Find Lost Treasure

I have been bugging my teen boys for weeks (months) to clean out their room. It wasn't until I was at the end of my rope that I realized that they have absolutely no interest whatsoever in cleaning out their room. And when they started telling me that I needed to buy them more black socks because they no longer had any did I decide to take over their room. I couldn't imagine where all of their black socks had gone. I took matters into my own hands.

I went in their room with a mission to find the 20 pairs of black socks that I knew lurked in there. I also was going to find shorts that they told me they no longer have as well. After all, clothes don't just walk away.

My approach was fairly straightforward and would work in just about any bedroom. I worked on the closet first and then moved to the bed area and then the TV area. Closet was the biggest challenge because kids notoriously do not organize or purge their clothes. I am sure there are exceptions but at least this rule is alive in my house. I start by pulling all of the clothes out of the closet. We make a few piles: one to give away, one to keep, and one to pass down to their youngest brother. The boys were a part of the process and as I held up the item we decided which pile it goes into. The decisions have to be quick and kids usually know which of their clothes no longer fit or is no longer in style. We went through the belts, shoes, and baskets. Every keeper got hung back up on the rod in an organized fashion grouped by type (shirts, pants, tshirts, etc). To my kids' surprise the baskets which contained shorts and t-shirts were crammed with shorts that still had the tags on and ended up buried at the bottom. What we also found were several pairs of black socks. I struggled to contain myself so as not to relish in what I knew all along (that the socks and shorts didn't just walk away).

When the closet was finished I moved on to the drawers under their beds. This is where they keep their underwear, pjs, and socks (which they say they no longer have any of). What I found hidden beneath the underwear were more socks! We sorted through these drawers and paired up all the socks, folded up all the underwear and threw everything out that no longer fit or was wearable.

While I was at the bed area I decided to take a look under the bed. I figured that surely I would find treasure there and I was not disappointed. More socks!

We moved on to their end table that they somehow has become a total junk drawer. I emptied the whole thing out much to their horror. The whining tone didn't sway me. We were not going to do a partial purge. Everything was emptied out of that drawer onto the floor. We went through old papers, candy wrappers, and overall junk that just needed to be trashed. I did find a few surprises that came from that drawer..money and gift cards that totalled $75 in value.

Only essential items were put back into the end table drawer and on that happy note we were finished with the purge. Lost treasure totalled $75 + the cost of black socks and striped shorts. Overall the mission was a success.

Thank You Notes

I was flipping through my blog reader this morning. I love every blog in my reader and believe me, there are so many of them that it's a full time job just keeping up with them. So I found one blog post in particular here that made me think about the topic of thank you notes.

She touched on a subject that I feel is really an important art form that seems to have been lost in our culture. Why is it lost? Is it no longer important for kids and adults to write thank you notes letting the person who picked out the gift, paid for it, wrapped it up, and shipped it off to know that you appreciated their effort?

It's a subject that comes to the forefront whenever my kids get gifts. They whine and complain about having to write the notes. I don't let them use the gift until they write it. I always wonder if they will continue when they become adults and don't have me hanging over them nagging them to do it.

In generally discussing the subject with friends and co-workers I find out that many people don't get thank you notes from the person receiving their gift and frankly don't expect to. That's sad to me. It's common courtesy and we should be passing this courtesy on to our children. And let's lead by example by showing them how important it is to write those thank you notes.

First Day of School

This post is a bit of a cheat because while my DD's first day of school was today, my older fellows first day of school was actually last week since they are in private high school which follows a different schedule. Either way they all looked adorable and I am so very proud of all that they are doing and have accomplished.

Just wanted to share a few photos of their great days!



High School Junior



High School Freshman



First Grader

School Is Coming - Are You Ready?

Boy it seems like time just flew on by this summer. This summer seemed so more than in the past. I thought I would get a break or that things would slow down some but that never really happened. Now it is time for me to put back into place those organizational systems that work for me when the kids are back in school. Such as:

Morning Routine

1. Set out all of the breakfast bowls, cereals, vitamins, and whatever else you need in the morning to get going.
2. Prepare all school lunches the night before and have lunch boxes all set up on the counter.
3. All clothes get laid out the night before.
4. Shoes and backpacks are at the door. Make sure everyone has their appropriate schedules.
5. Go to bed early to get used to this adjustment.

Weekly Meal Planning

1. Set aside a few minutes of time on the weekend to layout your meal plan for the next week. I coordinate the my meal plan layout right before I go grocery shopping so I can write down any particular food items I might need for the meal plan. This minimizes the surprises during the week and it also helps my husband just in case I am running late at work and he has to help prepare the meal. The plan is right there on the refrigerator. Also, it helps my kids to know what is for dinner on any given night.

2. Do your grocery shopping on the weekend. It is so much more helpful to get that out of the way.

3. Along with the weekly meal plan, I also look over the calendar of events for the week to be sure that everyone knows what everyone is doing and that everyone is taken care of as far as pick ups from school, after school activities, etc.

Do you have any organizational systems that help you throughout the school year? If so what are they?