It Worked For Me!

August 4, 2011

Written by Contributing Writer, Sarah Farthing

I love the section of Parents Magazine where other families share ideas that have simplified their lives. As my boys get older and their daily care is less intense, I am finding that we have already outgrown many of the suggestions each month. What that article does now is inspire me to take a look around and see if there might be ways to simplify the routines we do have in place.

DVD’s

I find it is much easier for kids to find the movies they’re looking for when it’s time for a matinee on a too hot summer afternoon if they are out of their cases. Look how much less space this takes up than all those dvd boxes I have packed away in the basement now:

I can slide this 5 inch tall soft sided bin from Target onto a shelf in our furniture and it’s neatly out of sight. This system also keeps the cases nice for when we hand down our videos as we outgrow them.

Loofahs

My almost 4 1/2 year olds are exiting the nightly bath stage and taking showers more often than not now. We put these 3M hooks on the side of the shower within their reach and it is so easy for them to apply their own body wash and lather up. We haven’t had soap in the eyes, toes hit by heavy bars of soap falling or soaking wet wash cloths on the bathroom floor since we made the switch!

Necklaces

I was forever forgetting to wear the necklaces I love, and forgetting to pack them in the rush of getting suitcases filled with essentials , before I found this holder at TJ Maxx for well under $10:

Now my necklaces aren’t tangled and are in plain view, plus I think it’s a pretty addition to our dresser.

A friend of mine came up with a more creative, do it yourself necklace holder using hooks from Home Depot:

She wears a lot of bright, fun jewelry and I know this looks fabulous on her bedroom wall!

Socks

We enter from our garage right into our tiled laundry room with a locker room type area where we kick off our shoes. These summer days of running in and out of the house so often and being barefoot in the house most of the time made me realize just how often I think we’re all set to leave and then end up sending my boys running back to their rooms for socks. Finally one day I had the idea to just keep clean socks in a small bin at the end of our bench. Now I just ball up clean pairs of socks fresh out of the dryer and toss them in our sock bin in the same room. When the boys are dressed and ready to go, socks and shoes are one easy step all in the same area.

It’s amazing what a big difference small changes can make in how smoothly certain routines in your day seem to flow. It’s not so much about saving time for me- in reality only a few minutes are saved here and there- it’s about eliminating small frustrations and that elevates my mood!

If you’ve made a little change in your household that made you wonder “Why didn’t I think of that before?” let us know about it, we probably haven’t thought of it yet!

You might like...

Category: Brilliant

7 Comments »

Marla
on August 4, 2011 9:40 am
Great ideas Sarah!
Cathy
on August 4, 2011 10:11 am
Thanks for sharing the ideas! 🙂 Might have to talk my husband into making me something for my necklaces! 🙂

Last winter, I bought an ‘over-the-door’ shoe rack (the kind that has clear pockets for your shoes.) And I put all our mittens, hats, scarfs in the clear pockets. It’s worked great! No more digging through tubs to find a ‘match’! I know teachers who use it to put all extra school supplies in. Really, they could work for a lot of things!

Also, I saw someone put a magnetic dry erase board inside their pantry, then put all their spices in small magnetic containers, so they were easily accessible. Looked really cute and practical!
Jenny Hout
on August 4, 2011 10:14 am
Awesome article!
Jenny Hout
on August 4, 2011 10:17 am
LOVE the mitten/hat idea Cathy!! I might do that by our door this winter!
Vivian A.
on August 4, 2011 3:33 pm
Love the socks idea!
Elisa
on August 5, 2011 10:13 am
What are those little black “lids” that are keeping you’re DVD’s up? Brilliant!!!
I had the box part down…found some put-together boxes at the Dollar Tree, but those black thingies are too cool!
michael
on January 19, 2014 10:09 pm
the cd’s would get scratched up, this is why they have cases.