It’s Here!

In this guest post, my cousin Janna shares how she gets her fall decor to do double-duty. 

“Halloween, Halloween, oh what awful sights are seen. Witches hats, coal black cats, broom stick riders, mice and rats!”

This little ditty, taught to me when I was a kid by our Crazy Uncle Ed, (as we all refer to him) is a favorite. I’m not sure Elizabeth knows this song, she wasn’t born when I learned it. I taught it to Kate when she was little. Come October, it continually runs through my head.  Thanks Crazy Uncle Ed!

I love fall, especially October, because it’s Halloween! Anybody who knows me, knows it’s my favorite day of the year.

I simply can’t wait to decorate. My selections are simple. Pumpkins for sure (I’m partial to the white ones but I always have a few orange too), and of course my collection of crows. I even have a really big nest. My aunt sent it to me years ago from the farm in Idaho. I keep it in the house year round. Come October, the nest takes center stage. I perch it on an old wooden stand, right in the middle of my dining room table. Cute Jack-Be–Little pumpkins, stacked in the nest and my big plastic crow make for some great conversation. Who needs anything more?

Well, I do, just a little.

While perusing the pumpkin patch, farm stand and grocery store, I keep in mind the next holiday that comes upon us quickly: Thanksgiving.

I’ll pick up a few extra pumpkins, gourds and a variety of squashes and add them to my Halloween display. I often add leaves and acorns from our yard as well. Once Halloween is over, I pack away my crows but for the most part, the rest can stay. The house looks nice for November and I have what I need to set a pretty Thanksgiving table.

During the fall season, right into winter, we eat most of the squash. If you keep them in a cool and dry place, they will last long after the holidays are over.

Now where did I hide those little candy bars….

-Janna

Fine Art – Part II

In this second installment by guest blogger, Janna, she reveals the system she set up for her daughter's artwork and school papers.

When Kate was little, she created a “masterpiece” (or more) a day. I loved them, hung a number of them on my ‘fridge or in my office and saved them all. Once in awhile I’d pull out a really special one, frame it simply and hang it on the ‘art wall’ that was located in our center hall.

That art wall made us smile everyday and Kate was so proud to have her work on display. Her friends would come to play and comment, “you have your own art wall”! It was there until we knocked it down as part of the remodel.  A happy and sad day all at the same time.

I knew all of those pieces were created with every bit of Kate’s heart and soul. This was probably the only organizing project where I saved more than I tossed. However, I did come to realize some pieces were awesome stand-outs and some were not.

In yesterday’s post, the story I told helped me to organize this often overwhelming task.

Here is the system I created for sorting, saving, tossing and archiving all of those special projects. One day, I’ll pass it all on to Kate. My hope is that the system I created will help her to decide what to do with it all.

1. Date everything! Each time your little one hands you a ‘special piece’, write the date on it. If you start now, it will make filing so much easier later on.

2. Sort. This is the hardest part. But, as I mentioned above, some things are stand-outs and some are not. Every piece of paper with a crayon stick drawing or a paint swash, while special at the time of it’s creation – may not really tell the story later on. I found I had saved a lot more swashes and crayon marks than I had masterpieces! Soon, sorting and archiving became less daunting.

3. Once your special pieces are sorted, make piles for each year. Some things will be much larger than others.

4. Purchase a variety of envelopes, flat portfolios (or make some with large cardboard, bookbinding tape and a few pieces of ribbon for each), and labels. Local office supply stores have good selections.

5. Label each portfolio with the year. You will quickly notice, that as the kids get older, the artwork, papers, etc. become less frequent! You’ll find that you can combine years. Just remember to label each portfolio appropriately.

6. Group smaller pieces into suitable sized envelopes. Date and label their contents and slip into the correct portfolios.

7. For pieces that are not flat, (the hand print in the plaster for instance,) either make a pocket on the front of your portfolio or create a box for these special items. Date each item, label the box and keep it with the rest of the archives.

8. Keep all of the portfolios in a convenient to get to space. If possible, keep your archives in your home where the temperature is a little easier controlled.

That’s it! It really is that simple.

A few things to note:

• Once the kids have grown and you feel it’s time to pass down the archives, select a few of your particular favorite pieces and hang onto them. Display them once in awhile and revel in the memories.

Finally, visit your archives often. At different times during the year, I’ll pull out a special little ‘gem’ and put it in my kitchen window or on my desk. For Halloween I always seem to select the same one. This year in particular, it’s a dear reminder of my college freshman, a special memento that always tugs at my heart.

-Janna

Fine Art – Part I

In this guest post my cousin Janna shares her ides for organizing her a child's artwork and school papers.

About five years ago, on a cold winter day, I decided to sort and organize my daughter’s school artwork, journals and special homework assignments. It was one of a number of projects I needed to tackle to prepare for our upcoming home remodel.

