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Organization and Maintenance Skills



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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, Jun 24 2020, 4:01 pm
I’m looking forward to get my house back in shape once daycamp starts and life resumes to pre-covid era. What are some tricks to maintaining organization in closets and cabinets? I work so hard to organize and then it lasts just a short while and I have to start all over again. Any hacks on how to maintain, and also how to get the kids to maintain while I’m at it? TIA
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rainbow dash




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 24 2020, 5:44 pm
Dont know but I like to watch cleaning motivational YouTube videos. And they are always organizing, purging, cleaning. Even if you say organize your food cupboards it will need to be done again say twice a month to keep it up. I love living with cambria, this crazy life, for the love of sorted, Jamie's journey. From there you will find a lot more channels. Good luck we all need it
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, Jun 24 2020, 6:12 pm
rainbow dash wrote:
Dont know but I like to watch cleaning motivational YouTube videos. And they are always organizing, purging, cleaning. Even if you say organize your food cupboards it will need to be done again say twice a month to keep it up. I love living with cambria, this crazy life, for the love of sorted, Jamie's journey. From there you will find a lot more channels. Good luck we all need it

Thank you, I’ll check those out. So if it needs to be done twice a month that means I can quit my job and be busy organizing my house all year round? Cuz it takes about 2 weeks to get the whole house organized. Ughhhh I need a live in maid!
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rainbow dash




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 24 2020, 6:13 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Thank you, I’ll check those out. So if it needs to be done twice a month that means I can quit my job and be busy organizing my house all year round? Cuz it takes about 2 weeks to get the whole house organized. Ughhhh I need a live in maid!


Haha yes we all need a live in maid. Do what's good for you and your family.
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zaq




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 24 2020, 6:40 pm
There are no magic tricks. Eternal vigilance is the price, not only of liberty, but of a clean and organized home. By all means check out the likes of Marie Kondo and other experts, in book or youtube form, for ideas. Adopt and adapt whatever works for you. There are many different philosophies of organization and no one fits all.

What are your priorities: aesthetics, or practicality? They are sometimes polar opposites. As a mom of young children, you should be getting your dc in on the business. Teach them how to fold laundry--or say to heck with that, just buy each kid all the same socks (so they don't have to sort) that are different from his siblings', and give each one a bin that s/he can throw all the socks into. The same for underpants and undershirts. Teach them to hang their shirts up on hangers if folding them is too much of a bother. Marie Kondo's method of folding clothes so they can be "filed" in a drawer is great but not for all types of clothes. I find it's not so great for bulky sweaters unless the drawer is very very deep and pretty useless for very thin fabrics like silk scarves.

if your drawers are big enough--hahahahahah--you can even just lay items flat, stacked like pancakes, and don't fold them at all. This works best if they're identical so it doesn't matter what color or style they are and you can just grab the top one. Socks and underwear come to mind here.

With little kids, don't overorganize! A shoebag with pockets is great for some adults, but few kids have the patience for one. They're better off with a crate or bin they can toss their shoes into. A book I once read said "make things slightly easier to put away than to find." Because that's what you want to encourage--putting things away. You have to make that easy. So maybe give each kid his own bin for footwear, be it galoshes, slippers, pool shoes, school shoes, shabbos shoes or what have you.

But step #1 is to PURGE. We all have too much stuff and that makes organizing difficult. If you own a washer, you don't need as many clothes as if you have to shlep to a laundromat. If you're saving outgrown clothes for future children, save only the best and put them in "long-term parking" far away from your everyday things. Have in your prime real estate only the stuff you're actively using right now.

Make cleanup a game: put on some music, give each person a basket or box and sixty seconds or two minutes to grab anything that's out of place and put it in the box. Then another sixty seconds or so to put those things where they belong. Points for whoever finds the most objects, or puts them back the fastest, or whatever floats your boat.

color coding belongings--a different color for each person--helps a lot. At least you know WHOSE sippy cup or backpack or hoodie is on the floor!

Well, I'm not writing a household organizing book so I'll stop now. Just remember it's an ONGOING, NEVERENDING process. you don't "get organized" once and stay that way; you --and your family--have to work at it every,single,day.


