A Personal Organizer | Helena Alkhas

Professional Organizing Glenview, IL | Become a Professional Organizer

You are here > Home » Organizing » Page 3

Organizing

Traveling With Kids: Tips To Make Summer Travel Simple

By
Filed Under: Moves, Travels & Vacations, Organizing, Summer

Summer is here and we are all gearing up for vacation season. While traveling with kids can seem overwhelming at times, don’t let it stop you. With some pre-planning and preparation, you will be ready to travel with your kids in no time.

Best Tips for Traveling with Kids

Car travel and plane travel will have a few different requirements and mean slightly different preparations for your family, but these tips cover general good practices for either and will have you ready for fun Summer adventures.

A month before you travel

The month leading up to your vacation, you’ll want to start thinking about a broad plan. Here are the things you will want to have squared away the month before you travel with kids:

Lodging-where will you stay? Will you be renting a hotel, home or apartment, or staying with friends or family? Each of these types of lodging options requires different preparations. Tie up all of these ends well in advance of your trip so you don’t have to worry about them as the trip gets close.

Itinerary- Some people are super planners on vacation and want to map out and schedule every minute of the day, while others like to simply go with the flow. Like all other things that involve kids, you will want to keep to some type of routine while you are traveling. You don’t need to make a strict schedule down to the hour, but try to keep bedtimes and mealtimes consistent, as well as map out activities you know you will definitely be doing.

Car or flight preparations- If you are flying, you will want to make sure you have all of your necessary documents and passports for each family member. Keep this all together with your tickets so they don’t get misplaced. If you are driving, schedule routine maintenance and check up on your vehicle so you are ready to hit the road without any unexpected auto issues.

Best Tips for Traveling with Kids

Two weeks before you travel

In the two weeks before you travel with kids, make a packing list for each family member. Put together everything you already have and then make a shopping list for the things you need. Depending on the ages and needs of your kids the things you need to pack will differ, but here’s a list to get you started: ( link to checklist or blog post (s)) ***

Tip for traveling with babies or younger kids: Packing a few items that are their favorites will make them feel more at home while they are traveling and sleeping in an unfamiliar place. Also, try to keep their natural or regular routine in mind when it comes to sleep and eating.

Secure the home front- Two weeks before you are set to leave finalize any plans you have made for who will be taking care of your house and your pets, if you have any, while you are away. Make sure they have important numbers and any special instructions before you leave.

A week before you travel

The week prior to traveling you will want to start packing.

Pack for each person- Take your list and start packing for each person who is traveling. If you have older kids, they can use their own list to pack. If you tend to be an over packer, here’s where you will want to use some restraint. Stick to your lists and avoid throwing in extra things for each family member. Before you know it you will have more suitcases and bags than you know what to do with.

Stick to the list- Another negative to overpacking is that you have to unpack it all when you get back. Do yourself a favor and pack only what you need. Unless you are going deep into no man’s land you can always pick up something you need on the road or when you get to your destination.

The night before you travel

The night before you travel try to have all the last odds and ends wrapped up.

Final check-ins- Check in earlier in the day with house sitters to finalize plans. If you are traveling by car fill the gas tank and check your tire air pressure. Pack up the car. Prepare any road snacks as well as a bag of things you might need while driving, such as any tech gear, music, hand wipes, ect.

Get some sleep- Don’t forget to plan to go to bed early the night before you travel. You’ll want to hit the road early and rested to get the trip off on the right foot. You will also want to have the energy you need to deal with any last minute mishaps. You are a parent, you know these are inevitable.

Hitting the Road!

The big day is here and you are ready to hit the family and travel with the kids. Because you are so well prepared, there shouldn’t be very much you need to do the day you are traveling. Double check your packing list, check that keys are left in the right places for house and pet sitters, make sure all bags are packed and safety kits, tech for traveling, including chargers for all devices and phones and snacks are on hand. Now all you have to do is pile everyone in the car and hit the road!

Best Tips for Traveling with Kids

Conclusion:

Traveling with your kids has so many benefits for them and for you. These tips will have you ready to hit the road this Summer. Remember the best travel trip of all: Plan ahead as much as you can, and then be prepared for anything!

Want more tips on traveling and packing? Check out posts here and here.

