Bitesized Organized • If It Stands Still Label It • Label Everything

People, especially families, are always looking for ways to keep themselves organized. And the more people you have in a family the more that need grows. If we can take charge of those things we can control then we have more time and energy to devote to being creative. (You can even be creative with your labeling.) Having a family with 8 children, and all of the activities and directions that entails, I have learned a thing, or twenty, about organization. 

Bitesized Organized
Label Everything

WHY?
• When everyone uses things, not just the mom, they need to know where to find it and then, where to return it
• The more creative you are, the more stuff there seems to be, you want to find it to use it
• When it's time to clean up, anyone can clean because they know where things go
• You can see if something is empty or out quickly before shopping
• It slows the need for you, personally, to look for something someone else needs, you can teach self-sufficiency by sending them to the box labeled...

WHAT?
• Anything
• Everything

HOW?
• For starters, just take one small area, the one that drives you crazy the most, organize and label that stuff
• Use vinyl letters, printer paper & tape, magnetic cut outs, heck, I even use masking tape and a marker (especially if I am not sure how I want to label something and want to wait and see if it works)
• For non-readers, take a photo or draw a picture to use as the label
• Use color coding if you have numerous items in one category (my studio tools and stuff are lime green)
• If you store a container on a shelf label all sides that might end up showing. If you only label one side, then inevitably, that is the side that will get put away facing the wall where no one can read it. The extra effort for all sides is worth it.

Don't think this is the Magic-Now-Everyone-Will-Put-Everything-Away-Pill. But, it leaves little excuse for the "I don't know where to find it" or "I don't know where it belongs" crutches. It will still require some reshaping of patterns and habits but this is the start.  

We have a house where everyone is involved - cooking, cleaning, creating. So, stuff is flying around all the time. This has helped us a little. Hope this bitesized organize helps you.