Category: Organizing for Kids

Prep Your Kids for Summer
Summer is fast approaching and now is the time to shop for all the items you need while the store shelves are full and the selections plentiful. It is hard to think about bathing suits and shorts right after putting our winter coats away, but advanced planning will save you from the stress of running around trying to find necessary items the week before summer camp starts or the day before you leave for your summer vacation. Prepping your kids for summer now will also save you money.

Flash back photo of my kids from 2010

Here is the list of items that you must check in your supply:
- Bathing suits: 2-3 per child except if they are doing summer camp. In this case, you want to have at least 6 (2 per day from Mon-Wed, laundry on Wednesday to get you through the rest of the week).
- Beach/pool towels: I recommend buying one nice towel per person and then if your kids go to camp, buying cheap towels that you won’t stress about if they get destroyed or lost. You can buy a 6 pack of hotel towels at Sam’s Club or Costco for around $25. Also, Five Below and Target often have towels for $3-$5 per towel. Personally, I have towels in two colors (one for each child), so I know who loses what.
- Goggles
- Water shoes/flip-flops
- Sunscreen
- Bug spray
- Life-vest (for younger non-swimmers or boaters)
If your kids go to camp, you will need to label all of their clothing. I recommend Lovable Labels . They are self-adhesive and last all summer through washing and drying, so they are worth the money. To save a few bucks, you can get the mini-dots.

I recommend that you let them use an old backpack for summer camp. They sit all day with wet bathing suits and towels and often get muddy and gross by the end of summer (even if you wash it regularly). Regular washing and rough handling by your kids will break down the material and most of ours end up with holes by the end of summer. Save your money for a new backpack for school in the fall.

If you are one of those people that throws away 15 tubes of half used sunscreen every year because it expires, then maybe it’s time to plan a little better. Sunscreen is expensive and if you are throwing away 15 half used tubes, then you are also throwing away money. With the cost of sunscreen between $6-15 per tube, you could be throwing away $50-100 worth of sunscreen each year. Or, if you are using expired sunscreen, it could result in sunburns that could ruin your day, your vacation and harm your or your child’s health.

How many tubes of sunscreen do you need? This will vary depending on how much your family is outdoors during the summer, where you vacation and if your kids go to summer camp, but here is my calculation to give you an idea of what you will need. AND, most places have sunscreen 20% off right now, so take advantage and stock up, but don’t overstock!
- 1 bottle or tube per child for camp (labeled and in their daily camp bag
- 1 for the car (just in case you didn’t put it on before you leave the house or need to reapply)
- 1 face + 1 body in the kitchen to put on in the morning (I use separate ones for body 30 SPF and face 50 SPF)
- 1 face + 1 body in the pool bag
- 1 face + 1 body per week, if you are going to somewhere sunny for vacation
Advance planning will give you more time and money to enjoy all the fun summer brings with it.

If you want to read more about prepping your kids for summer day camp, please read our blog post on Summer Camp Organizing.

If you liked today’s post, you’re welcome to use it in your own newsletter or blog as long as you include the following blurb: Tara Rudo, Life Strategist, helps working moms and families focus on what is important. Get our FREE weekly tips and advice at www.NoMorePiles.com.
April 9, 2015
Get ready for outdoor activities!

Spring is finally here and it is time to take out the ice scrapers and snow gear of your car and repack it to the rainy and warmer season. Whether you are the outdoors person or you will spend hours shuttling kids to various outdoor activities, you need to stock your car for spring.
We recommend that you get a large tote to keep everything inside. There are two that we recommend. One, is the Smartworks Pop-Up Organizer ($25 on Amazon) and the other is Thirty One large Utility Tote ($35 on Thirty One.com.)

• This will avoid having your things spilled all over the car
• Easy to move to another car or take it out of you need the extra space
• Easy to bring inside and restock it after a busy week

Here is our must have list:
• First aid kit: bandaids, single use ice packs, antiseptic wash, allergy relief medicine (aka Benadryl. Also good to have on hand for bee stings), pain reliever, athletic tape
• Sunscreen & bug spray
• Water
• Emergency snacks: power bars (regular Lara bars are good since they don’t melt), peanut butter crackers, fruit crushers and other non-melting items
• Wipes and tissues
• Trash bags: multifunctional item!!! Put the muddy, wet clothes in it; use it for sitting on if the ground is wet; or even wear it as a poncho if it rains.
• Hair ties for those with longer hair

If you have young kids or babies, you may want to add extra diapers and change of clothes. You should also keep these other items in your car or handy in the garage to use them on sports days:
• Folding chair
• Blanket
• Hats and/or sunglasses

Being ready helps you to enjoy more of the springtime weather and be prepared for unexpected events. When you are dealing with kids, it is NEVER a bad idea to be prepared for the inevitable, unexpected events.

