Set up an organized storage place for your children’s school-year keepsakes (artwork, important school work, awards, special invitations, etc.)

Below are some helpful ideas and suggestions that will guide you in this process:

1.  DO NOT keep EVERYTHING that comes home with your child.  Retain keepsakes that will be meaningful to you and your children years down the road.

2. Go through school work, art work, etc. on a weekly basis and decide what you will keep and what you will let go of.

3. Create a display place for your children’s most recent artwork, good grades, etc.  Then you can transfer what you would like to keep to a long-term storage place.

3. Choose storage ideas that will work best for you, your family and your time.  Scrapbooks are great, but only if you have the time to keep them updated on a regular basis.

4. Clear, plastic bins are a good, simple choice.  Use one bin for each child and label accordingly.

5. The art portfolio (shown above) can be found at playfairtoys.com.   Similar ones can be found at target.com and chocolatecake.com.

6. Creative frames are available that are made to display current artwork and also hold up to 50 other pieces of art behind it.  How awesome!

7. Another creative idea is to take a picture of all of the artwork that you would like to keep and save on a cd.  Plan to do this on a monthly or quarterly basis so the paper does not get too overwhelming.

Keep in mind that all of your children’s school work, artwork and school keepsakes can become BIG PILES, unless you take the time on a regular basis to store them properly.

The time you take NOW to do this will be meaningful to you and your family in the years to come.

Organize your G A R D E N  T O O L S!

Keep all of your garden tools nice and handy in a bucket organizer where you can tote everything you need as you tend to your lawn and garden beds. Be sure to clean off all of your garden tools after you use them, so they stay clean and ready for each use.

Bucket organizers can be found at Sears, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ace Hardware and even K-Mart (shown above) and they are not very expensive.

Your garden bucket organizer can be stored easily on a shelf in your garage and you will be able to find all of your garden needs right in one place.

De-clutter that GARAGE!

What a great month to focus on the space in our homes that seems to catch all of the stuff that we don’t know what to do with……from winter snow boots, garden tools/supplies, extra pantry items, and so much more, as well as the “normal” garage stuff….lawnmowers, weedeaters, hedge trimmers and such.

Don’t stress out. BEGIN SMALL….

Focus on one zone or area at a time, since most of us do not have the time to de-clutter and organize our garage space in one day or weekend.

If your lawn and garden tools take up most of your garage space, start there. Plan a section of your garage that will store ONLY lawn related items. It may be a whole wall or a small corner area.

Sort through each lawn related item and only keep what you use on a regular basis. If you have two of the same thing, give one away.

Visualize everything up off of the garage floor (except maybe your lawnmower) and use pegboard or other garage organizing systems to help you create this space.

Lowe’s has a Gladiator rail organizing system (shown in the picture above) that mounts on your wall and can hold all sorts of items from large power tools to bikes to hoses and smaller items also. You can use this mounting system all around your garage and hang just about anything.

Stay focused on one area until everything related to that area has a specific place. From there, choose another area to de-clutter and organize (sports equipment, garden area, recycling space, kids outside toys, extra pantry items, etc.)

Remember to:

* Let go of the items that you no longer use.

* Work toward having everything up off of the garage floor, so that all items can have a home. It will also make it easier to sweep and keep clean.

* Create a SPECIFIC zone or area for EVERYTHING kept in your garage (lawn area, tool area, sports equipment, bikes, etc.)

* Use an organizing system (like the Gladiator system) and/or shelving to help you organize the things you do use on a regular basis.

* Work to de-clutter and organize your garage in small increments. It may only be 15 minutes a day, but 15 minutes every day for a week adds up and you are sure to see an improvement!

* Make sure to have your family be a team player with you as you de-clutter and organize. Everyone can help keep the garage in order.

PURGE YOUR ATTIC!

Now that the weather is getting nicer (not too hot, yet) this is a great month to venture into your attic and see what is lurking.

It is time to purge the items in this space that you have not used in the past year. If time and schedules do not permit you to do this on a weekend day, then take one small area in your attic at a time with your goal of completing this task by the end of the month.

Group the items in your attic that are alike together; such as Christmas/holiday decorations, winter snow gear, luggage, camping gear, etc. This will make it easier to locate when you need them.

Remember to keep in mind that if you have not used the item in over a year, you are probably not going to. Give the items that are still in good condition to a local shelter or to someone you know who will use them on a regular basis.

If you take the time to purge your attic once a year, then that space will not be so overwhelming and you will feel good about having that area of your home free of unused STUFF!

Go through your main clothing closet and get rid of the pieces of clothing that you did NOT wear this past summer. If you did not wear something because it did not fit properly, was out of style, or was simply “too worn”, it is time to:

– GIVE it to someone who will wear it;

– GIVE it to GoodWill or Salvation Army;

– Put it in a box for a future garage sale; or

– THROW IT AWAY!

Even if the clothing items you did not wear over the summer are perfectly good, if you did not wear it, you more than likely won’t wear it next summer.