As you can imagine, it was a delightful trip down memory lane, but a sad one too.

Imagine my guilt as I forced myself to cull through all of the “special” pieces, making piles to save and a pile to toss.

I kept thinking about a large envelope I received when I graduated from high school. It was from Elizabeth’s mom, my aunt Janet.

It contained artwork, letters and other special mementos I had sent to her during my childhood. I remember receiving that envelope and how fun and funny it was to look through it.

I still have it. And every once in awhile, I run across it in my family archives desk. I pull out its contents and have a good laugh.

Over the years, I too have saved a few special things from nephews, nieces and small cousins. I plan to do the same for them, a lovely family tradition – don’t you think?

It will be up to them to decide what to do with it.

And that’s the point. No matter how hard we try to clean up, sort and organize, there are some things that are just too difficult to decide upon.

Janet’s solution was perfect. She did her best, culled out her favorites and sent them back!

I am forever grateful for her thoughtfulness and her forward thinking.

   Coming Next: Part 2 – My system for organizing the artwork

-Janna

School Papers—Contained!

I’ve written recently about purging and preparing for the onslaught of Kindergarten papers. A month into the school year and there is a lot of paper coming home. After trying a few different systems, I seem to have found one that works for me.

When setting up a paper management system, I try to work with my clients’ natural tendencies for where they put things (as long as it isn’t the floor!). In my case, the pre-school papers and artwork seemed to congregate on one counter in the kitchen…probably because this is where we’d unpack the school bag to clean out the lunch containers. Following my own advice, I designated this corner as the official School Paper Zone.

I felt better knowing that the pile of papers in the corner now had a reason for being there. But I was still bothered by the pile. So I went one step farther: instead of just having the papers and artwork piling up and annoying me, I decided to try and contain them (again, following the same advice I give my clients) in an inexpensive basket.

In the back of the basket is my Family Information Binder, which includes a section for critical school information like the class list and calendar. Next comes a few pieces of papers that I’m referencing all the time, such as the school lunch calendar and a helpful tip sheet from the teacher. These papers stand up in front of the binder so I can grab them easily. In the front of the basket I’m stashing the art and projects that come home from school. This is a small space so I’m hoping it will force me to go through the masterpieces every week. (More to come on the artwork organization project.)

I’ve found that the basket serves several purposes: 1) it contains and limits the papers—if they don’t fit, I know I need to purge; 2) it looks nice and now this corner doesn’t bother me; and 3) it is easy to move if I want it temporarily out of sight because we are having a party or some other event.

This was a very inexpensive and simple system, even though it took me a few tries to get it right. Don’t forget that simple is often better, and don’t give up if you can’t find something that works right away.

Out with the Old, In with the New: Organizing for the College Years

More ideas from my cousin Janna on how to stay organized while your child is in college. 

This project was quite possibly the easiest organizing project I’ve ever done. In the span of about 10 minutes I had it finished.

Late in June, we attended college orientation at the University of Montana. After attending the three-day event, we knew this was going to be the perfect place for our daughter. It was obvious the university had perfected their sales pitch and by the last day we were happy to send them both our daughter and our hard-earned dollars.

We were all impressed by many of the presentations and fun activities, but what sealed the deal for me was how organized they were!

Now it’s September, she is finishing her first week as a college student, and I spent a few minutes setting up some new files. As far as I can tell, my new system (based on my old one) will take me right through to graduation.

It was simple, here are a few things that make it work:

• Clean out the high school papers, calendars, and other documents. File and store the important stuff like report cards, certificates and photos with your family archives.
• Set up a new system using information from the college. For example I set up files that include topics such as: calendars; banking; books; business services (how to pay our bill!); contact information (phone numbers and email addresses); health care; housing; meal plan; and scholarship information.
• Keep the files handy. I keep them in the top drawer of our file cabinet where I file our monthly paid bills, etc.

Unlike Elizabeth’s system, mine is based on old technology and a system I developed when our daughter started Kindergarten. But, it works the same, it’s handy and it’s easy for me. Isn’t that what it’s all about anyway?

-Janna

Elementary, My Dear Organizer

Soon my daughter will head off to Kindergarten and I’ll be the parent of a child in elementary school! How did that happen?

My mom friends who have been through this already have warned me about the onslaught of school-related paperwork and emails. This was high on my list so today I started to prepare. Here’s what I did:

• Purged and recycled nearly all the paperwork from the file folder for my daughter’s pre-school…saving only the progress reports for posterity
• Purged all the pre-school papers out of my Family Information binder
• Scanned the pre-school class list to my computer so I can keep all the contact information (for future play dates) but get rid of the paper
• Put the Kindergarten class roster and school calendar into my Family Information binder for quick reference
• Added all the dates from the new school calendar to the Google calendar that I share with my husband (I LOVE Google calendar)
• Set up a folder on my computer for my daughter’s new school and downloaded some important information from the school’s website

Hope I’m ready!

