Organization -advice sought from need to be neat parents

[almama]

I'd like to start putting together some stuff for the Fall and I'm wondering the best way to organize myself. I have thought of color coded folders for the kids and days, portfolio binders for the kids, scheduling books, etc, but I'm wondering what really "works" to help keep the moms on track.

Just FYI - right now we are about 90% live and let live, but I want to have a few things prepared each day for my 5 year old. It makes life a lot easier and appeases my personality. Eventually (in a few years) I'd like to ramp up the organized work time, and would like to have a decent system in place now.

Thanks!

[atypicalandrea]

Oh I hear ya. One of the handiest things I ever did was this:

- go to the Dollar Store where everything is $1
- buy a rectangular plastic dishpan, one for each child
- bring it home and either let them collage it, or tape a large piece of paper with their name on it, right on the side.
- find a surface to keep the bins on.

The bin is where they store work that is in progress. Got an art project that needs to go "away" so we can sit and eat diner? Goes in the bin. Reading a favorite book but have to set it down somewhere? Goes in the bin. Child has a particular pencil they need to use every time? Goes in the bin.

When whatever child finished a project, a workbook, whatever - they put it in *my* bin. Eventually, I'd clean out their completed work (mark as neccessary) and file in individual expandable file folders (also from Dollar Store). This worked really well when we were doing more organized work like textbooks and workbooks.

Now we're more live-and-let-live.