Over the past few months {years?} I’ve heard myself barking the same reminders to my boys, “hang your book bag up, don’t pour too much cereal, you can’t use 18 different cups before lunch…“. My husband and I made a few simple changes in our home and now I can save my words for better things like “can I have a hug? would you like some more cereal? flush the toilet…”
For example, we have always kept our dishes, you know, the plates and bowls, way up in the high cabinets. Our boys are in the stage where they are old enough to not break real dishes but not tall enough to reach all the higher cabinets without a stool. We like for them to help set the table and put the dishes away so an easy solution for our family was to relocate the dishes to the lower cabinets where they can easily reach a bowl. I consider that idea to be one of my best accomplishments as a mother. I think simple mom would be proud.
Another issue was the poring of 8 servings of cereal into a bowl every morning. Our solution: much smaller bowls. I know, it’s not rocket surgery but this simple change is going to really impact how often I have to buy cereal. I found the bowls for $1 each at Big Lots.
Cup over usage was running rampant in our house. Now each boy has his own style of clear plastic, unbreakable cup. They each have 3 cups and those are the only ones they can use. They use it, rinse it out and then set it on the dish rack until they need it later. I throw them in the dishwasher at night. If I see a cup laying around the house, I don’t grab it. I leave it. Right now one of the boys has unknowingly left two of his cups in the playroom and one half full of juice in the fridge. I can’t wait until he figures it out and has to go searching for his cups and then wash them out because he missed the nightly dishwasher run. If I really ran a tight ship I’d probably lower the cups down to one each but, I’m new at this.
Now you will roll your eyes at how I am so slow to miss the obvious. We had book bags on the floor that seemed to multiply. It finally hit me that I had not provided a designated spot for the book bags. Problem solved. Duh. It’s from Target if you are wondering.
There is just not a good place near the boys room or bathroom for any kind of clothes basket or hamper. The problem is, it doesn’t matter if I choose to provide a hamper or not, dirty clothes will come off and need to be put some place–I don’t walk down stairs naked just to put my clothes in the laundry room before I take a shower and I can’t expect my boys to either. So, I went ahead and accepted the fact that I needed to put a bulky, in-the-way basket in our skinny hall. It’s still better than a pile of clothes strewn around.
Lastly, every night we somehow had like 5 wet towels on the bathroom floor. Even though we only have 3 boys. And of course, none of them left THEIR towel on the floor. So my husband bought 3 different color towels {2 of each} and assigned a color to each boy. Now, if they step out of the shower and their two towels are somehow dripping wet from the night before, they’ll have to reach into that in-the-way clothes basket and dry off with their dirty clothes or figure something out. I have a feeling after experiencing a dripping wet towel once, they will naturally remember to hang up their towel.
None of these solutions were new, life changing or even things I hadn’t heard of before. Just things that we failed to implement. Now I’m on the lookout for other ways to help our house run more smoothly so I can focus more on fun things and help our boys become more responsible.
What about you? What issues have you resolved with no duh, simple solutions?
This post is a repost but it was the post that got the most comments EVER other than a giveaway. That response gave me the push I needed to decide to write for 31 days about less messiness.
Be sure to visit the other 31 dayers:: Reluctant Entertainer, The Inspired Room, Remodeling This LifeChatting at the Sky, Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, My First Kitchen, Life With My 3 Boybarians, over the next 31 days.
My sister and I had our own color of towels growing up too. It wasn’t easy to play the blame game when it was obvious who’s towel was laying wet on the floor! Great sanity tips, Nester.
Good tips! I like putting the responsibility and consequences really on the boys. I am forever telling the kids the same things over and over and over again – close your closet doors (older house and no insulation), clothes in the hamper, flush toilet.
Let me know if you have ideas on those!
We have a small table by the front door,,, our ‘launch pad’ that has hooks beside it for hanging keys, and drawers for holding items like the garage remote, a comb for final hair adjustments. This is where stuff that ‘I need to take that with me tomorrow’ gets parked so they aren’t forgotten.
