I have a notepad with a magnet on the back that I leave on the fridge at all times. When I use up something around the house (ie, the last stick of butter, or the last battery), it gets written on the ongoing list on the notepad. I’ve trained Mr. Athena and the cleaning lady (for when we run out of cleaning supplies) to do it as well.
When it gets sufficiently long, or I get sufficiently motivated, I take the list and go to the store and buy everything.
Great OG on a floating tricycle! I have never thought of this! I am assuming to keep small items from disappearing into the bottom of the dishwasher and frying on top of the heating coils, or to keep plastic cups from overturning and ending up with sludgy messes and white detergent stains all over?
If so, thank you! (Says the person who, while emptying the dishwasher, dumped a 24 oz plastic cupful of sludgy detergent water on the foot and the floor, and managed to created a whole new language, complete with specialized syntax and thesaurus, all in about 1.4 seconds.)
Or is your diswasher just into the kinky stuff?
As for me, one weekend I invested in a couple dozen plastic shoeboxes and a magic marker. Each is labeled (and stocked!) for “winter gloves”, “winter scarves”, “dress scarves”, “bathing suits”, “stockings”, “tights”, “belts”, etc. Now I know where everything is, and better yet, where it SHOULD be and, best yet, where is is suppposed to go. No more hunting around for gloves this winter and having to purchase another set because I can’t find all of my stretchy gloves.
Yep. I have two plastic baskets to hold down the short Avent bottles (nine fit under the basket) and baby-sized use-dispose tuppyzip containers. I have two small bungees stretched to capture the dome caps from the bottles.
When I’m not doing bottles, the bungees hold down the larger zippy containers or I clasp the ends to the wire rack with the (water proof “rust resistant” … HAH) clothes pins.
I also employ a series of small lingere bags for items too small to go into baby-bottle-nipple baskets, like baby spoons or breast pump thloranglios.
Argh! I’ve been looking for baskets just like that. We seem to have a city-wide plastic basket shortage; I can’t find anything in any of the sizes I want.
I got mine at Wal-Mart (before I stopped shopping there … and I should have got more as they were sold out the next day) and mostly at Dollar Tree and Big Lots. I haven’t seen them for over a year, though, so I’m hoarding the few I have.
One is actually cut down to accomodate the shorter 4oz Avents and the baby tuppies.
Just keep looking. I just found at Walgreens of all places a lidded basket that I can do dome caps and/or baby spoons in.
You’re much easier to get along with, hartelijk dank. 
A couple of things that make my life more organized:
-Master grocery list saved in Word that I print out weekly. It’s organized the same way that our grocery store is organized (produce aisle first, deli next, etc.) It has blank space for specific items that might not be listed, and is tailored to our needs (no section for baby good, for example). I decide what I’m making for dinner for the week, check off the needed items, and send my husband off to do the weekly shopping. My friends think I’m anal, but it works for us.
-Large, two-month, write on/wipe off calendar posted on the refrigerator. Meetings, appointments, classes, parties, etc. all get posted there. It lets us know where the other might be and is helpful when the dentist calls and wants to schedule a cleaning. I still post my daughter’s work schedule even though she doesn’t live at home any more–I know when I’ll be able to reach her.
Keys, glasses and purse always go in the same spots when I come in the door, as others have already posted.
And lest you think we are some kind of Hints From Heloise freaks, I can attest to two junk drawers in the kitchen, one in the front hall and one in the bedroom (that I know of), a completely disorganized cupboard devoted to plastic containers, and an inability to remember my nephew’s birthday.
mah baskets:
emruss made in the usa #1944. Bought them at the dollar store, mostly.
LAUNDRY BASKETS & MORE:
Emruss Corp.
P.O. Box 682
Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32004-0682
Ph# 904-285-8895
Fx# 904-285-9199
Emruss
Contact Info:
904-285-8895
null
Address:
2305 Sawgrass Village Dr
Ponte Vedra Bch, Florida
32082-5008
EMRUSS CORP.
Product Information
Bath Caddies, Bowls, Insulated Storage Containers, Kitchen Tools & Gadgets, Plasticware Shower Caddies, Storage Crates, Storage Products, Trash & Garbage Containers, Waste Containers.
Contact Information
Charlie Fry
PO Box 682
Ponte Vedra, FL 32004
USA
Toll Free Phone: (800)338-1386
Phone: (904)285-8895
Fax: (904)285-9199
Email: emrussl@bellsouth.net
Okay, lemme see here. . .I keep my keys clipped to my purse at all times, when I’m not actually using them. I have a whole list of household chores that need to be completed weekly (at a bare minimum). I keep a checklist in a notebook, and each day I pick a couple to do and then check them off. That way, I know what hasn’t been done in a while, and I’d better do it. I plan dinner menus by the month and post them on my wall calender on those skinny post-it notes. When I first started this system, I wrote the menus right on the calendar, but last-minute changes of plan caused a lot of scratch outs and re-writes, the post-its can be moved easily. I always empty ice trays first thing in the morning, and while I’m fixing dinner. Otherwise, we run out of ice.
I meal-plan as I shop. Then, when I am home putting the groceries away, I make a list of all the possible meals I could put together. Each night, I can see at a glance what’s available and choose what I feel like having without much thought. I then cross that meal off the list.
It’s not much of a system, but it really helps me. (One reason that it works well for me is that I’m a vegetarian, so no defrosting required!)
We have a large whiteboard next to the phone that everyone looks at as soon as they enter our home. It is our message center. Under this board is a window-box-style basket with hooks for keys, flower pots to hold small items like the dry erase markers, scissors, and pencils and a calendar hanging from the bottom with binder clips. Once everyone is trained to look there for messages, it’s great. Now even semi-regular visitors check out the whiteboard.
I have a special spot in the fridge where my husband’s lunch goes. He’s not actually awake when he leaves for work and isn’t capable of looking around for it.
Junk mail and those fliers that end up in your newspaper box used to lead to piles of unwanted paper around the house. So we went out and bought a bunch of recycling bins. Now, as you walk into the house with a fist full of mail and fliers, the obvious stuff we don’t want gets dumped into the paper recycling bin in the garage, outside the door. A second paper bin sits in the office/computer area, and any additional junk gets dumped straight into it. Most days, we are down to just a couple of pieces of mail that get any attention at all.
To make recycling easier, we purchased a bunch of bins, one for each type of recycling, and set them in the garage, just outside the door to the house. All I have to do is open the door, and throw the empty can in the right direction.
We keep 3 laundry baskets in the closet, for darks, whites and drycleaning items. When it’s time to do laundry, you pick one of them up and it’s all presorted for you. We also keep a spare basket in the laundryroom, to make it easier to make the dirty laundry/wet laundry/clean dry laundry shuffle.