• Organized Chaos: Lunch Box Items

    I found a great spot for lunch box items in our kitchen!

    Since the majority of our family packs a lunch for school and work nearly everyday of the week it is important that the items for packing lunches are accessible as well as our time spent putting them together is used efficiently.  As I was brainstorming the different ways to make the lunch packing task more streamlined for our family I came up with a solution that has been really successful for our family.  I found a perfect location for all the non-perishable lunch box items in our kitchen and before long had a lunch box making system that has worked really well.

    Even though these drawers are organized in our kitchen the kids do not get something from each drawer every day. The idea is to keep a small stockpile of items necessary for lunches handy so when I need something to put in their lunch I can get to it easily.  I purchase items for the drawers only when they go on sale so it stays within family’s grocery budget.

    The majority of the week they get fresh fruits & vegetables, water bottles, and no dessert.  I do however try to give them one snack item every day in their lunch whether it be a granola bar or pretzels or something similar in their lunches.  Every day I make a lunch I use these drawers for something whether it is to grab a sandwich container, lunch bag, granola bar or another item!

    Below are the labels I have for the drawers as well as  pictures to show you what I put in them:

    • Granola Bars / Snacks
    • Sandwich Containers / Bags
    • Cookies / Desserts
    • Fruit Snacks
    • Drinks
    • Miscellaneous Snacks

    Granola Bar & Snack Drawer

    I put all the sandwich containers and brown bags into the container drawer.  Even the two new ones I picked up fit well, we had the perfect number of sandwich containers for the drawer!

    Toy Story brown lunch bags (picked up at the Dollar Tree) are  fun to occasionally use for your kids lunch plus they fit nicely beside the sandwich containers in the drawer.

    Sandwich Containers & Bags Drawer

    Cookies & Desserts Drawer

    Placed the fruit in the drawer (applesauce, raisins, cup of fruit).

    Fruit Snack Drawer

    Placed lunch box drinks (with exception to their water bottles) in this drawer (Chocolate Milk, Gatorade, Juice Bags, Juice Bottles, etc…).

    Drink Drawer

    Miscellaneous Snacks Drawer (includes items like pudding or jello cups, teddy grahams, pretzels or other bagged snack item)

    The last several months we have been using this system and it has been very beneficial for the entire family.  Plus if the kids want a snack they can grab a granola bar from the drawer instead of digging through the pantry trying to find a snack.  I do try to keep the drawers stocked and rotate (the newer items go in back so the older items get eaten first) the products in the drawers.

    My best piece of advice is that you find a system that works well for you, if what you are doing is not going smoothly or you want to find a better way to do it try something different and you may be surprised at how more efficient it is for your family. I already had the items on hand all I did was pick up the two containers on clearance around the beginning of the school year.  I would love to hear your tips on keeping all your lunch box items organized and accessible. 

  • Organized Chaos: Organizing Our Games

    Our Family Game Closet

    Our family LOVES games!  Every year for Christmas we get a new family game to play.  It has been fun having a Family Game Night or a Game Party with friends at our house.  One of the problems with our games is we used to store them in two separate places so when guests were over we either had to show them two games storage places or try to list off all the games for them to choose from.  A couple months ago as I was cleaning out the front closet I realized several things……

    • The front coat closet is only used about 3 months a year (we live in South Carolina so we have a shorter winter season)
    • We keep the coats we use the most in other places in the house (this closet was only storing extra coats / jackets,  table linens, and our vacuum.)
    • Usually when our guests arrive the coats / jackets get laid over a chair near the closet instead of actually hanging them up in the coat closet.
    • We get into our two game closets a lot more then we get into the coat closet (with exception to take the vacuum out).
    • If we were to put our games in this closet all our games can be put into one location.
    • We could still store the vacuum (which was the only item currently in the closet that we used regularly) in the closet with our games.

    After pondering the layout for our “new” game closet I decided to see what my husband thought of the idea.  He thought it was a great idea too.  We already had some of the materials we would need leftover from re-doing the bedroom closets so we agreed to do it.

    Here is what I did:

    1. Removed everything from our front closet (donated the coats / jackets that the girls had outgrown and put the table linens in the linen cabinet with the sheets and towels).
    2. Used the leftover shelving items from re-doing the bedroom closets.
    3. Purchase a few additional shelving pieces with a gift card that we have from Home Depot.
    4. Put away all the games from the other two locations into the closet.

    I was very excited to get the shelves up and get all the games into the one closet.  The new system is both practical and perfect for our family.   It is much easier picking out a game to play when we have a family game night or when our guests are over.  Plus, there is no more trying to figure out where we put a game since they are all in one place.   I am pleased with our new game closet, just wish I it hadn’t taken me so long to figure out where to put our games!  Where do you store all your games?