Too funny! I have a 1/2 written post in my drafts about smacking myself upside the head when i finally realized that I needed to hang some hooks at kid-height in the entry way to deal with bookbags, coats and scarfs.
The stuff on the floor was making me crazy but I kept waiting until we could execute my plan of these beautiful lockers and shelves in the mudroom. That’s not going to happen for a while and, in the meantime, the clutter made me nuts! DUH! Hang up some hooks!
Guess I’ll save that post for a while. ;)
Moving the dishes? Cups and towels for each kid? Sheer brilliance! Love it!
Those are some great tips! A couple things we’ve done (or should I say ‘duh’ne )–We cleared out a drawer below the oven as a designated ‘snack’ drawer. We put the items in there that they can eat, in addition to fruits in the fridge. It’s cut down on the constant opening and closing of the pantry. We put plastic bowls in there too so that they can fill them with snacks.
In the spirit of your door placed at shoe kicking level at the counter in the kitchen, we’ve recently installed moulding going up our stairs. This allows me to paint periodically without the problem of painting the entire two story wall in the process. I’m posting some pics later today on the blog…
brilliant–put the bowls WiTH the snacks!!!
Just put up my solution to the handprinted walls going up our stairs. It solved the problem!
http://www.monarch-creations.com/blog/?p=639
Genius… move the dishes to a lower cabinet… each person gets their own style glass… and their own color of towel! WOWZA!!!! :) Wish I had thought of these ideas!! THANK YOU for sharing!!!
Oh, now that is a great idea, baskets by their doors for dirty clothes and towels. There is always a stream of clothes from their rooms down the hall each morning and night. This just may help! Janell
Oh I love those tips!! Especially the one about the cups — my pet peeve.
I have a hamper in each kids room. Still clothes just get thrown about most of the time.
I have a quilt rack in my bathroom. Perfect height for little ones to hang up their own towels. I don’t pick up wet towels….much anyway…
And we have a wooden “cubbie” on wheels in the mudroom for each of them. Backpacks, coats, assorted other “stuff” goes in the cubbie. Just have to remind them to clean out the cubbie on occasion.
This post reminds me of a woman I went to church with who had 8 kids. Before each kid was born, she “assigned” them a favorite color. It would be in the Christmas newsletter and everything: “Emily is due in March and her favorite color will be silver!” Their folders, pencil boxes, backpacks – everything was in their color. At the time I thought she was a little crazy, but as a mom myself now, I see the plan as genius. :)
Thanks for sharing your great ideas – I’m filing them away in my mind for when my son (and any other kids) are older.
My kids (*only* 4 of them) all have “unofficial” colors :) Not on purpose, it just happened! Not for everything, but it IS helpful telling what belongs to whom. That is hilarious about announcing their color in advance!! :)
We do the color thing too. I gave each one their color when they were very little. Everything is in their own color. It works great!
Growing up, my brothers and I had our own colors. I was red, and my brothers were blue and green. This matched our toothbrushes and towels (and other bathroom stuff).
I remember one time my mom threw out all of our socks, and bought us each a bunch of new pairs. She used a permanent marker to mark our colors on the bottoms of the socks. This way, when my little brother got his all dirty running around outside without shoes on, my older brother didn’t have to wear them and whine about it.
I know, my mom’s a genius!
I love these solutions! Sometimes we have to let go of the picture perfect house and accept that a real home has laundry baskets on the landing, etc. Teaching our kids responsibility is so much more important. You’re doing a great job.
This stuff all makes perfect sense…and yet I have a feeling I wouldn’t have come up with it myself! Great idea with the drinking glasses, especially!
