Check out Shannon's site,  Rocks In My Dryer, for lots of great tips! 


A few stray tips today from a very disorganized Mom!  I don't do well with paper, and have a tendency to be a piler rather than a filer.  An organizer might be a good solution, but I'd probably place it in a pile somewhere!

The best method I've found for keeping up on items we run out of is keeping an index card clipped to the fridge.  The metal clips with magnets on the backs are sturdy, and allow me to pull the card and put it back multiple times.  Here, my Costco list for dh and my list of needed grocery items can be kept 'til shopping day.  Any place else, they'll meld with other papers and I'll have to trust my faulty memory.  When I remember, I try to keep my menu for the week posted in like manner.

Another new idea has to do with keeping  track of when I purchased a given grocery item.  Label your laundry detergent containers, spices, etc. with a sharpie, noting the date of purchase or the date you opened the container.  By doing this, you will be able to gauge the amount of time/use you got from the product.  My laundry soap changed packaging and products, and I'm trying to determine if the product I've purchased is really equivalent to what was working for us before.  I may keep track of # of loads done by tallying on the next container. 

Speaking of Sharpies, these are very useful kitchen management tools.  Leftovers stored in ziplocs are easily labeled, as are items to be stored in the freezer.  And those ziploc bags serve as a space manager in my fridge.  In a small fridge, bowls and containers can take up way too much space, but ziplocs can be worked into odd shaped spaces.

In a large family, little things can really help one to keep some semblance of organization.  These are just a few small things that work for me!