Organization OCD

I thought I would share with you some of my Organization OCD. When we were preparing to add 2 people to an already busy household, I found myself trying to find ways to organize our household. The less time I have to spend looking for lost items or doing things that the kids are highly capable of doing is taking away some of my joy; some of my time that I could spend with them, so we are always looking for ways to make things work better, run smoother and get done more efficiently. These are some of the things I came up with:


Each person has a laundry basket and are responsible for putting away their own laundry. Jordan does her own laundry (when she is home and not away for the entire month of July... wah). People tell me I should make the other kids do their own laundry, but honestly I love my washer and dryer too much to allow that. Sorry, I've already admitted the OCD and control freakness...

I have multiple cameras, chargers, plus 5 fairly expensive MP3 players belonging to the children that I could never find. I bought this over the door shoe holder for my cameras, USB cables, chargers, MP3 players and misc other expensive, difficult to find, difficult to replace, frequently used items. The pockets are see through, therefore you can always find what you are looking for. It hangs on the inside of my pantry door, therefore it is not an eye sore. This has made a huge difference for me as far as my pictures and camers are involved. I have found that not finding a dead battery every time you pick up a camera makes it a lot easier to take more pictures!

Every child (except Jordan) has a different colored mesh bag. These bags are to be used for going to gymnastics, swimming lessons, overnights with grandparents, or any time in general that they feel the need to take something somewhere. This too has been very helpful because they are responsible for their bags and what's in them. If they have been given a task to *pack* for an event, they better be sure they do so appropriately. And I know immediately who has not packed their bag, or who has left their bag somewhere. This is an OCD mother's way of teaching responsibility.

And finally our chore chart. What a revolution this has made. Our kids were so tired of always doing the same chores, so we made this chart to be able to change chores every week. The chart has enough velcro spaces below the chores for 2 people to share a chore. Everyone gets to pick a chore and pick a partner. They are responsible for making sure their partner is helping them. The kids think it's funny to pick chores. The chores that are left over are assigned by me. (That can be quite fun as well.) There are also some chores with the name "everyone." These are the things that everyone is responsible for doing. Some of these chores are: recycling, putting your clothes away, putting your dirty clothes in the laundry basket, changing your underwear everyday (yes, we added that one for the boys)... etc. Some of the assigned chores are: scooping dog poop (oohh, that's a favorite one... Josh threw up the first time he had that chore), sorting everyone's laundry to be washed, cleaning the toilets, replacing the toilet paper rolls in each bathroom...

I hope you've had a good time looking at my OCD in action.