Good stuff! I love the lower cabinet pull outs beside the dw. Such a cool idea. We don’t have any kids, but most of these scenarios apply to our house anyway. And it’s not me that leaves clothes in a puddle on the floor… I’m just sayin… :)
Nester, I love this post!! Simple solutions are about the only ones I can handle at my house! :)
my favorite no duh thing:
i was oh so sick of little miniature (well, adult sized, too for that matter) daily use hats & gloves all over the entry way when they were in season. but, we didn’t have a good place for them. so, i bought a shoe holder and hung it on the inside of our coat closet. now we have 12 (16? 20?) slots for the hats/gloves/mittens/scarves/snow gloves for our family of 5. The kids can put their own in & get them out, too! Love it! :)
Also, my little people (5,2,1) never understood “go put your shoes by the door”. they either a)didn’t do it at all or 2)did it literally and shoes were always in the way of the front door. so, i bought a black beverage bin (you know the cute ones they sell at target in metal or plastic?) and now that’s the shoe bucket right by the front door. Best $2.99 i ever spent (it’s plastic).
i LOVE the color coded towel thing. I’m so doing that. :)
Hate me for just getting rid of one of those!!!! Now I want it back!
We do the shoe holder on the coat closet door, too. Not only does it hold scarfs, hats and gloves, but it’s also home to a travel umbrella, sunscreen, bug spray, an emergency flashlight, and a couple of reusable shopping bags.
I did this a couple of months ago. Never thought about sunscreen, bug spray, etc. Each kid has a row. I also recently saw someone put one in their pantry with snacks low and foil, baggies, etc. higher. I’m getting another this week to do that. Our rental is lacking in storage space.
I keep melamine plates and bowls at kid level. In the pantry, all snacks are low and treats are high. We also only eat and drink in the kitchen. (I got tired of throwing away sippy cups I found all over the house because I was too afraid to open them.) It’s a big giant treat to have a ‘picnic’ in the living room on movie nights.
Nester, I am new to your site and oh so very inspired. You wouldn’t believe all the projects I have done since after Christmas because of YOU!! I hung some curtains in the living room this morning with upholstery tacks and rings. This weekend I did a lot in one of my girl’s room. As we were hanging the mistreatment, I found myself telling her it didn’t have to be perfect to be beautiful (we were using glittered tacks to hang a zebra shower cutain and tied it up with some polka dotted ribbon.) It wasn’t perfect. I would have preferred it to be an inch or two wider on each side, but I was using what I had. (Yes, I know I could sew or glue a coordinating band around, but that just won’t happen. If I wait to hang it for that, it would never happen.) I have an overwhelming sense of accomplishment each time I walk by. Not everything I have done has turned out like I envisioned, and I am still struggling a little with that being okay, but each time gets a little better. I want to be perfect at all of it, without giving myself a learning curve. That’s what I am learning to allow myself.
Sorry this is so long. I like to remind people every once in awhile that what they are doing is fruitful. All this may not seem like a big deal, but if I have things that I really, really want to do, and I’m not because I’m too afraid of anything short of perection, I’m not being the best I can be. Allowing myself to try, and be creative, has really, truthfully made me a better mom to my four littles.
What you are doing is very fruitful, and my family appreciates it. Although my husband did tell me not to paint any of his stuff! (I’ve been on a mission!)
Thanks again!
We use the shoe holder too, I love the idea for putting it in the coat closet! I had one in each of my boys nurseries for holding all the burp cloths, bibs, baby hats and rolled up receiving blankets:) I will have to put one of them in our coat closet now!
We have shoe holders in our 1/2 bath and master bathroom (it’s a stretch to call it a master – so little storage!). In the 1/2 bath, we store hair things, suncreen and lotions, bandaids and first aid stuff, plastic bags, etc. In our bath, it’s a handy spot for hair brushes, dryer, lotions and stuff, daily use kinds of things. The 1/2 bath organizer is clear for the kids, and ours is fabric.
ahhh! GREAT tips/ideas! i can’t wait to incorporate them into our home! thanks for sharing!
We have one of those shoe organizers on the pantry door for plastic spoons, Boxtops for Education, small bags, etc. I also keep one inside my closet for socks, rolled-up belts and small accessories. I don’t like the over-the-door hooks they come with (looks ugly when the door’s closed), so I use those 3M hooks that don’t leave any marks when they are removed.
These are some awesome solutions, Thanks!!! I hope to implement some of them soon.
