Keep your kid's drawers organized with these cheap dividers

I'm not a big fan of dressers. They take up a lot of room in our tiny bedrooms and they're tough for my little kids to use. The drawers are always heavy and most of them are out reach for my little ones. I bought 5 of these plastic drawers for each of my kids and stacked them in their closets. They're easy to open and see through so my kids know just where to find what they need.

My kids have a tendency to dump everything out when they're digging for socks, undershirts, tights or other little items. I created these easy dividers for their underwear drawer to help them keep things organized. I bought a sheet of foam-core posterboard and trimmed it to the size of my drawer. I then used clear packing tape to affix them to the front and back of the drawer. I also covered the cut edges (on the top and bottom of the divider) with packing tape to keep them from getting worn.

I've used these drawers for years and think they were worth every penny. My kids are 3, 4 & 6. Thanks to these simple drawers, they're all able put away their own laundry and pull out the clothes they need.

Help your kids clean their room on their own!

How many times have you told your kids to go clean their room only to find them pulling out more toys 20 mintues later? I felt like I had to sit in my kids rooms and direct them from one thing to the next in order to keep them on task. Then I came up with this simple cleaning chart to help my kids do it without me.

It breaks down the normal clean up into the most common tasks (make your bed, pick up toys, pick up books, etc.) The chart has two columns, To Do and Done. When we go in to the room, I have them pull off all the jobs (they're velcroed on to a piece of laminated cardstock). Then we look at the room and figure out which of the jobs need to go in the To Do column and which can go in the Done column. They place the To Do jobs in the order that they think will be the easiest. Then they get to work. When they finish the first job, they move it to the done column and then move on to the next To Do. When their To Do list is empty, they come and get me for a final check.

It's also really handy to use throughout the week. If I notice a big mess in their room, I'll shift a couple of the jobs over to the To Do column. Whenever they want to do something special like earn TV time or computer time, I ask them if they're To Do column is clear. If it's not, they know just what to do to take care of it...without my interaction.

The best advantage of this chart is that my kids can now do this mostly on their own. They've figured out that if they can break a job down into tiny pieces, they can do a lot more without help. This chart just provides the tools they need to do just that...no nagging required.

A great, reusable grocery list

I don't know about you, but most of my trips to the grocery store involve buying the same basic items each week. I created this listpad to save me the trouble of rewriting.

On it I've got lists for my three most common stores (Sam's/Costco, Grocery, WalMart/Target). I list my most common items by category (ie produce, dairy, houseware, etc.). I've left one or two blank spots under each category for those random items you only need now and then. I left the WalMart/Target store list blank because my list changes constantly for those stores. I printed 15 of each, cropped them and then stapled them to a piece of laminated cardstock. Each season, I adjust the lists a little to accomodate the changes in our menus.

The most convenient advantage of this list is that it stays on my cupboard where everyone in the family can find it. When I find that I'm out of something, I just have to open the cupboard door and check the box on my list. When it's grocery day, I just grab the top list, jot down a rough menu for the week on the back and check off any additional items I might need. It's quick, it's simple and it's something everyone in the family can use.

Stop the arguing with this handy Busy Bee chart

With three kids under 5, I got very sick of listening to the whining and fighting over petty little daily problems. I don't like playing the referee all day, so I created this fridge Busy Bee chart to help me.

Each day, one of the kids is the assigned to be the Busy Bee. They are the little decision maker for the day. They choose everything from what movie to watch at quiet time to who gets scrubbed in the tub first. When the kids are fighting, the busy bee gets to be the ref and decide who should win.

I know it sounds simplistic, but it has saved me from so many hassles. Now instead of running to me to solve problems, the kids try to work it out on their own. They know that I'll just tell them to ask the busy bee. It's been almost 18 months since I made this chart and it's still one of my favorites. Just thought I'd pass it on.

Download this free file on my website www.MeckMom.com. Just click on the downloads tab.

A Job Chart that actually works

Hey there, just thought I pass along this little tip. I finally created a job chart that works for our family. I ran around the house and took pictures of all the rooms and jobs (when they were clean). I laminated all of them and added velcro to the back. I used black foam-core and black velcro to create the backboard.
Much to my suprise, it's been 6 months and it's still working. The handy part about it is that it's completely adaptable. We don't always have the same jobs each week (I like to rotate my neglected areas :) ). This job board is handy because I can grab the pictures of the worst rooms and throw them up on the board Saturday morning. Better yet, it gives the kids an example of what I expect the room to look like when they're finished. Even little Emily can figure out how to clean the living room simply by looking at the picture. Once the kids have their jobs done, they are free to watch cartoons or whatever.

On the back, I used to have a daily job board (make bed, brush teeth, etc.) However, now that the kids are in school much of the day, I think I'm going to change it to a money job board. I'll post pictures of money jobs in columns of $ ($1 jobs, $5 jobs, $10 jobs, etc.). The back is also a handy place to stash the extra photos as well.