UHeart Organizing: Creating Routine Caddies

I always get a kick out of creating kits and caddies that keep "like" items together, making life all around easier.  We use kits for our tools, sewing, making lunches, first aid, shoe care, stain removal, art supplies, cleaning, etc...  Taking a little time upfront to create a kit typically results in saving a lot of time each day.

Courtney, from A Thoughtful Place blog, recently realized that putting together a few simple kits would positively impact her daily routine.  She is here today to share how she used a smart organizer to create flexible caddies that she can use at home or on the go.  Because let's face it, when kids are involved, there is always somewhere to be!

They say necessity is the mother of invention. Well, I'm definitely not claiming to have invented anything but this mama finally solved three of our problem areas with one simple carrying case. It all began with feeling frustrated time and time again with our, all too often, hectic routine of getting out the door. We all love being organized and it's no mystery that when a routine is frustrating to you, it just means you need to change it. Here is a really simple way we reorganized the way we do things around here.

First and foremost, I can not rave enough about these stackable connecting containers enough. Do you use them? They have been around since I was a little girl, only back then I think they were called caboodles or something similar. I found these at Michaels and bought two of them to create this stacking set of three. The possibilities are endless with these.

I reflected on the moments of our day that seem to cause undue stress or frustration. I realized that almost every morning I was asking my daughter to run and get a brush for her hair. We would start brushing her hair for school and she would realize she didn't have a hair tie. She would run and get that and half of the time we are short on time. I also realized that we were either downstairs in the kitchen or up on my bed doing her hair. Never in the bathroom like normal people. I needed a new system and that's when these bins occurred to me.

SUPPLIES:

• Snap N' Stack bins (2 sets allows you to have 2 lids)
• Vinyl paper
• Label maker
• Scissors
• Ruler

I picked up the bins and this Cricut vinyl paper from Michaels. I don't even own a Cricut but knew this set of vinyl colorful paper would be a huge value add to my craft supplies. For these bins you need three strips cut (7" x 1.5"). It adheres beautifully to the plastic containers.

I have had this label maker for years and it really comes in handy. I pull it out every now and again and love having it on hand.

I used old jewelry boxes I had in the house and labeled one, "bobby pins" and one "hair bands." I don't know about you but these disappear in our home like crazy. Now when we find them laying around, my daughter's responsibility is to put them back in these boxes. It's perfect to have in her hair kit. My sweet son has super short hair so it's safe to say he doesn't need a hair kit for the morning!

This is filled with the following:

• Hair brush
• Wet comb
• Box of hair bands
• Box of bobby pins
• 2 headbands
• 2 hair flowers

As my daughter has gotten older, she prefers braids, a pony tail or something simple with her hair. And she no longer wears all of the flowers and bows as much so we really paired down what we put in the kit.

And this is such a typical morning. She is a ridiculously early riser so she will come into my room dressed for school carrying this kit and we chat and I sleepily do her hair on my bed. If this isn't happening I am doing it downstairs after she eats breakfast. Regardless, being able to grab this kit and do her hair has saved us so much frustration and trips up and down the hallway or stairs.

Besides getting ready in the morning, we also struggle with needing quick snacks in between activities. As my children have gotten older we have very few minutes (literally) in between school and racing off to music or sports. Because of that someone is always cranky and needs a quick snack. I found myself getting frustrated when they needed a snack despite needing to race out the door. I would also find myself in the middle of baseball practice for my son with my daughter begging for a snack. Now, they can reach into this bin and grab something. I fill it up on Sunday night. Anything we do not use during the week gets put in their lunches as snacks during the next week. This avoids anything going stale. Then I refill it with fresh snacks on Sunday night again. Super simple and has relieved so much frustration. "Somebody is Cranky," is a long running joke in our family and normally refers to myself. I get a bit "hangry" when not fed. But the children really are similar.

I also filled one with "just in case" items so that when we take car trips or even just head out for a day trip, we have things we may need. You can fill this with anything you think your family may need. The awesome thing is that when we hit the road on a trip, I snap together all three containers and toss them in the car. It's a space saver and so easy to take.

Even these two are great to take to a baseball game on the weekend or to a long day of activities. Even if you leave them in the car. I can't tell you how many times people have asked if anyone has a band-aid. We keep these in our DIY butler's pantry because it is near our backdoor and easy to access.

Another awesome find are these little boxes. They come in this set and they can be used for so many different things and tossed in your kits. My children are older so I feel safe putting things like Tums, Vitamins, or ibuprofen in them when we travel. They are not child proof though so be cautious if you have sweet little ones. I also love the idea of using them for earrings. I use one for my face soap when we travel on short trips and I don't want to take the entire bottle. I scooped these up at Michael's and highly recommend them.

Anther bonus is that these can easily slip into a tote bag so when we head out to the field or for an all day outing it's easy to slip the "Somebody is Cranky" bin into my bag.

I am hoping that you can review your day and see if there are spots in it that could run a little more smoothly. Is there something that causes frustration daily? Maybe putting together a similar kit just might help.

"Hi! I'm Courtney, the author of A Thoughtful Place. I am a mom to two and passionate about home decor, DIY, fashion, gatherings, and the occasional life lesson. I love finding simple and accessible ideas for infusing style into all aspects of life. While an average day can often be hectic, A Thoughtful Place hopes to inspire you to find beauty and style in each and every one."