Tag: moms

5 Tools to Help You Organize Your Craft Room

If you love crafting in your downtime, chances are you also know the inherent clutter that comes along with arts and craft activities. The following tips and product recommendations will allow you to enjoy crafting while preventing your hobby from overtaking your space.

Keep small craft pieces contained by investing in a high-quality case.

The SnapCubes stackable arts and crafts case is a three-tier clear stackable storage container with compartments. It’s perfectly designed for jewelers, people who love to sew, as well as those who do beadwork. Small compartments within each layer of the case keep intricate pieces organized and neatly separated. A clear acrylic exterior allows for easy visibility. The case has a top handle which will make your craft supplies readily portable. The interlocking stackable design will save space.

A clear exterior and interior compartments make it easy to keep up with the tiniest craft supplies. https://amzn.to/2ILI5dz [affiliate link]

Grab a set of wheels, and put them in motion.

When organizing craft rooms, storage carts are typically a necessity. I prefer wheeled organizer carts with drawers over immobile pieces. While stationary furniture pieces make perfect sense in other parts of the home or office, arts and craft hobbies often involve moving from place to place to gather supplies. Many people also do their arts and crafts in rooms that serve multiple purposes. This is especially true of the confined spaces in metropolitan areas like New York City. If your crafting area serves multiple purposes, you likely find it necessary to occasionally stash craft supplies out of sight or in a more favorable location, especially if you typically convert the area the room to accommodate guests, to be used as a home office, or for any other purpose that does not immediately involve crafting.

The Seville Classics Organizer Cart is available in multiple sizes to suit your crafting needs and to complement the size of your space. The car is available with 6, 8, 10, or 15 drawers. Stylistically, the cart features multicolored drawers, which work well for categorizing and sorting arts and craft supplies and keeping them organized. The cart is wheeled, which makes it easy to take your crafting to other parts of the home or to stash your supplies quickly when you need to make space.

Multi-color compartments are great for organizing and color-coding according to category. https://amzn.to/35yyukn [affiliate link]

Another wheeled option, the IRIS 7-Drawer Rolling Storage Cart includes an organizer top, which is a simple compartmentalized tray that can house scissors, a hole punch, and other hand tools. The seven drawers are comprised of four shallow drawers in three deep bins. The shallow drawers are ideal for storing smaller crafting supplies while the deeper drawers are the perfect places to stash away incomplete craft projects that require days or weeks to finish.

A combination of large and small drawers accommodates smaller craft supplies and unfinished projects that require an extended period of time to finish. https://amzn.to/2OI3RTy [affiliate link]

Organize your desktop.

Keeping your craft room desktop organized can be a challenge. This is especially true for those who need boundaries and separation, neither of which a which an expansive open desktop provides. Fortunately, there are tools that can help you compartmentalize and organize your crafting desktop. The mDesign Lazy Susan Turntable Storage Organizing Container is perfect for organizing larger craft supplies. Divided into five compartments, the turntable storage container is spacious enought to accommodate supplies like glues, containers of glitter, and tubes of paint. A small cylindrical center compartment is sized for supplies like paint brushes, glue sticks, Exacto knives, and sponges.

Turntable organizer keeps desktops neat and attractive. https://amzn.to/2paBVgd [affiliate link]

Get a good desk or craft table.

In a craft room, your work surface is everything. A good craft desk will eliminate the need to purchase many different organizing and storage products. The South Shore Crea counter height craft table is a versatile piece of furniture for novices and for avid crafters. Taller than the average desk, the Crea craft table lends itself to working while standing or while seated on a stool or bar height chair. This craft table has ample storage including interchangeable modules, a wide drawer, and removable shelves. Its scratch-proof work table surface means your Crea craft table will retain its appearance and last for years of continuous crafting.

Removable drawers and shelves make this counter height craft table extra versatile. https://amzn.to/2MzHGMC [affiliate link]

Live in New York City? Need help organizing your space? Give us a call, or book your appointment online.

Get Organized to Go Back to School!

Many of my clients are anticipating the start of a new school year for their children. Some are even returning to school themselves, either to teach or to work on earning a degree. This post is for those who are looking to map their route to success by putting an organized plan in place for the year.

[Note: The following products are available by clicking on the images, which will direct you to Amazon’s website. I am an Amazon affiliate; therefore, Amazon will pay me a small commission for all purchases made through the links from my site. The price for the buyer remains the same regardless!…Also…you can DIY many of these ideas should you choose to do so!]

Letter Trays

I am a huge fan of these, and I recommend them in various forms to virtually any client who owns and desk and uses it!

How do I get organized by using letter trays?

I’m glad you asked. For most adults, I suggest having three trays and labeling them as  follows: 1) urgent, 2) mid-term, 3) long-term.

As you may have guessed, the labels indicate the immediacy of the deadline by which you must address the items within each tray. Bills that are due within less than a month should go into urgent. Permission slips for next week’s trip to the zoo? Urgent. Choosing a new cable provider before the contract expires three months from now? Mid-term. A reminder that your yearly donation to your favorite non-profit is due by the end of the year? Long term. However, as a long term deadline nears, you should continue to move the item to the more immediate letter trays until the item is addressed.

