Archived Ideas for July, 2009

IDEA 3: WHAT’S IN HERE

drawer_two

When my kids were small, I wanted a way for them to learn to put their clothes in their drawers. I really  didn’t want to write on the furniture, so I came up with this very simple idea.

drawer_one

Using round colored stickers from the office supply store, I cut simple shapes of a top, pants, socks, underwear, and pajamas, and simply stuck them on the drawer knobs, or flat fronts, (depending on the furniture style).

The system worked, was simple and graphic, and when the kids outgrew the need, it was a cinch to peel the labels back off.

Dresser_5_drawers

Filed under 07 July, Home, Kids, Organization, Twin Cities Live | Comments

IDEA 2: LAUNDRY DECODED

laundry_pete

Where there is family, there is laundry. And for some reason, one person (you) seems to always end up having to deal with it. This system is simple enough so that eventually, any family member can handle it. (Unfortunately you DO have to wait till they can walk).

Buy one laundry basket for each family member and one for “house”. Permanently mark each basket with a person’s name, or use different color baskets. We made little signs and had them laminated at the copy shop, then simply “threaded” them in the basket’s holes. Now, when laundry comes out of the dryer, it gets folded and put in the correct basket. This can be a family chore or it can be done by the family’s “laundry expert”.

Once the clean clothes are in the baskets, the laundry expert washes her hands of them, so to speak. Each person is in charge of their basket. If your family is like ours, the baskets never leave the laundry room. Most people (who shall remain nameless) simply use their basket like a mini dresser so they never actually have to put anything away. But this matters not to you. If they want to go to the basement to change clothes, who cares? The laundry remains miraculously organized.

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IDEA 1: SOLVING SUPPER

rec_book

No matter how many fabulous cookbooks there are in the world, it seems the best ideas for that elusive problem called supper come from magazines. I went for years tearing out pages and stuffing them in a fat folder. When I’d look for a recipe it seemed like it was always the one at the bottom, so I’d spend half my precious time looking for it. I tried three-hole punching the pages, but alas the paper is just too thin to hold up to page turns.

One day I took my favorite pages and printed them out on card stock paper. If you are not inclined to spend an evening scanning and printing, drop them off at the copy shop. Once the recipes (one each page) are on the card stock, three-hole punch them and put them in a binder. You can also purchase section dividers for organization. My binder has become the most used book in the kitchen. And of course it expanded to include more than supper. My categories are: Supper, Pasta, Pizza, Side, Soup, Sandwich, Bread, Sweet. But you can choose whatever works for what you have collected.

Filed under 07 July, Food, Organization, Projects | Comments