If you liked today’s post, you’re welcome to use it in your own newsletter or blog as long as you include the following blurb: Tara Rudo, Life Strategist, helps working moms and families focus on what is important. Get our FREE weekly tips and advice at www.NoMorePiles.com.

April 1, 2015
How to Pack Like an Organizer: 3 days, 3 people, 1 bag

Are you ready to pack like an organizer? I am going to show you how to pack for 3 days for one adult and 2 kids in ONE carry on bag (and a backpack for keeping busy on the plane). I don’t know about you, but my husband always packs his bag the night before we leave or the morning of, in about 20 minutes. That works because I am in charge of everything and everyone else: myself, the kids, clothes, identification, tickets, sunscreen, snacks, electronics, cords, etc. There are two keys to packing like an organizer:

1. Don’t over pack. You don’t need four extra changes of clothes for a 3 day trip.

2. Have the right tools so you can stay organized once you get to your destination. My new favorite tool for this is the Ebags Packing Cubes. I bought each of us the 3 piece multi-pack. We each have a different color so it is easy to tell whose clothes are whose AND since they are in nice zipper packs, you can set the zippered packs inside a drawer or on a chair/table (depending on the set up where you are staying)

For each child, I packed: 1 pair jeans, 3 shorts, 3 tshirts, 4 underwear, 4 socks, 1 pajamas, 1 bathing suit, 1 sweatshirt, 1 pair keens. For myself, 3 tshirts, 2 shorts, 1 jeans, 1 long sleeved shirt, 1 sweatshirt, 1 pajamas, 1 bra, 4 underwear, workout clothes, sneakers, toiletries and makeup. Of course, we will have the clothes on our backs as well, so everyone has at least one extra outfit.

Each outfit for the day is rolled with shirt, shorts, underwear and socks. This minimizes packing space and also reduces choices for getting dressed in the morning.

When it comes to toiletries, I want to be prepared and yet carry the smallest amount of any given item. If you are staying in a hotel that provides shampoo, soap, etc., you can carry less (that is not the case for me this weekend). Since all the liquids need to be separate for the TSA and all fit in a quart sized bag, you need to be strategic. I have the medium sized LL Bean toiletry bag which I pack with the toothbrushes, brush, hair ties, mini first aid kit (I add extra flex bandaids), tweezers, nail clippers, razor, ear plugs, bathroom wipes, deodorant, contacts and emergency medicines. In the quart sized bag is saline solution, sunscreen, body lotion, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hair gel, toothpaste, benadryl cream and my Arbonne RE9 sample pack (I never leave home without my Arbonne skin care and their sample pack is smaller than travel sizes. If you want to get yours click here). For makeup, I go minimal: tinted moisturizer, powder, eye liner, one eye shadow, mascara.

Here is the finished product. I used the medium packing cubes for our main clothes and the two small packing cubes for my workout clothes and sweatshirt and the kids shoes.

Now, for the backpack. First, my mini backpack. I love my Dakine Cosmo mini backpack, it is perfect for days where you are doing a lot of walking with kids and need some stuff and a purse is too uncomfortable for all day (think amusement parks, fairs, hiking, etc). It has a main compartment and a front organizer compartment with small zippered sections. I ALWAYS carry a small zippered case with the following: hand cream, saline, extra pair of contacts, sanitizer wipes, kleenex, chapstick, nail file, pen, advil/tylenol, mints and an Arbonne fizzy pack (click here to get your fizzies). So, in my mini backpack, I have the small zippered case, my wallet and sunglasses. This backpack is small and will easily fit inside my larger backpack.

My larger backpack is a regular sized backpack with a main compartment and front zippered compartment. In here are our boarding passes and flight itinerary, my ipad (not pictured since I was taking pics with it), my kids’ itouch and ipad, their blankies, a bag of snacks, all our electronics cords, my TSA liquids bag and my mini backpack.

Here is my last set of tips to ease some stress while you are traveling with kids. I have found four great accessories that I can’t live without. The are all less than $20 each and worth every penny. My Cocoon Grid It, it is pictured above and keeps all of my cords and chargers organized. The other three are pictured below and I got them at Five Below or through online daily deals (Living Social, Eversave, Groupon). They are a head phone jack splitter (in pink) so that kids can watch the same thing on one device and each use their own headphones. My three way charger that has the new small I jack, the old larger I jack and an android jack. Last but certainly not least, my Pebble Smartstick. This is an emergency charger that can bring your phone back to full power or keep an ipad from dying while in use. Perfect for on a plane if someone’s device runs out of juice.

Now we are ready to go! Just make sure everyone goes to the bathroom before you get in the car. Happy Travels!

If you liked today’s post, you’re welcome to use it in your own newsletter or blog as long as you include the following blurb: Certified Professional Organizer, Certified Organizer Coach and Life Management Expert, Tara Donohue Rudo, helps working moms and families focus on what is important. Get her FREE weekly tips and advice at www.NoMorePiles.com.

