The best way to get your family on board with your organizing goals is to include them in the process, and make it as simple as possible for them to participate.
My daughter is a classic case. She's eleven years old, and although she had a hamper in her closet for dirty clothes, she never wanted to go in there. You never know what might be lurking in a closet after all!
Instead of trying to persuade her that her closet is safe, a conversation that I was never going to win, I simply grabbed her hamper and placed it outside the closet right next to her bookshelf. Now, her clothes go where they belong, and best of all it's one less argument we have to have in the morning when it's time to get ready for school.
My best advice is to take a minute to look around to see where clutter gathers and build a solution that works with you're families natural habits.
If magazine find themselves naturally in a pile near the sofa, place a nice basket there. Now the magazines are right where everyone seems to want them, but now they have an attractive container that keeps them all together.
In my home, the place that things accumulate is on the kitchen counter. Nothing makes me crazier than a cluttered counter top.
Since everyone in my family seems to want to drop things in the kitchen, I needed to find a workable solution that wouldn't take up valuable counter space, but would be in close proximity to where all the school papers and mail accumulate.
I knew I wanted to find something like a hanging folder system, but after searching Target, Wal Mart, Bed Bath & Beyond, and even IKEA, I still couldn't find what I envisioned.
Finally I found the perfect item at HomeGoods. I LOVE that place!
It's hanging file made of something resembling chicken wire that hangs over my pantry doors. It has three "bins" or folders, which is perfect for my husband, daughter and myself. Each bin already had a place on it to put a label so I could identify one bin for each person, but I got a cleaver idea and used chalk instead. This way I can change up what they say any time I want to make it fun and new.
I write our initials on it this week, and next week I may draw symbols or a picture that represent who's bin is whose.
It took me awhile to find what I was looking for for this solution, but by keeping my eyes open and being open to quirky designs, I found exactly what I never knew I wanted!
My daughter is a classic case. She's eleven years old, and although she had a hamper in her closet for dirty clothes, she never wanted to go in there. You never know what might be lurking in a closet after all!
Instead of trying to persuade her that her closet is safe, a conversation that I was never going to win, I simply grabbed her hamper and placed it outside the closet right next to her bookshelf. Now, her clothes go where they belong, and best of all it's one less argument we have to have in the morning when it's time to get ready for school.
My best advice is to take a minute to look around to see where clutter gathers and build a solution that works with you're families natural habits.
If magazine find themselves naturally in a pile near the sofa, place a nice basket there. Now the magazines are right where everyone seems to want them, but now they have an attractive container that keeps them all together.
In my home, the place that things accumulate is on the kitchen counter. Nothing makes me crazier than a cluttered counter top.
Since everyone in my family seems to want to drop things in the kitchen, I needed to find a workable solution that wouldn't take up valuable counter space, but would be in close proximity to where all the school papers and mail accumulate.
I knew I wanted to find something like a hanging folder system, but after searching Target, Wal Mart, Bed Bath & Beyond, and even IKEA, I still couldn't find what I envisioned.
Finally I found the perfect item at HomeGoods. I LOVE that place!
It's hanging file made of something resembling chicken wire that hangs over my pantry doors. It has three "bins" or folders, which is perfect for my husband, daughter and myself. Each bin already had a place on it to put a label so I could identify one bin for each person, but I got a cleaver idea and used chalk instead. This way I can change up what they say any time I want to make it fun and new.
I write our initials on it this week, and next week I may draw symbols or a picture that represent who's bin is whose.
It took me awhile to find what I was looking for for this solution, but by keeping my eyes open and being open to quirky designs, I found exactly what I never knew I wanted!
