Works for Me Wednesday

On Wednesdays I plan to share tips that make my life easier.  Many people ask me how do I do "it" with so many children.  I don't think that I do "it" perfectly but I have learned some tricks along the way.    Please feel free to send me your tips too.  I would love to share them and to use them!

A few years ago I was complaining to a friend about keeping track of uniforms.  I would think that we had everything together the night before only to find that I had two skirts for Annelise and none for Meredith in the morning.  This smart mom, told me that she keeps the uniforms for her four school-age boys in the laundry room.  Doing this allows her to see what is clean without going to each closet.  I quickly bought a hanging rack and they have been there ever since.  I love this plan.  My children dress in the laundry room too.  They take off their PJs and put them directly into the hamper.  I wash all of the uniforms for the week together and hang them up directly from the dryer.  I made our morning even easier by turning the dry bar under our stairs into our school closet.  I have a plastic container with three large drawers.  Each girl has one to put their school shoes and after school stuff like leotards, dancing shoes, volleyball gear, etc.  We also have two more smaller plastic containers that we keep the school socks in.  Organizing the school stuff this way has changed our life.  I do still have to remind the girls about our system as shoes still like to hang out on the kitchen floor.  However, we have a plan and that is a start.