Everyday Organizing Solutions For Busy Moms

By
Filed Under: Laundry & Linens, Organizing, Routines & Time

Use these everyday organizing solutions to make your daily life as a busy mom simpler.

For most families, weeknights are busy and hectic. Between homework, getting dinner on the table and making sure everyone’s in bed on time, there’s not much time for anything else.

Then Saturday rolls around, and you have an entire week’s worth of cleaning and organizing to do in one day. But isn’t Saturday supposed to be a day when you can put your feet up, read a good book, go to a sports game or spend time with family and friends? You deserve to enjoy a day without the demands of housework!

Use these daily organizing tips to keep your home organized and clutter-free throughout the week. They’re simple, fast and will prevent huge pile-ups of to-dos come the weekend. Here is a weekly planner that can help you map out what you need to get done during the week. You can also access the entire organizing vault for free by subscribing here.

Organizing tips for busy moms

1. Cook multiple meals at a time

Set aside 1-2 hours immediately after grocery shopping to cook meals and prepare ingredients.

When you plan meals for the week, choose recipes that use similar ingredients. Cook a large batch of food at one time and store it in the refrigerator until later in the week.

For meals that need to be prepared just before serving, prep as many ingredients as you can. Chop veggies, cook meat and shred cheese.

Organizing tips for busy moms. Williams Sonoma Cuisinart-multi-cooker
{I call this the “Mercedes Benz” of crockpots. And I love mine!}

2. Designate space for “unloading.”

Keep a small bin or basket near your front door to place your phone, wallet, keys, and loose change in. As soon as you come home, empty your wallet or purse of receipts and other items. You’ll never lose your keys again.

Everyday organizing solutions - Pottery Barn Entrance Organizing Solutions
{Pottery Barn Entrance Organizing Solutions}

3. Do laundry during the week

You could choose one night of the week to do the majority of your family’s laundry and make folding part of the evening’s activities. Or, toss a load into the wash just before you head to work in the morning. As soon as you get home, move it to the dryer. Your clothes will be ready to be folded and put away after dinner. I fold my mid-week laundry load while watching the news or something yummy on FoodNetwork.

Everyday organizing solutions - Gabrielle Laundry System
{Image Pottery Barn – Gabrielle Laundry System}

4. Sort mail as soon as you check it

If you don’t have 10 minutes to review your mail, don’t check the mailbox.

As soon as you pick up your mail, sort the important letter from the junk.

Immediately toss or recycle sales flyers and other junk mail you don’t want. Then read your other mail and, if required, take action immediately. If a bill is due, pay it right away. If something needs to be filed, walk it over to your filing cabinet immediately.

everyday organizing solutions - Pottery Barn Daily System

5. Wash the dishes every evening

After dinner, ask everyone in your household to place excess food in your trash or compost pile and load their dishes into the dishwasher.

Before you go to bed, run the dishwasher. With breakfast and dinner behind you, it should be full and ready to roll.

Running the washer at night guarantees, you’ll never have any dishes laying in the sink overnight and sets you up to stay on top of the dishes throughout the week. Plus, it feels fantastic to grab your coffee in the morning on a clean sink!

6. Keep a family or household calendar

Put a large calendar in a place everyone can access, like on the refrigerator. Have everyone in your household put important events, obligations, and reminders on the calendar.

Every night before bed, review the next day to ensure you haven’t forgotten about anything. A shared calendar makes it easy for everyone to see what’s coming up and avoid scheduling conflicts.

organizing printables
Home Management Binder – Editable PDF files for you to download and use for years to come!

Resources for busy moms that I’m totally in love with:

100 Days of Real Food

Once a Month Meals

 Simply Living Mama 

Organizing tips for busy moms

Want a resource that will help you organize your home, routines, meals, and kids’ schedules all in one package? Grab the Purposeful Life Binder and organize every part of your home and life.

Grammarly proofread this post.

Summer Routine For Kids At Home

By
Filed Under: Kids, Organizing, Routines & Time, Summer

How To Organize And Create A Summer Routine For Kids At Home

Summer break is almost here, and we are all preparing for longer days, more outside time and having our kiddos home. Even though we all love the ease of Summer, it can quickly turn into a household of chaos. From disorganized mealtimes to scheduling conflicts, a lack of a Summer routine can throw the best of us off balance in a cinch if we don’t prepare. Here are some great tips on how to create a Summer routine for kids at home.