Love these hints for boys! Mine is only 2 so we have yet to hit stride with “stuff” mainly because I am hauling his stuff. Now the real question is what to do with my husband’s book bag. He LOVES to plop everything on the counter when he comes home. I have yet to coax him into finding a permanent home for it for the night.
Cheers~
e
I laughed when I read your comment about your husband’s bookbag… my hsuband always seems to “catch up” to my new organizing strategies just as I change it again. Never fails. Just a thought to help “coax” him to find a new spot… try putting something on the counter (for a little while, at least, until he finds a new spot) so that he can’t put his bookbag there. A glass of wine, perhaps? :-)
Thank you for the lovely idea. Forget the glass though..I will place a bottle there. :)
Cheers~
e
We have a mudroom-style cabinet in our kitchen, but it doesn’t have hooks for jackets … just baskets for junk and a big drawer for shoes. It occurred to me recently that I need to hang some hooks adjacent to it for jackets and backpacks … I love the look of yours and hope to replicate it!
The cup idea— BRILLIANT! How did I not think of this?! I struggle with my kids and the cup invasion every single day… now the problem is solved. THANK YOU!
Love the ideas…Thanks so much for sharing!!
I’m going to put into to play the dishes, and towel idea.
Blessings, Fine Linen
We are slowly finding ways to simplify systems, but the one that needs the most work is DH having a place for all his paperwork. Since he works from home, there are stacks of papers everywhere. He needs his own space. Good thing I just cleared off that table and moved all my stuff to the new “craft room” at my house. Yep, my old table will become his new space – now I just gotta get it together for him.
i love your simple solutions! funny how when we start to think common sense kicks in! i need some of that right now! perhaps seeing your solutions will lead me to my own… thanks :)
I have implemented some similar ideas, and I think, “Why didn’t I come up with that years ago?” Great suggestions!
SMART SMART SMART. :) a couple of months ago i ripped the doors off our entry way closet. it was just being used to HIDE things like out of season coats, etc. like you, i was frustrated we had no where to land with our coats, purse, book bags. i ripped the doors off the closet, installed iron hooks all across the wood trim that holds up a wooden shelf, bought a storage bench … and voila. cute little alcove. we use it ALL DAY, EVERYDAY. and the out of season coats were moved into everyone’s own closet! it now looks like a custom built-in job, but it’s been there 57 years [just covered with closet doors]!
it feels so good to gain USABLE SPACE! and like you said, it’s one less thing to pick up, one less thing to remind the kids of. that kind of stuff gets me giddy. loved seeing your life-changing improvements! i’m excited FOR YOU! :)
We have been in a war with our laundry sorter for about a year. We finally realized the problem – we were trying to shove all of the laundry in a sorter that was too small. Two weeks ago we wised up and bought a larger sorter plus a hamper for the bathroom to hold towels since they take up a lot of space. I can’t believe it took us so long to figure that out! Doing the laundry is actually mildly enjoyable again. :)
I love the solutions you have come up with. The lowering the bowls so the boys can reach them is great. It actually encourages them to be self sufficient. Which is good because one day the will be at the age to help out a great deal. Them knowing that it is ok and expected of them to contribute to the family as a whole will make you guys all happier as a whole.
Your husband is a genius as well too. Different colored towels, so simple.
These are great ideas. I just blogged about a laundry solution that may help with your bulky-hamper-in-the-hallway dilemma for your boys’ laundry. Here’s the link:
http://theredchairblog.blogspot.com/2010/01/great-diy-laundry-system-for-small.html
This post is of great comfort to me. I also have 3 boys. 4 if you count my husband. :) the very same requests fall of my tongue every single day! i have designated places for all these things and for some reason it is still hard for them to get said item to it’s home. :) maybe i need to rethink. . .
Brilliant!, Why didn’t I think of that?, and DUH! are all going through my mind right now. I will give myself a pat on the back….with three kids I did start doing the different color towel thing years ago, and I keep plastic dishes in a lower cabinet. But the cup issue has been eating at me the last few weeks and now I know how to solve it, thanks!