I have seen this system work extremely well for even the most disorganized among my clients and those who absolutely hate structure. The key to staying on top of this system is to address the letter trays EACH time you sit down at the desk for the FIRST time within a 24-hour period, i.e. you should visit the letter trays once per day. If you follow these directions meticulously, I guarantee your desk will not overflow with paper.

This system also works well for older students who tend to have mid-term and longer term projects.

For young kids who have homework, I suggest using an inbox/outbox system. When the child arrives home from school, he or she should immediately place all homework in a letter tray labeled “inbox.” Ideally, the tray should remain on the child’s desk or work table. If the child works at a kitchen or dining room table, the inbox may be brought out when the child arrives from school and stored on a shelf or in another location out of the way once all the homework for the next day has been completed. Once completed, homework should be placed in another letter tray labeled “outbox.”  The outbox tray should be placed near the home’s entrance (also a good location for the child’s backpack once packed) to ensure the child and parent will not forget homework on the way out the next morning. One tremendous advantage to using this system is that it provides a very natural way for parents to monitor their child’s progress in school and to ensure homework completion.

Okay, sign me up!

Here are some letter trays:

A dual wall file also works well for a simplified inbox/outbox system when attached to the child’s door or in another prominent place in the home.

Organizing Letters from School, Permission Slips, and Miscellaneous Papers

Younger students often bring notices, conduct reports, permission slips, and artwork home from school to show their parents. For parental notices, I recommend using a wall file or letter sorter with multiple compartments. Each file or compartment can be labeled by document type (i.e. one for permission slips/things that need to be signed and returned, one for PTA announcements, one for artwork/completed work the child brings home, and one very clearly labeled for signed items/notes that are ready to be returned to the teacher).

 

 

Stay tuned for follow-up Back-to-School posts on lunch boxes, backpacks, and school supplies!

Recommended Service: Plum Print

Parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles often struggle with deciding what to do with artwork created by the kid artist in their lives. We all know that it is impractical to keep every single masterpiece your little loved one produces. But what if you could have all your favorite pieces digitized and compiled into a beautiful and convenient art book?

Thanks to Plum Print, you can now have your child’s artwork compiled into one book or produced into a variety of other home decor products, including shower curtains, pillows, and calendars. To start the process, visit the website to learn how to mail your artwork in a prepaid box supplied by Plum Print [Note: As an affiliate, Plum Print compensates me for every order it receives through my customized link: plumprint.com/helpmelanda.] . After creating your online portfolio, the company will then email you a proof, at which point, you may approve the digitized artwork and select and order the products you wish to have made from it.

Get started today, and receive $10 off your first order!

Kid-Friendly Organizing Tools

[This post contains affiliate links, which means Amazon will pay me a commission on purchases made through the any of following product links]

Parents often lament the state of their children’s play areas and bedrooms. The truth is these are oftentimes the areas that lend themselves to successful implementation f the most basic organizing strategies. When approaching a kids zone, the main objectives should be to categorize, label, then categorize even more if necessary. By getting the child involved, he or she can even improve other skills while learning to maintain his or her room. Color-coded buckets and bins, containers of different sizes and shapes, and keeping toys and art supplies well-sorted can enable small children to practice the same basic concepts they are required to learn and leverage in school. The act of restoring order to their room or play area can also help reinforce positive lifestyle habits and even teach the child to organize his or her thoughts.

Choose Tools That Suit the Child

Children who are very small or those whose motor skills are still in early development may especially benefit from having their toys organized into larger containers that have an open top. Balls and building blocks may be stored in larger open bins. Stuffed animals may be stored in a toy box or on a low shelf. The goal is to make cleanup time easy for kids and parents even if the child does not have the agility to latch and unlatch complex containers. Open bins and large boxes also allow the child to grasp and further develop the important concept of object categorization while participating in the practice of clearing and “resetting” the play area.

Restrict Access When Necessary

Small children may have toys and puzzles that consist of many pieces. Parents who are concerned about the pieces becoming scattered should consider utilizing containers that have a latch closure or a locking mechanism. Storing these types of toys on high shelving can also minimize random spillage. Art supplies may also be stored in a similar manner when not in use.

Cube Storage for Older Kids

Once a child is able to read labels, fabric storage cube are a fantastic option for separating the many different items older children use throughout the week. My client have used cube storage systems to create a designated place for winter accessories like hats and gloves, folded sports uniforms, clothes (in rooms that are too small to accommodate a large dresser), video game controllers, pajamas, arts and craft supplies, and more. Fabric cubes can be used with a cube storage system like the products offered by Closet Maid or on regular built-in or freestanding shelving.

Success in keeping a child’s room or play area organized most often depends on the parent and child working together. Parents can set their children up for organizational success by keeping systems clear and simple, but effective and, most importantly, by involving the child in the process of organizing and maintaining the area as often as possible.