Last edited by zaq on Wed, Jun 24 2020, 6:44 pm; edited 1 time in total
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amother
OP


 

Post Wed, Jun 24 2020, 6:44 pm
zaq wrote:
There are no magic tricks. Eternal vigilance is the price, not only of liberty, but of a clean and organized home. By all means check out the likes of Marie Kondo and other experts, in book or youtube form, for ideas. Adopt and adapt whatever works for you. There are many different philosophies of organization and no one fits all.

What are your priorities: aesthetics, or practicality? They are sometimes polar opposites. As a mom of young children, you should be getting your dc in on the business. Teach them how to fold laundry--or say to heck with that, just buy each kid all the same socks (so they don't have to sort) that are different from his siblings', and give each one a bin that s/he can throw all the socks into. The same for underpants and undershirts. Teach them to hang their shirts up on hangers if folding them is too much of a bother. Marie Kondo's method of folding clothes so they can be "filed" in a drawer is great but not for all types of clothes. I find it's not so great for bulky sweaters unless the drawer is very very deep and pretty useless for very thin fabrics like silk scarves.

With little kids, don't overorganize! A shoebag with pockets is great for some adults, but few kids have the patience for one. They're better off with a crate or bin they can toss their shoes into. A book I once read said "make things slightly easier to put away than to find." Because that's what you want to encourage--putting things away. You have to make that easy. So maybe give each kid his own bin for footwear, be it galoshes, slippers, pool shoes, school shoes, shabbos shoes or what have you.

But step #1 is to PURGE. We all have too much stuff and that makes organizing difficult. If you own a washer, you don't need as many clothes as if you have to shlep to a laundromat. If you're saving outgrown clothes for future children, save only the best and put them in "long-term parking" far away from your everyday things. Have in your prime real estate only the stuff you're actively using right now.

Make cleanup a game: put on some music, give each person a basket or box and sixty seconds or two minutes to grab anything that's out of place and put it in the box. Then another sixty seconds or so to put those things where they belong. Points for whoever finds the most objects, or puts them back the fastest, or whatever floats your boat.

color coding belongings--a different color for each person--helps a lot. At least you know WHOSE sippy cup or backpack or hoodie is on the floor!

Well, I'm not writing a household organizing book so I'll stop now. Just remember it's an ONGOING, NEVERENDING process. you don't "get organized" once and stay that way; you --and your family--have to work at it every,single,day.

Thanks so much, I think you should write a book actually. I’ll buy it!
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#BestBubby




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 24 2020, 8:17 pm
amother [ OP ] wrote:
Thanks so much, I think you should write a book actually. I’ll buy it!


Me too. More tips, please!
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southernbubby




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 24 2020, 8:45 pm
When my kids were growing up we bought a school cubby for the backpacks, hats, coats, boots, gloves, etc. It helped but I had to clean out the cubbies. It fit in the front hall closet but those cubbies could be put anywhere. Life gets busy so sometimes everyone has to stop and sort their stuff out
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Rachel Shira




 
 
    
 

Post Wed, Jun 24 2020, 10:39 pm
It’s a constant work in progress. But if you find yourself reorganizing your pantry every week, let’s say, you probably need a new system. Rethink your needs for each space and figure out where you’re lacking, and declutter/rearrange/label to make it make more sense. The key is that every single item should have a specific place that it lives. Like a specific spot on the bookshelf - not just “on the bookshelf.” It will make cleanup a breeze, and if you have a new item that comes into your house, create a home for it. And only own what fits in your space.
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mra01385




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2020, 12:56 pm
If anyone is interested someone in Lakewood is offering organizational teleconferences for very reasonable price. I took 2 of her series already and they were phenomenal!
Pm me for more info.
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Mama Bear




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2020, 1:21 pm
Word of caution, you might experience a bit of post-traumatic fatigue and drop of adrenaline when the kids are finally out and won't even have the physical or mental koach to declutter and reorganize. Permit yourself a day or three just to destress if that happens, dont be hard on yourself.
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amother
OP


 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2020, 1:26 pm
Ha mama bear you’re so right. I had such good intentions but so far nada!
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saw50st8




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Jul 09 2020, 1:52 pm
The most important thing to do is declutter. Having less stuff means less to clean up. It really is the biggest difference.

I follow some bloggers/Youtubers like A Slob Comes Clean and The Secret Slob. I love their tips.
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