Kids

, , ,

Helpful Resources

, , ,

This week we wanted to give you a closer look at some of the most helpful local resources for all of your purging, organizing and styling needs. We have amped up our "Resources" portion of the website and wanted to share with you. Consider the links below as "tools" in your tool belt of organization. This page is actively updated as we learn about new services available in our area...so stay tuned! These are just a few highlights from our full resources page.

DONATION SPOTS

  • Goodwill : There are plenty of locations all around Knoxville. An organization that helps fund job training programs for East TN is something we can gladly get behind.

  • YWCA : They serve a wide variety of individuals from middle school girls and boys to women of all ages. A current "wish list" can be found on their website.

  • Angelic Ministries : Located in north Knoxville, they accept any furniture, clothing, or household items in good condition. Ongoing needs include twin mattresses, box springs and bed linens.

  • Ladies of Charity : This is another north Knox donation spot that accepts items ranging from clothing to household items to furniture. If you're unable to physically move your furniture, they'll arrange to come and get it from your home.

STORAGE & MOVING

  • Knoxville Box and Container, Inc : We can't speak highly enough of this local company that is committed to delivering quality products with unmatched customer service. Give them a call with your box and container needs.

  • Moretz Moving : Are you or someone you love moving soon? These are the folks to call; trusted and dependable. They also offer a free estimate!

TECHNOLOGY LIFE-SAVERS

  • Neighborhood Nerds : General computer help for your families technology issues. They help with phones, desktops and laptops. Their team is passionate about teaching you to use your technology well.

  • HappyMac : Local company you can count on with all of your Apple products. HappyMac team members really know the ins and outs of your favorite and most used products- after all they have been servicing Knoxville since 1994.

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY

  • Fleetwood Photo & Digital : Need your old family photos or home videos archived? They can do it. They turned old forgotten pages of recipes into a beautifully bound cookbook for one of our clients. 

 

Knoxville is fortunate to have local organizations that make great use of our outdated or excess treasures. And we are huge fans of the local companies that provide the service and supplies we need to carry out our organizing jobs for our clients. 

We hope that some of these resources will give you the direction you need to get going on your next project! 

,

Keys to a Peaceful Summer

,

A big hooray for students, teachers, volunteers and parents who worked hard this school year!

Kids have been counting down the days; eagerly awaiting pool play time, road trips, and freedom to roam the neighborhood day & night. While summertime is sweet it can also add some chaos to our homes and cars. Here are a few tips to keep peace in your home & car this summer while the fun summer activities ensue!

  1. Fill a small tote with the summer outdoor essentials and keep it in your garage or laundry room (easy access to grab and go). Fill it with these items: outdoor/picnic blanket, sunscreen, bug spray, band aids, frisbee, and the ever useful Eno hammock.

  2. Designate a section of the pantry and refrigerator for kids snacks and drinks. Make sure to pick an easily accessible shelf for your kiddos. These snacks and drinks will take up more room in the summer than they do during the school year, so it saves everyone from clutter and hunting for the right snack to designate a specific shelf.

  3. Plan some free family fun - check out these local hikes from Outdoor Knoxville. Be sure to check the weather forecast, grab some snacks & hit the trail together. This is a great alternative to more expensive indoor activities. You could even incentivize the hike by allowing your kids to invite a friend if they consistently keep up with their chores around the house for a week straight!

  4. Check out the Children's Festival of Reading hosted by the Knox County Public Library. This Saturday, May 21 is the free kick off event at 10:00 AM! The library is a great resource to continue education and reading throughout the summer, especially on those rainy days.

Happy summer to you! 

,

Organizing Kids Rooms

,

Playrooms and kids' rooms are often some of the hardest spaces to organize. Finding a good balance of knowing when the toys are taking over but also keeping a wide range of options to foster creativity and fun is a challenge. Organizing for kids is a hard task. While respecting what an individual child enjoys playing with, there are ways to purge without ending up with lots of tears over toys that are missed.

