Weekend Inspiration: Organized Gifts

This week on our green blog, I wrote about making gift giving a little greener. But it occurred to me that you can also up the organizing ante when you give. One of my tips for staying green while giving is to stick to the gift registry unless you have another special idea. But if you find yourself batting registry clean up (i.e. scooping up the odds and ends left on the registry), which is a perfectly valid gift giving strategy, or simply have several smaller items to piece together, here's an idea to tie them all together.

You can make a really great looking and functional gift by buying a universally appealing organizing container to package your small items. Wrap each item in tissue paper, or even leave them exposed and just use a few bows and some tissue to 'nest' the items in. Here's a picture of such a gift I'm bringing to a baby shower tomorrow. Two recent gifts I've received came packaged in containers that I love and use daily!

Other ideas for organized giving...

Give a tote bag, car trunk organizer, travel toiletry case or another organizing 'tool.' Just be sure you know it will fill a need and will not be likely to end up as additional clutter.

I love to give Container Store, Home Depot or other gift cards, especially if the recipient is working on home projects. This way you are helping out but letting them choose their own 'tools.'

And last but not least, if you know someone is interested in organizing help, you can give gift certificates for home and office organizing services. We offer these at www.OrganizingBoston.com (shameless plug, but it's true).

What are your ideas for giving organized gifts?

Organizing Tips for Kids - Part II

On Monday, I talked about setting up zones (think kindergarten classroom), encouraging kids to enjoy one activity at a time, and making things kid-friendly, including open top (i.e. not fussy) bins and picture labels, to store toys and activity supplies. See Monday's post for tips 1-4. Today I'll highlight a few more ideas to help simplify the kid zones in your home.

5. To avoid becoming cluttered with new toys, try to use the one in, one out rule. When your child gets a new toy, try to identify one that can be donated to a children’s charity or a family in need. This is especially important at birthdays and holidays when the influx of new items can easily become an overwhelming pile.

6. Get your kids involved in the process – everything from setting up the zones, choosing and labeling containers, to the daily retrieval and clean up of their toys. It’s never too early to teach kids how to take care of their possessions.

7. Create an art gallery! It is impossible to keep and store all of the artwork children create, nor is this a great idea for keeping your family and home organized. One solution is to create a rotating art gallery using simple frames, a wire and clips, or even just a designated place on the wall to hang a few creations at a time. When it’s time for items to come down, save a few favorites in a storage box if you have the space and let the others go so there’s room for the new creations that will keep coming in.

Stay tuned for a few more tips and tell us what works in your household. And yes, I am in today's picture...circa 1985.

Organizing Tips for Kids - Part I

As a professional organizer, I often work with families who are over-run with toys...they just seem to keep coming in (while rarely leaving) and quickly fill up every basket, bin, closet, and floor space in the house (and basement, and garage). Let's face it, kids come with a lot of stuff and if you're like most parents, it's not like you had plenty of extra space before the kid(s) arrived. Thus, parents are often faced not only with figuring out how to grow a happy, healthy child, but also the organizational challenges presented by all the cute, fun, and necessary accessories. This week's posts will be dedicated to providing tips to help parents - new and experienced - set their families on the road to organization. So check out today's tips and stay tuned for more throughout the week.

1. Set Up Zones – Have a zone for each of your child’s activities (such as arts & crafts, toys, reading, etc.) and keep all of the items for that activity in its zone just like a kindergarten classroom.
2. Encourage kids to do one activity at a time. If they want to switch, teach them to put away the supplies for the first activity before taking out the items for the new one. This minimizes the amount of stuff out at any given time, keeps kids focused, and prevents overwhelming end of the day clean up, which everyone will dread.
3. Make it user-friendly! Use open, kid-friendly containers on low shelving so your child can take out and put things back with minimal or no assistance. This also applies to things like coats, accessories and back packs – use kid-height pegs and an open top basket.
4. Label storage containers or drawers with pictures so kids know where things go. Creating the labels could even be an art or photography project that your kids can help with!

As with all things organized, keep in mind that it doesn't have to be perfect, it just has to work for you and your family.

REduce and then REthink Storage Options

Before you start purchasing organizing containers you need to REDUCE and possibly even REUSE your items. Once you reduce, take a quick inventory of the empty containers you already have before you run off to the store to buy new ones.

SAVE some GREEN. Use household items for storage... shoeboxes, wooden crates, berry baskets, and empty jars can store anything from memorabilia to old paperwork to office supplies to doggie treats.