It all starts with an organised pantry:

before

pantry after

“Excellence is to do a common thing in an uncommon way” B.Washington

hanging your spare chairs from the wall.

using wall lights as ceiling lamps: much cheaper

using  shoe boxes and ice cream containers to hold your sorted and de cluttered posessions.

making the kids sort the spare change: for a percentage

When having little ones to care for, you need all the extra time you can get. And learning how to survive that can change your life. At least that’s what happened to Julie Morgenstern, the well known Professional Organiser in America and author of the book ‘Organizing from the Inside Out’.  In the introduction, she writes how she had been a disorganised person all her life.  Her first child changed all that:  She realized that always having everything ready to go in her nappy bag, life was so much easier.

This shows a very important point in the journey to getting on top of things:  Start little!!!  Don’t try to do the whole house in one weekend.  Remember, if it took you 10 years to arrive where you are now, it may take you a while to get out of it.  Don’t be overwhelmed about how long it will take, rather remember, that finding the right system for you and your family takes time but will last you a lifetime.

With the very young around, it becomes a fairly important part of your life and always having it ready to go makes getting out of the house just much easier.  So what should be in there?  There’s nothing wrong or right.  I have a girlfriend who had just a compartment in her handbag for this.  Others buy the full size nappy backpack and are happy with it.  As a rule of thumb, I would say “less is more” the less you put in the less you have to refill and keep up to date.   In addition, less makes it lighter to carry.  As your baby’s needs change, or you have two in nappies or a toddler and a baby, you should change the contents and probably the bag itself.

This demonstrates another rule of organsing: know what you want to store and measure before you buy. You should take all the things you find necessary in a nappy bag with you when going out to buy one and not buy something that looks nice but then turns out to be too big or too small.

Fortunately, I am out of carrying a nappy bag, after almost nine years, but still had a little zip plastic bag in my handbag: a pair of stretchy shorts, the sort who will fit a very tall nine year old, a six year old and a four year old. (Not to forget all their friends who happen to have an accident because the toilets in the park are locked!!)  A pair of undies and one of those little packs of baby wipes.

Now that we are on the tail end of the school holidays (as you might have guessed by the amount of sibling fighting going on in your house), here are a couple of points I find/found helpful over the years:

Don’t buy the school uniform too early. When I helped at my kid’s primary school at Orientation day in October, I couldn’t believe how many parents bought every item available, even winter clothes. Kids can grow considerably in three months.

Same goes for shoes

Buy at least two school hats

These are our favorite lunch boxes. They have a hinged lid so you’ll never lose the lid. And I am very happy to report, that they are available from Woolworth. I used to import them from Switzerland – complicated and expensive. They come in different sizes, so you can avoid buying overpriced single wrapped snack/ treat items. Just put two biscuits in one of these and you’ll save the planet from too much packaging. And if you can pack the sandwiches separate from the fruit, you don’t have to use any glad wrap. So that can’t be blown away on the playground, because my kids tell me, that’s what seals get wrapped up in.

To keep all the boxes in one place use one big container. The best all year round ones are the slightly isolated with a zipper. The sipper should open on the big side, so you can access all the boxes at once, rather than have to fish them out one by one from the top.

Stock up on lunchboxes (I never thought I would use the word: stock up!) you’ll never find the same variety throughout the year. And you might need them. Some kids lose a lot. Others just give up in term III (the lunchboxes not the kids). For some reason boy’s lunchboxes are quicker sold out than girl’s.

Water bottles. Well, this is a bit of an issue. Decor used to have these very flat ones out of hard plastic, but they don’t make them any more, and I have been searching all of last year. There is plenty out there in that sort of size, but I am not too keen on the softeners in the plastic. So if anybody can point me in the right direction….?I also like them nice and flat, so they can act as a cooling pad in summer. Fill it with water up to 2/3, then top it up in the morning. Otherwise it might not have defrosted enough by the time the first brake comes.

there are other specialised containers out there. I found these at “Chalet” but didn’t buy them yet. I am contemplating the green one, because bananas are really hard to transport, and once they ripen in our garden, I have to feed them to the crowds.