I have 5 children so organizng is a must. What has worked for us is all the kids rooms have a laundry basket in their bedroom closet floor. So when I am ready to do laundry I have them carry their basket to the laundry area for me. Then when I have finished I put the basket back in their rooms with the clean clothes for them to put away. Then their basket is ready to filled with the dirty again and again and…..
But how can you be sure you don’t end up washing their clean clothes again because they never put them away???
Awesome post! I love putting the dishes down lower and the different cups!
Just last week, I found a spot for some kid-height hooks for coats. Because the hooks we had were up so high, only *I* could reach them. Now everyone hangs their OWN coat up. (Or it gets tossed out the back door. Oops.) It only took me 12 years of parenting to come up with that!
My kids have towels with their names monogrammed on them – that has worked well!
Also, I just set up a basket of healthy snacks in a lower cabinet that they can grab from after school.
I can’t wait to read the comments. Little things like this can CHANGE YOUR LIFE! You know?
I recently moved the kids dishes to the lower cabinets so they could help set the table and get a cup when needed. I constantly get upset about the towel thing, I should switch to the assigned colors. That sounds very smart. I have been meaning to get a rack for bags/backpacks…I’m putting it on my shopping list pronto. Thanks.
oh I meant to say–target had some towels on sale for under $3!
Brilliant! With the cups and towels…. just brilliant!
I will need to remember those time and sanity saving tips. I only like mess if its mine (I’m so hypocritical that way) so I suppose not only will I need to clean up after myself, but use some good tips like these to help all of us be more tidy.
Ahh a girl after my own heart. I am a HUGE believe in not setting our kids up for failure. Small solutions like these contribute to their success. It empowers them and allows them some control in their environment as contributing members of the household. I think these are awesome solutions. Way to go!!
amen oj!
Nester! This is such a great post. I love all your ideas. You are a great mom and example-maker :)
well now those are some great tips! I think I may have to snag the towel idea and maybe even the cup idea. With four kids in our house we run into similar issues and of course NO ONE made the mess!
great ideas…especially with the towels and the cups! Love them.
Here’s a quick tip: You can have the kids open the dishwasher door, set their cereal bowl down on the door and pour their milk there. That way if they spill, there is no clean-up. I can’t help you get the bowl to the table though! LOL
Our dishwasher door would be broken after they sat down and ate on it, too! :) I have my oldest pour. I can’t get upset over spills, because I am so thankful he’s doing it so I can feed the baby. He’s getting good though!
I learned my favorite tip from my mother-in-love. It helps mothers more than children, though. Everyone gets their own brand of socks and undies. It makes it so much easier to sort when child A gets Adidas socks and Hanes undies, child B gets Nike socks and Fruit of the Loom undies, etc. As for the socks, I buy about 20 pairs at a time. No worries about missing mates; they all match!
Yes, so smart. We use only black short ankle footies. I cannot STAND dirty looking clean white socks.
Great ideas! We just recently bought a set with a cup, plate and bowl for each kid and we keep them all in that little drawer under our oven. They take turns putting the dishes away and we’re working on them with keeping them clean, etc. They’re young yet, so this is a long process! I do like the basket in the hallway idea though!
I love the idea of putting the dishware down at their level. I end up having to put all the dishes on the table for my youngest to set. This would give him more ownership of his chore. I have hooks at my boys’ level for backpacks and jackets, but I’ve really got to work on the # of jackets they have out at one time. They just have too many and then get knocked on the ground.
Thanks for simple yet VERY effective tips!
My kids are grown and I used all of these tricks with them as they grew. Except I am much lazier than you and I wanted my children’s clothes not only put into a basket but separated into loads. So I gave each child 3 plastic laundry baskets. One white, for white clothes. one blue for colored clothes, and one black for black and sturdy clothes (jeans). Yes it took up some floor space, but the ease to me was what I was all about. You could always figure out some way to hide the baskets. I did not want them in their closets because with active children the smell affected their clean clothes.
We were having the same towel on floor issue. I realized one day that there weren’t enough places to hang everyone’s towels. I’ve always hated those shiny silve towel racks. We found a cute 4 hook coat rack (similar to your backpack rack) and hung that in it’s place. We love it and every towel has a home.