July 31, 2014
Organize Your Kids for Summer Day Camp

Summer is finally here! After a LONG winter, I know that I am ready for summer and that means…. Summer Camp Organizing! Even my kids love getting organized for summer day camp because it means that school is almost over. Whether your kids are going to one summer camp for all 9 weeks or they are switching camps week-by-week, these tips will help make your summer run a little smoother. Here are my top tips for organizing for summer camp:

1. Buy at least enough of each clothing type to get you to Wednesday. Most kids need swim suits, towels, shorts, socks, sneakers, water shoes, etc. My recommendation is that you go find at least 6 towels, 6 bathing suits, shorts, socks, t-shirts, etc (not shoes, but at least 2 each of those). By Wednesday, the damp towels and bathing suits are getting smelly anyway, so it is time for a load or two of washing.

2. Assemble your camp bags right from the laundry. Don’t bother folding and putting away their camp clothes. You are only going to have to bag them for the week. I use the plastic shopping bags since it keeps the dry clothes protected from the wet during the day (and I don’t mind if I lose them or they get dirty). My kids need two bags per day: a.m. bag with towel, bathing suit and swim shoes and p.m. bag with underwear, shorts and towel. I pre-pack on Sundayfor Sun-Wed. I do a load of laundry on Wednesday evening and pack for Thurs-Fri.

3. Roll morning clothes for less stress. I put the clothes that they are going to wear in the morning rolled complete with socks, underwear, shirt and shorts. If they go to camp in a bathing suit, shirt, shorts and socks, then roll those the same way. This way they can still choose their outfit for the day, but it is one choice instead of five. This streamlines our mornings and eliminates time suckers and arguments.

4. Buy different colored towels for each kid. This will make it easy for packing and help you make sure that all your towels have made it home. If all six (or 10) didn’t make it home, then you know to have them check the lost and found.

5. Make sure you have clothes and shoes that are easy for the kids to get off and on. Since they change at least twice a day and have bathroom breaks in between, making sure your child can easily and independently get their clothes off and on will reduce their and their camp counselors frustrations and time. I highly recommend tankinis for the girls (two piece bathing suits that still provide full coverage). For shoes, don’t send your child in tie shoes, if what they really need is velcro.

6. Label Everything! I can’t stress this one enough, unless you have unlimited funds to replace all the items of clothing that will get lost if you don’t. Our camp told us that by the end of the summer they have 10 large trash bags full of lost clothes, shoes and towels. That is a lot of lost money! Lovable Labels has great self stick labels that adhere to the tags of the clothes and stay on even through the wash. They even have a camp pack that includes labels for water bottles, shoes and clothes. https://www.lovablelabels.ca/ Enter code TaraRLB1 to get 10% off your order.

7. Make lunches easy. There are 10 weeks of summer, so if your kids are in camp 5 days per week that means you have 50 lunches to pack for the summer.

a. Pre-label all 45 bags (our camp requires disposable lunch bags) with your child’s name, bunk and other necessary information. If you want to get fancy, use 4×4 shipping labels and just print a few sheets of them to affix to the front of the bag.

b. Pre-pack 5 bags for the week with all the non-perishable items: snack, fruit leathers, spoon/fork, napkin, water bottle, etc. This way you will only have to add a sandwich or main course.

c. Don’t over pack. Our camp tells us that 50% of all packed lunches end up in the trash. Only pack what you think your kids will reasonably eat while having a fun lunch with their friends.

8. Streamline your morning routine. There are so many things that need doing in order to get out the door in the morning, so make your life as easy as possible. Hair needs brushing, ponytails put in, sunscreen on, bug spray, back packs packed, etc. Keep all the items you need to get this done in a bin in your kitchen or mudroom or get an over-the-door hanger with pockets to keep everything at your finger tips.

9. Prepare for summer first aid. No matter how great the camps are at supervising our little ones, there will always be sunburn, bug bites, bee stings, cuts, scrapes, water in the ear, red eyes from chlorine in the pools and any number of minor first aid situations. Make sure you have a good stock of all the necessary cures on hand. Whether you like to use aloe, Calendula, peroxide or cortaid creme for whatever ails your little people, stock up now before the need arises.

Summer is a time for the kids to step away from the books and enjoy all that summer has to offer, just make sure that you are ready to handle the changes before they hit. By getting organized for summer camp, you can ensure that both you and your kids have a fun-filled and stress free summer!

If you liked today’s post, you’re welcome to use it in your own newsletter or blog as long as you include the following blurb: Certified Professional Organizer, Certified Organizer Coach and Life Management Expert, Tara Donohue Rudo, helps working moms and families focus on what is important. Get her FREE weekly tips and advice at www.NoMorePiles.com.

May 30, 2014