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Welcome to the LOK Chalkboard. Share your tips and suggestions on how you keep your large family household organized. We may even feature your suggestion in an upcoming feature (we'll be sure to give you credit for the tip). It seems that in our early morning chaos someone is always ready to run out the door without socks or belts, so in my entry closet I have placed three different rubbermaid containers with socks for the different sizes and a basket to hold belts. Now when we are running out the door everything is right there. Shoes, belts, and socks. Posted by: fivekids7 My mom dreamed up one of the most helpfull tips I have gotten from a not LOK person (she is an only child and only had me guess Iam a bit of a black sheep ;) ) As most of my children are about the same size instead of having eveyone have their own socks we just buy multi packs of white socks in the median size for them all. The way you have 10 pairs you loose 1 sock you have 9 pairs you loose 2 you still have 9 pairs! All the socks just go in a basket in the closset with the shoes. No sorting pairing etc... Posted by: Silver I have 15 kids and two on the way. My house is always got 30+ kids running through it. Kids leave toys over at our house and my kids leave toys and clothing items over at their friends house. seeing as toys and clothes are expensive these days; I simply take a Marker and write the kids names on the items that belong to them. this is also a very helpful tip to keep the dishes from getting out of hand. if the toy is black you can engrave their names in it, a simple pair of scissors will do the trick. This tip also helps keep you sane. Posted by: Rebekkah My teens rotate cooking dinners, but tended to loose or misfile recipes. From our monthly menu, I typed out the recipes for each evening on one page (entree, vegi, desert, etc all one one page). I put them in page protectors in a binder. No more lost recipes! Posted by: Janet Hurley--2 toddlers, 2 teens I made a monthly menu for dinners. From that I made a grocery list for the first two weeks, and another for the scond two weeks, also a wholesale club list for the coresponding weeks. I added breakfast and lunch items to each list, as well as toiletries. My family enjoys having a different entree each day of the month, and my life is easier=). Posted by: Janet Hurley We have a different colored towel for each person in the house. They are more likely to be sure it is hung up to dry because they have to use it more than once before washing. Less towels to wash and store in the closet! Posted by: Giftof4 Everyone has their own clean laundry basket with their name on it. When the clothes come out of the dryer, they get folded and placed in each persons basket. Then each family member puts away his/her clothes. No wrinkly clothes or sorting. Posted by: Michelle Hall family of eight Need space in bedrooms? If you have a space in the basement, consider moving dressers down to the laundry area. Clean laundry can get put directly in drawers, dirty clothes can be sorted immediately upon removal, and it frees up floor space in bedrooms. Posted by: Leslie Vaughn Need plates for younger eaters? Frisbees are great. They're cheap, indestructible, dishwasher safe (they fit fine in ours), and the lip on the edge makes it easier for kids to carry without spilling and to use utensils without pushing food off the plate. Also perfect for those not-quite-plate-not-quite-bowl foods like spaghetti or cake with ice cream. Posted by: Leslie Vaughn Storing bed sets for a total of 7 beds is a huge issue for us. My solution is to store the sheet sets, for that individual bed, between the mattress and box springs. This makes changing the sheets a snap. Everything you need is right at your fingertips and it doesn't eat up your closet space. Posted by: Shanan Felix We have two 3 sectional laundry sorters in our laundry room. (made to separate lights, darks, and colors) Each of our 6 children have their own section. We wash ONLY 1 child's laundry at a time- 1 child's clothes go into the washer, then into the dryer then into a basket for him or her to put away. This eliminates all of us looking through tons of clothes to find what we are looking for. Each child can look through his or her own basket of clean clothes or section of dirty clothes to find their socks,favorite shirt, uniform, or whatever. Whichever sectional is the fullest, that child's load gets washed first. (we do not own clothes that bleed since colors and whites often get washed together this way.) Posted by: Blessed Abundanty When potty training an easy way to speed up nighttime linen changes is to layer three or four bottom sheets with a cheap vinyl table cloth between each in the wet zone. If an accident happens, just pull off the top layers and you're set! Posted by: Faith When I take clothes out of the dryer, anything that will stay on a hanger is hung up. Anything that does not go on a hanger is immediately sorted into baskets. Each basket is 'owned' by one or two family members. There is also a basket for towels and a basket for socks. The kids have to empty their basket and put away the their own hanging laundry twice a week. Posted by: Kay Stevens, from Utah I have a roaster that I use only for the holidays and special occasions. Maybe 3-4 times a year. I store a lot of other small utensils I use seldom in there. I put them in zipper bags and just pull them out and set them aside until I am done using the roaster. It's like having a whole other drawer. Posted by: Jan, from Algonquin, IL Save the plastic bags that quilts and sheets come in. They are different sizes. Put the clothing your children outgrow into them and label with the size. You can store them inside the big Rubbermaid containers and that way you just pull out a bag of the size you need instead of sifting through a bunch of clothes thrown in together. Posted by: Jolie, from AZ Buy a small storage basket from the dollar store and use it to put all the lids to your tupperware in. It works just as well as those other holders made for it and costs a lot less. You won't lose as many lids that way. Posted by: Presley6 When I need to bring something with me out like my lunch for work, I hang a plastic shopping bag on the doorknob and put the item in. That way when I leave, I'll have to see it and remember to take it with me. Posted by: John, from Oregon I buy a different color hanger for each family member. Makes it easier when my kids share a closet to know whose clothes are who with a quick look. Posted by: Melody, from MA We have very little room for blanket and sheet storage. I fold up each and tuck it into a pillowcase. Then I put it on the bed with the regular pillows. No one knows the difference and it makes changing the linen easier since it's all right there. Posted by: Lisa, from Minneapolis Return to Home Page Powered by DreamCatchersWeb CGI |