A friend asked on Facebook about keeping on top of school papers etc with multiple school age children, and I have been meaning to blog about this anyhow for a while. I think pictures are the easiest way to show.... since like my friend I am very visual and need to somehow SEE things out in the open yet still need/want them to be organized and efficient! My oldest is going into FIFTH grade and in the past few years I have finally found a great system that works for me personally. I think it's fun to get ideas from others, but ultimately your system is going to have to be tailored to your own particular life/needs!
First off, I have this clear acrylic file- it can go on a wall or a countertop. I have it back in my clutter nook by the back door where all our small appliances and keys and such are stored.
In this file I have 3 folders as you can see- one for Jimmy's schoolwork- ONLY the really nice stuff I think I might save, one for Barbara's schoolwork and report cards, and one called "School- General" When you open up School General folder, you'll see that one side is for permanent stuff, like class lists, calendar, pollicies, etc and the other side is for "Current/Rotating"- This is where I put the lunch menus, upcoming event info etc. The kids know to come look in this folder to find their classmate's phone number or see what's going to be for lunch and if they ordered hot lunch, etc. In the front you can see instead of folders I have plastic file dividers for each activity- the rosters, schedule, etc for each activity goes in there and we can pull it out when it's time to make the monthly wall calendar.
Each of the kids has a file box (Barbara's teal one pictured above) that has hanging files inside, one for each school year- at the end of the year we cull through their folders from the countertop file and choose all their creme de la creme schoolwork to save in the filebox forever.
Nice artwork gets put into these awesome swing open art frames from Target (14.99 each) that are in our basement family room - easy to rotate with the hinged frames that open to let you change it out. Bigger projects are usually photographed and tossed after they've been on display sufficiently long or are out of season.
Nice artwork gets put into these awesome swing open art frames from Target (14.99 each) that are in our basement family room - easy to rotate with the hinged frames that open to let you change it out. Bigger projects are usually photographed and tossed after they've been on display sufficiently long or are out of season.
Below, you'll see the awesome file tote from "31 Gifts" with more hanging files- this is my "ACTION FILE- Quick Turnover"- and it is portable. Just grab it and go to whatever room or bring it in the car.
My categories are Events- for wedding invitations, birthday parties, neighborhood, school, work or social events flyers go in here to refer back to until the event is over and then i toss it. School Forms- only things that need to get done quickly like field trip forms etc go in here and don't stay in long- high turnover things for school go here. If they need to be kept longer, they go in the other School-General folder. I personally chose to have a Medical- for all Leo's OT and random Dr. stuff that needs to be turned over, and also a PROJECTS file because I am always writing up lists and doing lots of different projects so my brainstorming has a home. :)
Finally- our monthly wall calendar- it is a big dry erase calendar- on the right side it has a list of everyone's activities, color coded by person- this list helps me remember which calendars/schedules to pull out when making the calendar. Wow, this is the emptiest our calendar's been in a while- I hope to keep it kind of empty though I already am having a few panic moments noticing a few things I need to put up and schedule conflicts! lol.
3 comments:
Holy S*** Liz, this is amazing. My current file system involves papers stacked all over my desk. This would be much better, but I fear the 'out of sight out of mind' problem for my scattered brain. But seriously, thanks for sharing this!!!!!
This is so helpful, Liz. You are truly inspiring. I'm especially impressed how tidy your self-proclaimed "clutter corner" is. Please tell me you cleaned it for the photo!!! I've got two questions, if you get a chance: 1. How do you deal with paper as it immediately comes into the house? When I walk in the door to the chorus of four screaming/jabbering & hungry kids, I'm really good at creating a "deal with this later" pile, and not so good at following up. 2. Does the 31 bag come with the hanging file box that looks acrylic in your photo? I really like your setup there!
Umm, Carol, don't you have TWIN one year olds plus two kids under age five AND teach full time???? You are truly inpiring to me!! There can be no clutter comparison here because I have 2 older kids who help out quite a bit. Also, I am amazed by your gardening success this year! Soooo. as far as question 1. I usually do the same as you- they are always handing me things right after school - I try to just file them right into that immediate action tote if possible, but if not i set them on a pile on the long table in the living room until I can get to it- I love seeing clear surfaces and get agitated seeing piles of paper around, so that helps me to sort through them as soon as I get a down moment... So yeah, I think the key is just actually dealing with the deal with it later pile- maybe a pretty basket or wall file to stuff it in until later?? 2. The 31 bag doesn't come with the file box- I found that one on clearance at Target- it is just clear plastic... I think they have them at container store too...
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