When you start to think about preparing for Summer with kids at home, you’ll want to take a look at how certain areas of your home are organized and then rearrange some things to fit the function they will have in your Summer routine.  You’ll also want to check in on your daily routine and see how this will change, make a note of changes, and adjust.

Let’s start with organizing your homes hot zones for a Summer routine with kids at home.

1. Entryways and Mudrooms

In the colder months, our entryway closets and mudrooms are stacked with winter coats, scarves, hats, gloves, and heavy boots. Now that it’s warming up, you’ll want to switch out what you keep in these high-traffic areas.

Put away everything you don’t need and store it for next Winter. A few good ideas for what to keep in your Summer entryway and mudrooms for Summer are: flip flops, light jackets, hats, sunblock, bug spray, outdoor toys, tote bags.

2. The Kitchen

Start by clearing out your pantry, fridge, and freezer. Make room in your refrigerator or more fresh veggies and fruits from those farmer’s market trips. Create a space or a bin where you can keep some pre-cut fruits and veggies for grab and go snacks.

Making your kitchen kid-friendly during the Summer months will save you hours in a hot kitchen. To continue your kitchen refresh, check out my top 10 kitchen organizing tips.

3. Your Car

As the weather warms up, everyone gears up for day trips, weekend getaways, and Summer vacation. Your car collects Winter items as well, so take this time to remove snow scrapers, hats, and gloves, etc. If you don’t have one, pick up a trunk organizer.

Keep items like sunblock, bug spray, a first aid kit, sun hats, towels, bottles of water, a blanket for those impromptu picnics, and a change of clothes for each child. Here are my tips for getting your car ready for the Summer.

4. Your Garage

In your garage, you will want to move large Winter items, like snow blowers and winter sports gear to the back and move Summer items, like lawnmowers, weed whackers, and other yard care items, as well as outdoor sports and play equipment to a more easily accessible area.

Complete your garage refresh with my 5 best garage organizing tips.

Now let’s look at your routine for your Summer with kids at home. Here is a step-by-step method for re-assessing your calendar for the Summer months.

  1. Look at what holidays, birthdays, events, camps, trips you have planned and mark these onto your schedule for June, July, and August.
  2. Assess how much time you have left each week after these commitments are all planned out.
  3. Remember not to overschedule! Always leave more time than you think you will need to guarantee free days to relax and enjoy being home with your family. You will also want to leave space for impromptu items.
  4. Look at your daily routine. Here, you’ll want to make any adjustments to mealtimes, bedtimes, and downtime during the day.
  5. Summer days are longer, which means if you have little ones at home, you will need to have a plan for an extra activity or two throughout the days.

Summer daily routines can be looser in structure, but a few “touch points” during the day will keep everyone feeling better.

Mealtimes are a great thing to keep on a schedule to create a nice rhythm to your days and avoid meltdowns.

Keeping a chore chart is also an excellent way to keep your home humming along in the Summer.

As we welcome the carefree days that the Summer brings, having a routine in place will help us avoid a slow slide into disorder and stress. All humans, especially children,  need a little bit of structure or rhythm to our days to keep us balanced, healthy, and happy.

What are your Summer plans? Share them in the comments with me!

 

Grammarly proofread this post.

 

Top 10 Kitchen Organizing Tips To Create Your Dream Kitchen

By
Filed Under: Kitchen, Organizing

Kitchen Organizing Tips

Organizing the kitchen to make it a beautiful and functional space can be fun and will bring many benefits to your daily life. From saving time when prepping your meals, to saving money when shopping for it, there are many reasons to tackle the organization of your kitchen. My favorite reason, however, is to make me feel good every time I walk into my kitchen. Having an organized kitchen will give you a sense of ease and order when you enter the space to prep a meal, share time with friends and family, or grab your morning coffee.

Here are my top 10 kitchen organizing tips that will create your dream kitchen.

Check out these 10 kitchen organizing tips that will give you your dream kitchen! #organizedkitchen #kitcheninspiration #kitchenorganization #DIYkitchenremodel

 

1. Think Outside the Drawer

Be creative when organizing your pots and pans.