Off to College: Cousins Compare Notes

In this post my cousin Janna shares how she's getting organized for sending her daughter off to college. 

School is coming up fast. For the past year, we’ve been organizing, planning and anticipating what will be a milestone.

Unlike previous years, I won’t listen for the bus at the bottom of our hill – my husband and I will be driving our own bus (ur-a-bus, or Subaru spelled backwards), and our daughter Kate east over the Cascades to Missoula and the University of Montana.

Despite the new location, there are many similarities with her first day of Kindergarten, thirteen years earlier. Back then, we carefully studied our school options and made decisions with her best interests in mind. Now, she’s plotting her own course.

We’re nervous and excited all at the same time.

The first time she rode the bus to school, standing with her at the bus stop a half a block down our hill, was almost agony. Now school is 480 miles and a time zone away. Just like elementary school, we’ve been through orientation (3 jam-packed days worth!), and as then, we’ve met some wonderful people who will surely become lifelong friends. Once again, we’ve bought back-to-school supplies. But instead of pencils and filler paper, now she’ll need a microwave oven, bedding, and her own computer printer.

Unlike grade school, she won’t be coming home every afternoon.

It’s often said that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Things are indeed changing. Our little girl is growing up and ready to strike out on her own. But a lot will stay the same too.

We’ll always be here for her, as will her room, her favorite stuffed animals and memories of her childhood.

We’ll continue to encourage her to explore, to love to learn, learn to love, spread her wings and be confident and independent. We’re just as proud of her now as we were that very first day of Kindergarten.

- Janna

Off to Kindergarten

My cousin Janna and I each have one daughter, and our girls will be embarking on new school adventures this fall…though at quite different points. My daughter is starting kindergarten and Janna’s daughter is starting college.

Our girls are on different coasts, at different stages of their education, but both transitions require organization. These next few posts will highlight some of the ways we are getting organized.

I’m approaching this kindergarten milestone like I do most important projects. First, I gather information. I’ve been talking to my mom friends of older kids to get their input on what I should be doing. I love learning from others and have already gotten some great advice.

Second, I’m making a list and checking it twice. Here are the big topics on the list:

• Paperwork! I know there will be a lot of paperwork from the new school. To get ready I know I need to clean out my files from the pre-school so this is at the top of my to do list.
• Planning. I need to set aside some time to read through all the paperwork we’ve already received. I think there is a parent-teacher meeting before school, and some other important dates I’ll need to put on the calendar.
• Purchases. I’ve jotted down the key things we need to purchase before school begins. From basics like a big-girl backpack and new lunchbox, to something special like a new outfit for her first day. I’ve started to schedule time on my calendar for shopping to ensure it really happens this month.
• Projects. Everyone, even a professional organizer, has an area they need to to work on. Mine little secret project is the pile of artwork and school mementos from my daughter’s past three years of school that I’ve accumulated. I have the art folders from nearly every month, in addition to lots of other special projects. I want to get this organized before she starts school. More on this to come.
• Play dates. Our town has a great family network which runs meet-ups for kindergarten families. I’ve got those on the family Google calendar, and plan to call a few other parents to set up some play dates.

That’s my strategy to keep it all together this month. Let’s see how it works!

Is There an Organizing Gene?

Being organized seems to run in my family. My cousin Janna is super-organized, and she credits that to her mom and our Grandma Nell. I'm sure that I’m as organized as I am because of my mom. Here is what I learned from her:

• Make a list.
• Always have paper and a pen handy….in case you need to make a list.
• Use a calendar (mom’s calendar always hangs in the kitchen and contains all the key family events, birthdays, and things to do).
• Put things away when you are done.
• Use labels.
• Make things beautiful.

Although she didn’t explicitly teach me these strategies, they became ingrained in how I approach my life. Maybe it was seeing the behavior as normal in our home; maybe it was that organizing gene.

Now I see my daughter exhibit a natural inclination towards organization. As a toddler, she taught her classmates how to sort the dried beans by shape and color. As a pre-schooler, she loved to “organize” the dress up clothes at school. Nearly six, she likes to plan ahead for what she’s going to wear the next day. She knows where to put the library books that need to be returned. She loves to have things sorted and categorized. And with reminders, most of the time she’ll put away her toys. Yes, I’m a pretty lucky parent.

Whether it comes from nature, nurture, or both, I hope these organization skills help my daughter navigate the world of elementary school, and later in life.

Please don’t despair if your child doesn’t seem to be naturally organized in the traditional way. Even if your child doesn’t seem to be innately organized, you can model positive organizing behavior. Read some ideas in The Neat Sheet.

Another resource to read is Every Child Has a Thinking Style by Lanna Nakone. This great book details four different organizing styles based on distinct “thinking styles” to help you work with your child’s strengths and recognize their challenges.