You are so smart. I am doing that bowls down low thing. TODAY.
I’m gonna be a Rocket Surgeon when I grow up.
And I totally saw those bowls at your house and have been searching for them for TWO years! Remember, you found 3 of them for me last year. Attention everyone, Emily was the person I stole the small bowl idea from.
I’m not a mom yet – but I am a girlfriend who lives with her boyfriend and often times there has to be compromise and yes even training on both our parts to come to a compromise. He’s learned to pick up his underwear out of the bathroom after his shower and I’ve learned how to do different things as well. Right now we’re learning to re-use glasses so we don’t have to wash a million glasses between the two of us! This is a great post!!! Thank you for all the tips! ox
I use white washclothes at my kitchen sink that I hang on a standing two ring bathroom hand towel rack so I can switch them out Flylady style. Problem was at the end of the night I would toss these soaking wet rags in a plastic laundry basket in laundry room because I dont need to do a load of whites everyday. Then… they stink. My no-duh solution that took me a year to figure out: I fill a deep plastic bowl with lid with water and a splash of laundry soap. Now I just throw them in the bowl and dump the bowl of water and towels in with the whites. No more moldy stink!
SImple and practical ideas. We have been practicing the “different” cup idea for a while and it works wonders.
I am thinking about applying the same strategy to socks – different brands for different boys. I won’t have to wonder when I am folding laundry whose socks belong to whom.
My mom always (and now I do too) put a small colored dot with a sharpie on the toe of each sock. Each kid gets their own color. My very young kids can still match their own socks and find their own quickly. It has saved me so much hassle (although I was scared to draw on brand new socks). It was totally worth it.
Mine is girl related…HAIR STUFF.
I have two girls, and the pony tail holders, ribbons, headbands, etc drive me insane.
I took a three drawer, small, plastic organizer thingie and placed in our hall closet across from the hall bath. The hall bath is where we all get ready, but its SMALL and tight on space. One drawer is for large pony tail holders, one is for small ponytail holders, and one is for hair clips/barettes. Next to the drawers is a bin with headbands. Inside the bath is several clothes hangers, with all the hair ribbons threaded on them. One clothes hanger has polka dot ribbons, one has solids, etc. The clothes hangers hang on one of the towel racks so you can see the colors quickly
Its not pretty, but it works. Now if I could just come up with a system to keep up with brushes…they have a tendancy to “walk” off and disappear!!
Oh my, I have literally HIDDEN my hairbrush to keep my girls from losing it! Love all these ideas; the over the door organizer is calling my name for the girls’ bath.
GET SOME CHEAP CARBERINER CLIPS ASAP (you know those fake rock climbing clips for keys). They are the best things to keep little girl ponytail holders on. Just rope them all through and the girls can sort until they find the one they want to wear and unclip it. We’ve been using them for about a year now and it has made mornings much easier.
My SIL uses those plastic embroidery floss organizers for my nieces hair things. They have lots of little compartments and can be sorted by clips, etc and color. It has a lid and it’s portable too. I think it works great.
Your cup idea is amazing! I love it. I have three boys and I can’t tell you how often I find cups full of water scattered around the house! Drives me nuts! I think I may go straight for the one cup a day rule…love this idea :)
We had many glove/hat issues in our home. I bought a plastic container with 3 bins in it – one for each kid. Now, if they don’t put their hats/gloves back…they don’t have gloves and I don’t help them find it. At first, there were a couple of meltdowns as they were rushing to go to a friends house, but, now, they put their stuff back. It’s hard not helping them, but I think it is a good lesson to learn: put your stuff back where it belongs!
nester i must know where you got the cupboard slider things?! they will be such a help! did you put them in yourself? will the glue gun work?
it is hard on mom’s to let the kidlets deal with consequences but when you start with the little ones (like cups or soggy towels)then the lessons about the bigger ones are easier for everyone. good for you! jkj
They just came that way–part of the cabinet.