First, let me start off by officially announcing the winner of the the 5 e-books in my 1st Blogiversary Giveaway.
Congratulations Lori! I hope the books give you some great organizing ideas!
Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway. I'm sorry you couldn't all win :)
And once again, thank you to everyone who has been following this blog the past year! And for all the lovely comments on Facebook, Google+, and the blog, congratulating me on this momentous occasion :) You all mean so much to me and I love that you find the things I share helpful. Here's to another year of organizing ideas and tips! Let's all go from overwhelmed to organized!
OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Happy Friday! Time for another organizing idea for your weekend :)
It's June, and around here that means school is starting to wind down. I know some of you have already started your summer break, but in Ontario we don't finish until the end of June.
Whether your kids have already finished or will be finishing over the next few weeks, now is the time to set up an organized system for dealing with their school work and artistic creations, if you don't already have a plan in place. If you don't deal with all that paperwork, it will take over your home!
I shared how I deal with my kids' school work a few months ago.
This system has been working well all year. As the kids bring home work, we add things they'd like to keep to their current grade's folder (Grade 3 for my son and Grade 1 for my daughter). If it's something they're not interested in keeping then it goes straight into the recycling bin.
I'm expecting a huge influx over the next few weeks, so once the last notebook, test, duotang, art project, and report card comes home, I'll go through all of this year's stuff with the kids and decide what we're keeping and what we're recycling {and we'll probably take some pictures of a few favourites before they get tossed}. Some of what they previously thought they'd keep will probably be less important now {hopefully!}. Everything for the year needs to fit into one folder.
Since what works for one person, doesn't necessarily work for another, here are a few more ideas to help you tame all that end-of-school-year paperwork! {click the links below each picture for the details}
1. Sharon from Mom of Six keeps a memory box and an artwork box for each of her 6 kids. She gives some other pointers too.
2. Leah from Fabulously Organized Home shares some great tips for creating a yearly scrapbook for each child.
3. April from Power of Moms has a two-minute video describing how she deals with all the end of year paperwork.
4. Molly from Go Mom also has a short video filled with tips for organizing your kids' artwork.
There are some similarities in these tips, but each lady put her own stamp on this organizing dilemma. And you can too!
This weekend, decide what will work best for your family and in your home and then sort and purge!
You don't need to go out and spend money on any particular organizing product. Use items you already have (decorate them if you want to jazz them up a little). If you do choose to buy something, keep your eyes out for deals. But, in the meantime, do the sorting and purging and picture-taking part!
If your kids haven't finished school yet, you can at least sort and purge the papers they've accumulated so far this year. If they're scattered throughout the house, gather them all up so you know what you're dealing with. Getting this step done will set you up for the rest of the material that will come home in the next few weeks :)
Good luck! And have fun looking back and admiring your kids' work. I love seeing the progress they've made throughout the year.
Congratulations Lori! I hope the books give you some great organizing ideas!
Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway. I'm sorry you couldn't all win :)
And once again, thank you to everyone who has been following this blog the past year! And for all the lovely comments on Facebook, Google+, and the blog, congratulating me on this momentous occasion :) You all mean so much to me and I love that you find the things I share helpful. Here's to another year of organizing ideas and tips! Let's all go from overwhelmed to organized!
OK, back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Happy Friday! Time for another organizing idea for your weekend :)
It's June, and around here that means school is starting to wind down. I know some of you have already started your summer break, but in Ontario we don't finish until the end of June.
Whether your kids have already finished or will be finishing over the next few weeks, now is the time to set up an organized system for dealing with their school work and artistic creations, if you don't already have a plan in place. If you don't deal with all that paperwork, it will take over your home!
I shared how I deal with my kids' school work a few months ago.
This system has been working well all year. As the kids bring home work, we add things they'd like to keep to their current grade's folder (Grade 3 for my son and Grade 1 for my daughter). If it's something they're not interested in keeping then it goes straight into the recycling bin.
I'm expecting a huge influx over the next few weeks, so once the last notebook, test, duotang, art project, and report card comes home, I'll go through all of this year's stuff with the kids and decide what we're keeping and what we're recycling {and we'll probably take some pictures of a few favourites before they get tossed}. Some of what they previously thought they'd keep will probably be less important now {hopefully!}. Everything for the year needs to fit into one folder.
Since what works for one person, doesn't necessarily work for another, here are a few more ideas to help you tame all that end-of-school-year paperwork! {click the links below each picture for the details}
1. Sharon from Mom of Six keeps a memory box and an artwork box for each of her 6 kids. She gives some other pointers too.
 |
| How to Store Kids' Artwork, Report Cards, and School Projects |
2. Leah from Fabulously Organized Home shares some great tips for creating a yearly scrapbook for each child.
 |
| Collect + Organize School Year Memorabilia |
3. April from Power of Moms has a two-minute video describing how she deals with all the end of year paperwork.
 |
| Organizing the End-of-School Papers |
4. Molly from Go Mom also has a short video filled with tips for organizing your kids' artwork.
 |
| 5 Tips to Organize Kids Artwork |
There are some similarities in these tips, but each lady put her own stamp on this organizing dilemma. And you can too!
This weekend, decide what will work best for your family and in your home and then sort and purge!
You don't need to go out and spend money on any particular organizing product. Use items you already have (decorate them if you want to jazz them up a little). If you do choose to buy something, keep your eyes out for deals. But, in the meantime, do the sorting and purging and picture-taking part!
If your kids haven't finished school yet, you can at least sort and purge the papers they've accumulated so far this year. If they're scattered throughout the house, gather them all up so you know what you're dealing with. Getting this step done will set you up for the rest of the material that will come home in the next few weeks :)
Good luck! And have fun looking back and admiring your kids' work. I love seeing the progress they've made throughout the year.
How do you organize your kids' schoolwork? What criteria do you use to decide what to keep or throw out?
What do you find the most overwhelming part of organizing school work? Which of the tips this week are you planning to implement?