This niche in the kitchen was painted in black chalkboard paint and fitted with nice, uniform, modern hooks to create whole new industrial style pots & pans wall corner. Here, additional shelving made the best use of the space, creating storage for containers. Place your most used ingredients here for easy reach.

This kind of a DIY organization project is inexpensive, can usually be completed in a day, or over a weekend, and really gives you both extra function as well as extra style in your kitchen.

 

 

2. Decorate and Save Money on Your Groceries.

This is a fun organizing project that will have great effects on your health, finances, and will make your pretty kitchen prettier.

Building your very own wall mounted mason jar planter can be a great weekend DIY project.  You can do by yourself or with your kids. With a few simple elements nad some fresh potted herbs from the farmers market, gardening store, or grocery, you can create this beautiful- and delicious- element in your kitchen. Don’t want to build your own? Buy yours here or here!

 

 

3. Use Open Shelving to Store and Display

In this design, the white shelves over the classic subway tile allow your accessories and jars to shine.

Show off the items you love and use the most and save time (and steps) in the kitchen by utilizing open shelving to both displays and keep your kitchen items within reach. Open shelving is also a smart solution for kitchens that lack cabinet space. Adding shelves will give you plenty of extra space at a fraction of the cost of cabinet installation.

 

 

4. Bring Charm to Everyday Items

Most people spend a lot of time in their kitchen. Whether you love to cook or not, the kitchen is a space that is visited many times during the day. The kitchen is also a favorite gathering space for visitors and family. By bringing beautiful accessories and organizing this space with charm, you’ll make it just the way you like it and enjoy being here so much more.

Use a beautiful appetizer dish or tray to corral all you need by the sink (or cooking area). Place your dish soap in beautiful containers and voilá, you have a pretty station.

kitchen organizing

 

 

5. Put the Pantry in a Drawer

Using uniform food containers you can organize your pantry in a drawer and place all your grains, flour, sugar, and pasta next to your cooking station.

The jars in this image look a lot like IKEA’s 365 Food Storage Containers. Ranging from $1.99 to $3.99 makes this an affordable kitchen organizing project.

Identify each container with labels placed on the lid. Not only does this look fantastic, it is also a huge time saver when you are cooking.

 

 

6. Create Stations

Create “activity related” stations to simplify daily life. If you love coffee and work a lot from home, like me, you can create a cute and practical corner with all you need for your coffee break.

And, if you love baking, organizing a baking station will make creating your next batch of yummy cupcakes and cookies even more fun.

Show off that gorgeous mixer and bowls of yours and get your bake on.

 

 

7. Don’t Stack, File.

Instead of stacking serving platters, baking pans and sheets, file them using shelf organizing tools that are both inexpensive and easy to install. Imagine not having an avalanche of plates, platters, and baking sheets fall out of the cabinet each time you need to use one. Dreamy, right? this simple fix will seriously elevate your organized kitchen status.

 

 

8. Who Needs Cabinets in a Small Kitchen?

Installing IKEA wall organizers (don’t you love them?), like shelves and bars with hooks, this chef made the best use of the wall when organizing a small kitchen. This tip for organizing your kitchen is perfect for city dwellers who may have small kitchens, as well as those who rent. These shelves are a great way to add extra kitchen storage in a semi-permanent way so they can be removed if needed when you move.

thekitchn james kitchen ikea

 

 

9. End the Corner Torture

Organizing deep shelf pantry and shelves can be painful and will always make you reach “all the way in” to reach for that can of beans.

A simple and easy solution for that is to place turntables on your corners, making it super simple to grab whatever you need. You can also see what you have better so you will not buy doubles when you are grocery shopping.

 

 

10. Use Uniform Containers

This is a great way to turn even the smallest cabinet into a functional and beautiful pantry. Remove all of the store packaging from your dried goods, beans, grains, and pasta and use uniform containers to store them. Add cute labels to finish up the kitchen organizing project.

 

chez larsson pantry

 

What’s your favorite kitchen organizing solution or challenge? I’d love to know in the comments!

Do you know someone who would like this post? Share it with them!

