Mommy Central: Creating Order in Daily Life.

On most households with children, coming in and out of the house can generate enough chaos to make you forget what you need, what you were doing before your little one dropped the milk and to make you feel like you are never on control of things.

As a mother of three young boys, if I don’t pay attention, things can spiral out of control pretty quickly in the morning, and when we come back home to homework routines.

Because I want to enjoy more time doing the things I like, with the people I love and I want my house to feel good, I created what I call Mommy Central.

Mommy Central is a place, close to your most used door, for your "landing" and "take-off", where you will have the following items, readily available for daily use. With these tools in place, you will be able to smooth the morning and afternoon routines and help the kids develop responsibility for their belongings.


- Wall hooks for coats, jackets and backpacks – there is a huge array of types of hooks and you can get very creative with them, by using cute drawer knobs, painted in different colors, installed at different heights, or just buy a ready-made one (usually around $20.) and hang it on the wall.

- Shoe storage solution – Ikea cubby bench, revolving shoe tower, behind the door shoe storage, a small, inexpensive bin for each child, anything to curb the clutter and dust from the shoes.
- Gloves, hats and scarves storage area: bins, baskets, see-through mesh bags hang on hooks on the inside of a closet door.

- File box with labeled files for each child, teacher, volunteering activity you participate and school communications. If your children have additional activities like sports, music, arts, tutoring, include an extra labeled manila type folder inside the file with their names. You can use a color for each child to make it even easier to find! Just like mine!

- A calendar – in my case, because our Mommy Central is on a very visible area, where guests will walk through when going to the powder room, I decided to use a table top one, from Post it. You can use anyone you like and that works for you, on the wall or table top. Table top calendar solution.

- A message board – I use a magnetic one to avoid push-pins falling on the floor and causing accidents. Message Board

- Pencils and pens, paper clips and small Post it notes. Cute Pencil Cups!

- Two magazine holders for each child, labeled with their names.
o One for school materials that don’t need to go back to school every day, like a language class book, called “BRING TO SCHOOL”; and another one for the work they did in class, tests etc. that comes home in their folders, “LEAVE AT HOME”. Bright & easy to spot magazine holders

Have fun with it and remember that this project is a time and money well invested: you will have less stress, your home will look organized, function better and you won’t be complaining with the kids all the time. One less thing on your list!

Product Options:

Ikea Expedit ($69.00) – can be used standing or sideways. If standing, you can use the side of it to install hooks for jackets and backpacks, to hang your calendar and message board. Is a very versatile product that always looks good and delivers! The most versatile IKEA Product ever!

Ikea shoe storage bench – I have an older model, that has cubbies, and it has served us for a very long time and still going strong. You can paint it in any color and have a cushion made too! Now Ikea has this model it’s a great solution for only $49.00. Shoe Storage Bench: Make it yours! Or get one already done!


Revolving shoe tower – This has been a new solution for us and it’s working great, because the boys ‘see” it and use it. Plus, they have fun turning the tower! It’s available in several heights, finishes and it’s very easy to assemble.

Message board – You can find all sorts of message boards on stores these days. From Ballard Desings to Target you will find all shapes and prices! If you have small kids, stick to magnetic boards. Kids love to use the push pins and accidents will most likely happen, even more, if like us, you don’t wear shoes inside the house. The "have it all" system!

Calendars – again, the selection is huge. Go with your house flow and pick one you like. Here are some Mommy favorites! Up a notch calendar!

 Here our own version!

A Better Use for that Prime Real Estate!

Helena Alkhas is a professional organizer and military spouse who has moved her family five times in the last 10 years. Her experience and expertise will help you take stock of your garage inventory and make the best use of space.

DEFINE YOUR SPACE(S)

Before you begin, Alkhas recommends asking yourself, "What is my goal for this garage?"

• Do you want to use it just for parking the cars?
• Do you want to use it for storage?
• Do you want to create a play area? A mudroom?  A workshop?

Once the space is empty, use masking tape to mark on the floor the zones you want for the activity areas you’ve defined. This will help you get a better idea of whether or not your plan is doable. If not, just rethink your space allocation.

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SORT, PURGE AND SORT AGAIN

Next, give your garage-cleaning efforts a fair chance by committing to sort and purge all of your items with honest assessments:

• Do I need this?
• Is this something I can inexpensively replace?
• Will I have the space to store this?

As you go through the stuff in your garage, make a plan to put every item in one of three piles: keep, donate or trash. Make firm plans to rid your garage of the donate and trash piles, and then sort all the keepers according to the activity areas you defined above.

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GO VERTICAL

The garage is the best place to create and utilize vertical storage. Determine the type of storage that best enables you to use up as much wall space as you can.

Larger items that aren’t used on a regular basis, such as camping supplies and holiday decorations, can be stored up higher -- even hung from the bceiling. Leave easy-to-access wall storage for items you’ll need more often, such as sports gear, bulk grocery items and pet food.

Use clear bins and totes for storage. You can stack them and easily identify what’s inside. Consider color-coding your totes -- use red and green lids for Christmas decorations, orange lids for fall décor, white lids for food items, etc.

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ADD INTEREST

A garage doesn’t have to look industrial with exposed beams or cinderblock walls. Improve yours as you would an indoor room to bring energy and life to the space. 

Walls. Use paint to soften the room or to define various spaces, such as the play area or your workshop. "Cover one wall of the garage play area with magnetic chalkboard paint," says Alkhas, who has three young boys. Attach buckets to the wall for chalk, magnetic pins and other art supplies on hand. "The kids can do messy projects here rather than in the house," Alkhas adds. "IKEA has great products for an area like this."

Floors. Floors can get a fun makeover, too. You can paint them -- think color blocks or stripes. Consider laying a new floor, such as FLOR mix-and-match washable carpet squares, or a durable, snap-together G-Floor system.

Lights. Pay attention to lighting. "Most spaces have only the garage-door opener for light," says Alkhas. Consider including track lighting on the walls. "It’s wonderful to be able to find what you’re looking for in a well-lit space."

From SheKnows website. Link bellow!
Tips for de-cluttering your garage!