My Favourite Colour is - Organized!

Here is a quick follow up post from two days ago, after I received several questions from clients.

Yes, I really did mean for everyone in the family to pick a colour to be their colour for family organizing. You'd be surprised how successful this can be. Use everyone's favourite colour to help pick out all kinds of household items from toothbrushes to tote sacks to calendering.

My husband grew up in a family of 10: M&D, 6 children, one maid and her son. His colour was green. There was green thread on his socks so they could be identified in the wash. Naturally, when we picked colours for ourselves and the children for our family calendar - his colour was green!

Colour Your World

Colour can be a quick and easy way to organize anything from toys to files. When we organize we sort (small, medium, large widgets) pattern (like things together) and decide (keep, sell, toss). The same is true for storage and retrieval activity; looking for a spice (sort by alphabet?), filing paper (sort and pattern this year, last year, food, rent, utilities etc) and making decisions at every step.

Coloured boxes, baskets, labels or other storage tools provide an easy first sorting mechanism. Each child could be assigned a colour for their toys (John gets the blue toy bucket) sports gear (Jane's labels, bag and towel are blue) or items on the calendar.

It is helpful to limit the number of colours to a minimum of choices. Use colour for high level choices. For example, if you run a home based business, try using one colour to sort between business and personal files (business is blue, personal is green). Too many colour choices can increase organizing challenges especially for individuals who are easily distracted and have difficulty focussing.

Put a List in the Bag

Having trouble remembering everything for swim class, Brownies or the race course? Not always reasonable to keep the bag packed for the next trip to the cottage?

Try the age old stand by - The List. Try making up a list for the kids for before school and posting a laminated copy beside the knapsack hook. It might include: lunch, drink money, libary books, gym clothes, agenda, instrument.

The great thing is they can be used for anything from heading off to dance class (keep it in the dance bag) to the sailing regatta (laminate a copy for the regatta box).