Check out these 10 kitchen organizing tips that will give you your dream kitchen! #organizedkitchen #kitcheninspiration #kitchenorganization #DIYkitchenremodel

 

 

 

Hiring Help In A DIY Culture

By
Filed Under: Organizing, Routines & Time

Getting Help When Needed Is A Good Thing

DIY has been the craze for a while now and there is no sign of it slowing down any time soon. There are entire TV channels dedicated to “how to” shows. Craftiness and homemade products have come into vogue. A quick search on Pinterest can teach you how to make homemade laundry detergent, design your own jewelry, and cook delicious meals.

The increased awareness and knowledge of how to do it yourself benefits everyone. However, the downside of our DIY culture is that it can make it harder to ask for help. If you’re a busy professional, you may not have the time or desire to clean your home. Most parents, swamped with so many responsibilities, would love to have someone else cook their family’s meals.

If you have the financial means to do so, outsourcing housekeeping, laundry, and other errands can free up more of your time for the things you enjoy doing — even if that happens to be making homemade laundry detergent.

Hiring help in a DIY culture. How hiring help can save you time, money and your sanity.

1. Getting Help: Cleaning

Housekeeping is laborious, physically exhausting, and time-consuming. It’s the type of work that never ends. If you don’t enjoy it, you’ll likely procrastinate to avoid cleaning. Over time, your home will become more and more cluttered. If you regularly see dust bunnies roll across your floor, it is time to hire help.

If you feel that hiring a housekeeper is a poor use of money, consider it thoughtfully. Say it takes you 6 to 8 hours — almost a full day — to thoroughly clean your home. Is it really worth it? A small team of cleaners can easily run through a large house in about two. Having the time to focus on activities that are important to you, be it your work or your family, and still be able to enjoy having a clean home, is worth the small investment.

 

 

2. Getting Help: Laundry

Between the sorting, washing, drying, folding, and placing it back in their respective closets, laundry can become a real hassle. Many dry cleaners also offer “wash and fold” services. Call around to see who in your area provides laundry services.

If you live in a large metropolitan area, some launderers will pick up your dirty clothes from your home and deliver them back to you the next day. What’s easier than that?

 

3. Getting Help: Childcare

Daycare isn’t just for working professionals. Caring for children is a full-time job. If you need time to work, go to the gym, or practice some self-care, consider hiring part-time childcare.

Care.com lists babysitters, nannies and au pairs. These childcare providers have background checks and are reviewed by others in your area. You can find part-time childcare within your budget.

 

4. Getting Help: Cooking

Cooking involves recipe planning, grocery shopping and hours of standing over the stove. Blue Apron takes the work out of home-cooked meals. They’ll send you delicious recipes along with the ingredients in the mail. All you have to do to whip up a quick dinner is assemble the ingredients included.

Or, if grocery shopping is the real time-waster, choose a service like Instacart. Order groceries online and have them delivered to your home whenever it’s most convenient.

 

5. Getting Help: Errands

Weekly errands like grocery shopping, picking up the dry cleaning and filling up the car with a tank of gas can consume an entire weekend. Services like Task Rabbit give you the opportunity to outsource your most dreaded errands. These “Taskers” will help with anything from shopping to handyman services.

If Task Rabbit, or a similar service, doesn’t operate in your area, place an ad on Craigslist. Many people make extra money by doing side projects in the evenings and on weekends.

 

6. Getting Help: Moving

Though many people hire movers to transport their belongings from one home to the next, you can also hire help for the other aspects of your move.

A professional organizer can help you sort through your belongings and decide which items should be donated or thrown away. An organizer or move manager will also be able to “organize” your move by ordering packing supplies, helping you pack and coordinating which boxes belong in which rooms. That way, when you arrive at your new home, everything will be where it belongs.

What are your most dreaded household chores? For me, it is cleaning. What would you gladly outsource? How do you think getting help could improve your life?

Before you go, don’t forget to subscribe to the newsletter and get access to my entire vault of organizing printables and tools.

Clear The Clutter From Your Garage One Pile At A Time

By
Filed Under: Garage, Organizing

My 5 Best Garage Organization Tips

Here are my best garage organization tips to take your garage from piles to smiles!

Why are so many garages disorganized?

Garages are usually the catch-all space of a home — the “everything drawer”  of all the other rooms of the house. It’s filled with all variety of items- from tools to old paint, to holiday decorations. Garages become increasingly disorganized over time and because of all the clutter, most families can’t even park their car in their home’s garage.

