Monday, January 15, 2018

Seven Home Stations that will Curb the Chaos in 2018

By Jen Sorensen


For the new year, I went shopping through my own house looking for anything I had sitting around that could be rearranged for some magical organization! Here's what I came up with!


Station #1
Device Check-in & Charging Station

Seven Stations that will Stop the Chaos in your Home

At our house we don’t allow devices in our kids’ rooms at night. They have to use good ole’ fashioned alarm clocks because their little brains need a break from the constant notifications that come with the world of social media and gaming, not to mention the less-than-stellar decision making that happens when kids are tired. So, all devices have to be checked in by 9 pm on school nights (yeah, even my high-schooler!) and by 10 pm on weekends. I found this old letter filing thing from around the house and used some command strips to stick it to the side of the little bookshelf in our front room. Voilá! It keeps all the cords off the floor and I can easily see who’s devices are checked in.


Station #2
Busy Morning Breakfast Station

Seven Stations that will Stop the Chaos in your Home



This used to be our catch-all counter. Such an eyesore!! So, killing two birds with one stone, I cleared out all the clutter (don’t look on the other side of the fridge) and turned it into a quick breakfast station. Breakfast is definitely a casualty of busy mornings around here and as much as I wish I was the kind of mom who had a hot breakfast ready for my family each morning, I’m just not. So, this quick breakfast station is our life-saver. Everyone can at least grab a hot chocolate to-go and a breakfast bar, pop tart, or even a quick microwaved bowl of oatmeal on their way out the door.


Station #3
Clutter Control

Seven Stations that will Stop the Chaos in your Home



Do you guys have kids who leave bread crumb trails (sometimes literally. gross.) and you can look at the clutter around your house and figure out exactly where they’ve been, what they’ve been eating and what they’ve been doing? Yeah, I have a couple of those. So, in order to help make the evening tidying up a bit quicker, we have this basket that sits on the bottom shelf in our entryway and it holds anything that should either go upstairs or downstairs that we’re in too big of a hurry to actually put away. Once a week someone gets the joy of divvying everything back to its rightful place.


Control Center
The last four stations make up a 4-in-1 control center and it has helped us immensely! It's definitely one of my favorite spots in our busy house.

Seven Stations that will Stop the Chaos in your Home

Station #4
Messages Station

Seven Stations that will Stop the Chaos in your Home

There is a lot of coming and going at our house, so we needed a central place where messages could be scribbled and the kids would actually look for them. I love these windows I have in my house and they make the perfect message boards right in the kitchen which, of course, has the most traffic in the house!


Station #5
Paper Products Station

Seven Stations that will Stop the Chaos in your Home



In case I’ve been subtle up to now, I’m all about time-saving tricks since I am a mom who works. I know that using  paper products on a regular basis  is soooo not cost-efficient, but it’s something I indulge in because it means fewer dishes. I know, someday my environmentally-friendly side will win out, but right now it’s buried reeeeaaaaal deep.


Station #6
Homework Supplies Station

Seven Stations that will Stop the Chaos in your Home

Homework is the worst. Come on, I cannot be the only one who thinks that! But, there is nothing worse than actually getting them to sit down and focus only to realize they need a ruler or some glue or even a sharpened pencil - all of which are nowhere to be found. So each school year I replenish all the school supplies and, now that they've ended up in this cubby, they are off-limits to any activity other than homework. (Or so I hope.)


Station #7
Quick School Lunch Assembly Station
(definitely saved my favorite for last!)

Seven Stations that will Stop the Chaos in your Home



Oh, school lunches. How I loathe thee. My kids have always had to make their own school lunches, so I do a few things to make the process a little easier on them. I either buy in bulk and split snacks into little baggies or sometimes I splurge on pre-packaged lunch items. There are also uncrustables in the freezer (nope, not homemade ones … ain’t nobody got time for that around here!) and, of course, fruit in the fruit bowl, but I keep almost everything right here in these two cubbies for a quick assembly. Even lunch bags and throw-away sacks hang out right here. This will come in super handy in the summer when we’re throwing picnics together all the time!


**Disclaimer: Just know that about half of these work about half of the time, but at least there’s a plan!

2 comments:

  1. Jen I always knew you were a genius. Great ideas... by the way Hi. Please pass that hi along to Josh....

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    Replies
    1. MAXINE!! Hi! Considering I had pregnant brain the whole time we worked together, I take that as a great compliment! 😆 I will definitely tell Josh hello. He'll love it. I hope everything is going so well for you!!

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