HH6: Organizing Bathrooms and Kid's Bedrooms

If you have been in tuning in to Army Wife Talk Radio then you know we have been bringing you handy tips and tricks for becoming exceptional family managers. We have discussed time and scheduling and we have now moved on to taking care of our homes and property. On AWTR we talked about creating SOP's for our home and I also gave you some other tips to get started on your way to a more organized home. We started by talking about efficient ways to organize your attic space.
Well now let’s move on to bathrooms. Here are some tips and tricks to keep your bathrooms clean and organized:

* Use a silverware tray to keep small bathroom drawers neat and organized.
* Use plastic totes to store each family members’ bathroom items.
* Mount a magazine rack to the wall to hold magazines and other reading materials.
* Over the door shoe bags behind the bathroom door can help to organize rollers, brushes, and washcloths.
* Color code towels so each family member has their own color and now their own towels. Now when you ask the kids to hang up their towels you will know who the culprit is when you see one not hung up.
* Store bath toys in dishpans under the vanity or a mesh bag that can hang in the shower so toys can drip dry.
* Install hooks for hanging bathrobes and damp towels.
* Make sure your hooks and towel bars are where the kids can reach.
* Store prescription medicines on higher shelves and kept in clearly labeled containers, out of the reach of small children. If you have a linen closet you can even hang a spice rack to hold medicine bottles.

Now we will move on to our children’s bedrooms. Older children should be able to apply these techniques to their rooms themselves but our younger ones may need a little bit of help.

* When storing kid’s items make sure to put the most frequently used items lower to the ground do they are easily accessible.
* Divide kid’s closets into two parts, one side for hanging clothes and the other side for storing items on shelves. Have two rods on the hanging side – a high one for off-season clothing and the low one for the frequently worn items.
* Buy assorted sizes of plastic bins so kids can organize and store their belongings.
* Make sure children’s books are easily accessible. Help them organize their books by topic or alphabet and give them a sense of pride in their growing library.
* Hang hooks or pegs at child’s eye level for hanging coats, hats, and backpacks.
* Assign most-used items to the easily accessible drawers. For younger kids you can use pictures that you attach to the drawer so they learn where to put things and where they belong.
* Regularly remove outgrown clothing from drawers. Drawers should never be so full your kids can’t open them.
* Avoid toy boxes and trunks. Small items fall to the bottom and you have to empty the contents to find them. I am a huge fan of those new toy organizers where there are three shelves and each shelf holds three buckets. Great way to organize toys and keep clutter under control.

Next month on AWTR we will be continuing our journey with home and property and talking about organizing the master bedroom, home office, and garage. Stay with the Loving A Soldier Blog for more valuable household tips and advice on managing your home and family.

Warmest Regards -
HH6 Janet