A lot of families struggle to keep the garage organized for several reasons. First, a lot of garages don’t lend themselves toward order. In fact, they have a lot in common with your typical storage unit: they are not heated or air-conditioned and have little if any, storage solutions like shelves or racks.

Second, the garage is a shared space. When a particular family member “owns” a space in your home, like a bedroom, it’s easy to assign the chore of cleanup. But shared spaces can be a little bit tricky- “who is responsible for this mess anyway?”  It’s easy to form the habit of just tossing an item in the garage, or setting it by the door with the intention of putting it where it belongs later rather than placing it in its designated place. Now that we are aware of the major problems that we face in this space, let’s get started with these organizing tips that will turn your garage back into the useful space it was intended to be.

garage organizing

 

1. Garage Organization Tips: Schedule Time To Organize

If your garage is a jumble of tools, old toys, sporting equipment, and trash, it’s a good idea to schedule a weekend for a major cleaning. Put it on the family calendar and host a yard sale — spring is always a good season for major organizing.

2. Garage Organization Tips: Start With The Big Stuff

When you’re ready to get started, take any large, moveable items out. This includes lawn mowers and large tools. Of course, if you’ve managed to squeeze a car or two into your garage, park that outside temporarily as well. It’s easier to clean up without large objects in your way.

Tackle the big items first: bicycles, sporting good equipment, yard tools, etc. Put them where they belong. If something needs to be tossed out or donated, do it. There’s no sense in hanging on to items you don’t want or never use. If something needs to be repaired, affix a tag or piece of tape on it indicating such and take care of it later.

Once you’ve sorted and stored the big stuff, you can start decluttering your smaller items.

3. Garage Organization Tips: Grouping Like with Like

If there’s anything on the floor, put it on a counter or shelf. If the shelves are in complete disarray, spend no more than a few minutes organizing them.

 

The best approach is putting like items together. For example, if you have five cans of paint on the floor and an empty shelf, put all the paint cans on that shelf. Put productivity ahead of perfection. Every item doesn’t have to be perfectly labeled and sorted to be organized. You just want to be able to find items and replace items in your garage quickly (and safely). If at a later date you’d like to do a more thorough sorting and labeling, you can.

 

 

4. Garage Organization Tips: Get Everyone Involved

If your husband (or wife) is handy and has a ton of tools, it may be a good idea to give him a plan for decluttering. Allow him to clean and organize his tools. It’s win-win: he’ll still be able to find his tools with ease and you don’t have to worry about breaking any of his equipment. Larger tools should be given specific space on tables, shelves or the floor. Smaller tools can be stored in boxes, bins or clear jars. Cabinets are ideal in a garage because you can quickly stash things out of sight. They are also a good place to put anything hazardous. Either lock the cabinet or put items on high shelves so small children won’t be able to reach them.

5. Garage Organization Tips: Small Steps Count

However, you don’t have to complete a major overhaul to make progress. If your garage has some level of order — you generally know where things should go — then a 15-minute decluttering can make a huge difference. Progress adds up over time and soon enough you’ll be able to park your car in your garage again!

The most organized garages are those in which everything has a place. It could be on a wall, on a shelf, in a cabinet or in a designated floor area. It’s helpful to label each area so that when you do a 15-minute decluttering, you know where everything goes. (This is especially true if you have family or friends helping out.)

6. Garage Organization Tips: Commit to a Plan

If you’d like to overhaul your garage but are short on time, schedule 15-minute blocks of time each week for the next few months. You’ll be amazed at how much decluttering you can accomplish with a plan to tackle specific areas. Oh, and don’t forget to park your car in your freshly organized garage!

 

Garage Organizing Products

Bulk storage & Gardening Tools

Shop bulk? Here is the extra storage you needed.

Tools Organizer

From hammer to nails, a place for it all

Garage Organizing Solutions

Bike, tools, cords and more.

 

Don’t Have a Mudroom? No Problem!

This stand-alone unit will create a mudroom in your garage in no time. Great solution for renters.

Organize Your tools, paints and every little thing.

Keep all you need to take off and land from daily activities with this easy Elfa solution.

Keep the toys in place

This simple mesh bag will keep all the balls in place and easily reachable