Reading through this, I actually realised, that there are a couple of tips for my “no kids” customers. Maybe one of your New Year’s resolutions were to save money. So what about starting to take a sandwich from home instead of buying lunch in the city. You’ll save yourself a staggering $1500 a year – and don’t spend that on another handbag!!!!!

… and with that I don’t just mean travelling for holidays – I found with little kids it doesn’t really matter whether you go to visit Grandma overnight or just dash to the shops. So with travelling I am talking about everything which involves going from A to B.

As a mother of three I know what I am talking about, having travelled overseas on my own with a 5 year old, a 3 year old and a 4 month old – survived and actually enjoyed it.

I think the secret is in being organised, know what to expect and prepare for the worst so nothing is surprising you!!

On the same token, sometimes it is easier to avoid travelling – for example going to the shops “just” to pick up some bread.

Most people don’t believe me, but I find it easier and quicker to bake my own bread then getting three kids out of the house, strap them into the car, get them out, chace them though the supermarket, back in the car, and finally out of the car…that’s a lot of effort for just a loaf of bread.

So I would say: be prepared when you travel, enjoy it, but avoid unnecessary travelling.

Here is my Travelling list: pleaese comment to add to this

Short trip:

Always have the nappy bag refilled and ready to go.

Have some spare clothes that fit more than one child.

Have a basket/box on the passenger seat for everything you need during travelling. That way it stays in one spot and you can take everything out after the drive

Car:

Have some toys in the car which don’t get played with otherwise – make them special

Take little toy treats to bribe them for silence and good behaviour.

Play kids music and sing along

Play story tapes

Plane:

Take an (inflatable) ball for stopovers so they have a purpose to run around.

… not necessarily people but definitely relationships.

I am coming across a lot of people with an oversupply of scrapbooking material. To an extent that there are three kids bunking in one room, because the second bedroom is completely overtaken by paper products and ribbons.

Most scrap bookers are very fast to admit, that they do love scrapbooking, but never have enough time to produce the page about  little Tom’s  christening (little Tom being big Tom in the meantime and finishing High School).

And that they love shopping for the material much more than actually sitting down and doing it.

I love paper and anything crafty or stationery myself – I mean really love it. (I still have big sheets of special paper from studying Interior Architecture some 20 years ago… and a couple of notebooks from the Czech Republic from before the iron curtain was lifted!!)

But I would never even contemplate scrapbooking. The reason being, that  a day has just 24 hours.

So let’s do the math and see where you would find the 50 hours it takes to finish a scrapbooked photo album:

7 hours for sleeping, 1 for cooking, ½ for cleaning and tidying, 1 for driving the kids around. 1 for helping with homework, 1 for eating breakfast lunch and dinner, 2 for watching TV, 1 for reading a book, 8 for working in a payed job, 1 for getting to and from work.

That already equals 23.5 hours. All this doesn’t’ include the weekly activities like shopping for groceries, exercising every second day. In these 23.5 hours you haven’t talked to anyone, didn’t drink a beer with a mate, haven’t done the gardening or cleaned the windows. You haven’t taken the kids on a day to the zoo or had just half an hour with nothing planned.

Because that’s what I would like to do with the half hour – just have nothing planned.

So give your scrapbooking material to a toddler, watch him have fun with it for a couple of hours and happily chuck the leftovers in the bin!

And now: enjoy half an hour with nothing planned!!!!!

Every bathroom had its own theme: built environment, space, ocean, rainforest. The main colours used in the murals reflected those of the new partitions.
I refined my workshop skills over the course of the weeks and the results where brilliant. With help of the whole school community, teachers, parents we eventually finished more than 50 lineal meters of very colorful tiling.

