Organization: the bane of a busy mom’s existence, especially for those who work from home. It’s a crazy cycle. Family life is so much easier for everyone when you are organized, but who has the time to get organized? While no one can magically add more hours to the day or make your toddler suddenly decide to play quietly for an afternoon while you clean out the fridge, creative moms have developed a lot of great tips and tricks to make your life easier. Check out these six simple but impactful organization hacks for busy parents.
1. Cleaning Supplies
That jumble of cleaning supplies under your sink makes it hard to find any one product when you actually need it. Not to mention, the constant paranoia that it’s not locked when you have little ones running around. Enter an over-the-door shoe holder. Hang the holder on a door in your laundry room and put each product in a dedicated compartment at eye level. Leave the bottom pouches open to keep dangerous chemicals out of little hands. You can also put a child lock on the laundry room door.
2. Legos and Other Toys
While you’re ordering a shoe organizer for your cleaning supplies, grab one more for all of the Legos that are occupying every drawer in your house. Use the shoe holder to keep each set or category organized and visible. Go ahead and order another one for art supplies, matchbox cars, etc.
3. Kids’ Snacks
Avoid the inevitable mess in your pantry from hungry kids scavenging for snacks by dedicating a low drawer and a small plastic bin in your fridge to healthy, kid-friendly snacks. This hack makes life easier for you, you only have to resupply every week or so and aren’t constantly fixing snacks, and also helps promote independence by letting your kid choose her own (carefully curated) snack.
4. Closet Organization
This is an area where even the most organized among us struggles. There are small hacks that can help, like stacking hangers with soda tabs to save space or hanging bags and scarves from shower curtain rings, but to truly get organized and stay organized, consider installing a closet system. Look for system that takes into account your space and personal needs.
5. Bathroom Counter Clutter
Bathroom counter space is always at a premium. If you have more products than countertop, free up some of that precious space by mounting individual toothbrush holders on the wall next to the sink. Grab plastic cups, strips of sticky Velcro and presto, each family member has their own container (which doubles as a water cup) for floss, toothbrush and toothpaste.
6. School Paperwork
It seems like every day, your kid is bringing home some piece of artwork or paperwork for you. For the paper you want to keep (particularly great writing, report cards, the first drawing of the family, etc.) prepare a filing box dedicated to each kid. Labeling an expanding folder for each grade to hang in a file box will keep those papers in a safe space and out of every random drawer in your house.
