My latest home improvement that has received much attention is my school work organizer. I don’t know about your kids, but mine come home with loads of paperwork. They both also get homework for the week coming home on Mondays. I have had a pile of papers on my kitchen counter for the last few years now because of it. My big organizing issue is piles. I make piles. I need to get rid of the piles because they don’t work for me. I tried a stacked tray system, but it just sat on my desk in the other room and believe it or not it was confusing for me. I’d forget about it because I didn’t see it.
I finally found this hanging file system at Marshall’s, but it was beat up. It was also on clearance and at a good price so I chanced it. I painted it and now it’s like new. Each of my boys have a file that they are responsible for and mine is the top one. The boys homework, 4H work, CCD, and writing that they do for me goes in there. They are responsible for their files, although I go through and check to be sure things are getting done. Mine contains field trip letters, progress reports, the classroom lists with phone numbers, sports and any other extra activities the boys are involved with that need attention. I haven’t lost a form yet. I check my box every Monday morning to see if their is anything that needs my attention for the week.
My boys do their homework in our kitchen so that’s where we hung the system. Just a thought to maybe help you on organizing your homework or even just your paperwork system. Let me know what you think!
Penny says
I noticed this the other night and meant to ask you about it- great idea!
Michelle Christiansen says
this is such a great idea! Right now, only Josiah comes home w/papers, but soon it’ll be Amber, and eventually Malachi! I noticed Josiah’s paper pile was getting overloaded, so I found an Easter basket to stick his stuff in, but I hadn’t thought ahead to adding two more to the “pile” contributors! Thanks!
Kathy Preston says
I love this!! Brilliant– I especially love the on clearance part! 🙂
I have a similar system I use in my home office with two metal wall files (I think from The Container Store?): one marked “ACT” for stuff that needs to be done, bills to be paid, etc., and one marked “FILE” with stuff that just needs to be put away. The trick, of course, is not just ignoring it all once it goes in the file!