This was a little different organising project – but different is good and I learnt a lot:
Last year I was asked to be part of a toilet refurbishment team for a primary school which had secured funds from the state government. To get the kids accountable for their own toilets we decided to get them as involved as possible and so we conducted workshops with every single class to teach them how to make mosaics from broken tiles. I thought 14 classes over a couple of weeks. We made them aware that famous Architect had done brilliant things with tiles. There are public toilets in the north of Auckland which are a tourist attraction. http://www.pbase.com/philinnz/kawakawa_toilets And Antonio Gaudi last century in Barcelona http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/gaudi/park-guell.html

The next morning we went to the announcing of the people who qualified to undergo serious training for the Olympics. There were only 10 spots and there were 50 competitors. So there wasn’t a big chance that I would get into the top 10. There only one to go there wasn’t much chance for me to get in. “And our last qualifier Thomas Beetlejuice.” What were the chances of that I had made it into the training team for the Para Olympics. Training begun the next morning I was so full of energy that I felt like an electric fence. The Winter Para Olympics were coming up in nine months. So we didn’t have much time to get ready for them. Every day was just hard training and strict eating. But it seemed to make me and my fellow qualifies fitter. This routine was strictly kept for eight months.

Then we got ready to go to Vancouver. 24 hours later we were in Vancouver getting used to the Para Olympic village. There finally the day had come the Para Olympics were starting in a few minutes the opening had been marvellous and defiantly something to see. There they had started the first competition was one kilometre sprint skiing. I got ready for it the next day excitement bubbling in me like a cauldron of hot oil. All my competitors looked well trained and fit. But some were part of my group I had qualified in.
“Boop!” That was the start of the first event in the Winter Para Olympics. It was amazing to compete against people as good as me. But I had to keep my mind on the race and watch out for the guy who had knocked me over the first time. I was holding my position for most of the race only sometimes getting into first place. “There was the finish line! “Was there anyone to knock me over?” “No I don’t think so.” So I went ahead and used all I had got to get to first place. I was only a few metres away from first place. “Would I make it?” I had to try.
And then it was over I had no idea if I had beaten the person in front of me. The judges were working it out with the electric timer that had recorded our time. “And the winner of the 2010 Winter Para Olympic one kilometre sprint is …” There was a pause. Everything was eerily quiet.” Thomas Beetlejuice and Colin Smith. From Australia and England.” I had won I couldn’t believe it. I had actually won in the Winter Para Olympics. I stood on the podium and thought that I would burst at the slightest touch. I was filled not with air but with pride.

My lessons started then and there. “First” Said Matheo for he was the ski instructor. “We need suitable gear for you “. “And then a…” And so he went on for a few minutes till the list of items was swimming in my head like a ripped up town in a hurricane. We couldn’t start till the next day as we had to get all the items Matheo had listed before my ski lesson started at 9:00. I slid down the slope most of the day although with increasing confidence I rapidly improved. A few days later I was zooming down the hill as if I had done skiing since I was born. From there I went to increasingly harder slopes and even competed in a few competitions.

Sadly we weren’t in Austria forever so the day came when we had to go back to Australia. I had a last short ski lesson with Matheo and then we had to go. At the airport I was pleading to stay at least a little longer but we couldn’t, not without funds to pay the expenses to stay longer. At the front part of the airport an official came up to me and told me about my fabulous skiing and miraculously offered to fund me if I went in some more competitions. I happily told my mum and she after seemingly much consideration agreed. I immediately called my teacher and told him what had happened. We continued training strait away and got ready for my next competition. Six months later I had already earned a position to qualify for the winter Para Olympics in Vancouver. I was so delighted I nearly did a summersault in mid training.
Later I was getting ready for the qualification. It seemed like the most exciting time in my life. The next day I was already out of bed at 5:00 as the qualification would start at 7:30. At 7:30 I was lined up in a weird formation to do my tricks contest. The start was easy just a slope to gain speed but the difficulty increased as I worked my way through the contests. In the last contest which was 500m sprint I could barely move a muscle. But I had to do the contest otherwise I had done all my training for nothing. So I braved the contest at least the start.
BBEP! That was the start I lurched forward instantly in front of everyone else. The race went pretty well except in the middle where a bulky boy barged past me with his arms outstretched easily knocking me over. “Cheat!” I screamed after him. I quickly got up and raced after the group, but they were already a few metres in front of me. I couldn’t catch up could I? I had to. So I raced up after them trying my best to catch up to the guy who had pushed me. There finally, I was 7th place, 6th, 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd there was the finish line could I make it? There was the person who had pushed me down. He was first. He went over the finish line just behind me. No I didn’t make it just because he pushed me. I kept my anger in cheque. For the time being, at least. I was so tired that I flopped into bed with all my clothes on.