the go, whether you want to be or not. From school to sports to family vacations and more, life can look and feel chaotic if you don’t make time to organize.
Believe it or not, how you organize your storage can make or break your ability to transition from one thing to another without too much mess or stress. Some small changes to your routine can prevent the meltdowns and anxiety sweats that accompany the rush to get out the door.
Fewer Things, Better Quality
When it comes to being able to shift gears, the aphorism “less is more,” is the number one rule. Remember though, that having fewer things does not mean you actually have less. It means you have the right things for what you need. It means having things that are good quality so that they can take the wear and tear of being used and moved around.
There are two key reasons why having fewer things, each of better quality, will improve your ability to make the move from bed to school, and school to sports, and on and on. The first is that having fewer things simply means there are fewer things to clean up. Keeping things tidy makes it easier to find and grab what you need.
The second big reason why making better quality purchases helps families on the go is that well-made items are easier to clean and maintain. When you are busy, the last thing you need is to suddenly deal with fixing the thing you need right this minute.
Compartmentalize
When it comes to quickly accessing your things, the best way to keep your schedule on track as you pack and unpack is to be able to grab what you need in a flash. The easier it is to take out, the easier it will be to put away. Having to take out a dozen things to get to the thing you want creates an instant, unavoidable mess. It also means you have to wade through a ton of items before you can get the one you need, which is a total waste of your time.
Think of it this way. If you have a dozen things in two distinct bins, you are taking out a lot of things, but in two easy steps, not a bunch of disorganized ones. To compartmentalize your storage areas, look for the things that go together. Anything you tend to use as a set, like the stuff for making coffee, or all of the snacks that work in the car, put it in a bin you can easily slide in and out of the cupboard.
Folding is Everything
Similar to using bins and baskets to keep like kinds of things together, how you fold clothes and linens before you stow them makes all the difference in terms of your efficiency. When they fold, most people gravitate towards stacking the folded items neatly. The problem is that a stack only works well if you plan to always take items from the top, like a stack of towels. If you plan to pull items from the middle of the stack, like a stack of t-shirts, you are setting yourself up for needing to repeat the process of organizing over and over.
Shift your folding habits and save yourself a lot of time and hassle. Folded items stored on shelves should be arranged like a library shelf. Folded items stored in drawers should either be stored flat, as a single layer, or like a file drawer. This will allow you to quickly spot exactly the item you need and then retrieve it without disrupting the other items around it.
It really only takes a few minutes of tutorials and then one load of laundry for practice. You can quickly master everything from how to fold a bra so it keeps its shape to how to fold shirts so they stand up like books.
p.s. Related posts:
Best Electronic Organization for Team Sports
Electronic Organization Tools for Moms
Setting Up a Space Conducive to Learning at Home
How to Keep Your Family From Going Crazy While Renovating
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Food for the Future: Sustainable Farms Around the World
- Junior Library Guild Gold selection
- Selected as one of 100 Outstanding Picture Books of 2023 by dPICTUS and featured at the Bologna Children’s Book Fair
- Starred review from School Library Journal
- Chicago Library’s Best of the Best
- Imagination Soup’s 35 Best Nonfiction Books of 2023 for Kids
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