1. Talk with your kids about what happens to toys that they let go of. Help them see the story that they play a part in when they donate toys to children that may not have toys to play with like they do. If you have a child that gets excited to participate in the process of purging, let them be a part of the process. Ask them which toys they would like to share with a less fortunate child.

2. If your child isn't as willing to let go of things, take a few weeks to intentionally notice what toys they spend the most time playing with and which toys are neglected, or maybe they have grown out of. For children less willing to purge when the toys are taking over, try boxing up all of the toys that you believe they are done with. Keep the box in a hidden location for two weeks and if they haven't noticed or don't seem to mind that the toy is gone, give it away. Concentrate on helping your children value relationships more than things.

3. Specific toys to keep: Try to keep toys that help foster creativity, furthering education, and thinking skills. Art and Craft supplies, dress up clothes, building blocks, games, etc.

 

 

4. If your kids share a room, help them make their own space feel special. Sometimes kids need their own space and sometimes they need to learn how to share space well. Whether your kids share a room or have their own, making an effort to hang their favorite poster, frame their best art creation(s), create a reading nook, or frame a photo of your child with their best friend can make them feel proud of their own space and, hopefully, lead to taking more responsibility of keeping it in order.

Photo: James Henry / bauersyndication.com.au

Photo: James Henry / bauersyndication.com.au

5. Kids clothes.
It's amazing how quickly kids grow out of their clothing. This is an ongoing process. Each season, go through each closet and toss or donate items that are worn out or no longer fit. If you have younger kids that will grow into things in the future, just keep the well maintained items & box up clothing by size and sex and store somewhere other than their closet if you have the storage space available. When it comes to kids closets, make sure items are stored in a way that makes it easy for them to become more independent. Can they reach the things they need to? Is it obvious where things go?

6. Kid storage.
Coming up with a way to organize toys and games that is conducive to kids can be complicated. Bins can be a great help as a solution. This unit has the ability to do both store in bins and on shelves which can be helpful with multiple shapes of toys. Getting items off the floor and onto shelves or in bins is a must.

7. Kids books. The best advice here is have lots to choose from on shelves that your kids can easily reach. Color coordinating can be a fun project for kids and is much more practical in re-shelving than alphabetically.

8. Art supplies. Which supplies do you want them to be able to access without you present? Which supplies do you only want used with adult supervision? This changes with age so reorganizing is necessary over time. Going through and tossing broken, dried up etc. Storing in a way that allows kids to participate in clean up process. I've had great success over the years with a small chest of 4 drawers. It has grown with the kids starting with a drawer for play-doh, one for wooden puzzles, one with all kinds of paper to now holding all sorts of markers, paints, clay & older kids art items. 

As always, HYD is here to help if you're needing a little boost to get these projects started. Just drop us a line at info@helpyoudwell.com or call us at 865.245.9080.

, , ,

Fall To-Do List

, , ,

Do you ever get to the end of a season and realize that there were so many things you planned to do but never got to? Us too.
There are so many fall festivals, holidays, and events going on and we've made a to do list of sorts to help get the ball rolling for your harvest plans. We love the idea of having seasonal bucket lists as well; things that aren't necessarily all planned out but a list of ideas for the occasional Saturday when you find yourself with no plans.

We suggest carving out an hour with your calendar ASAP to get things on your schedule.

Festivals: Click on the links for more info

Activities/Holidays:

Photo by Sarah Musgrave

Photo by Sarah Musgrave

  • Host a bonfire

  • Take a hike in the Smokies (not sure when trail to choose? Check out the Top 10) If you are looking for a family friendly hike with young kids, "Andrew's Bald" is perfect.

  • Plan and purchase or make Halloween costumes for your kids (Need some ideas? Here are a few)

  • Seasonal decorating (Southern Living's Fall Decorating Ideas)

  • Tailgate with friends before a football game

  • Finalize Thanksgiving plans

What kinds of things are on your to do list for this Fall?

,

The Quick List for Back-to-School Organization

,

Here in Knoxville, the start of school is just over a week away for most of us. It's time to plan, shop, and prepare for another year of learning and growing. To start off the school year right, HYD wanted to share a few tips that can help make the transition more simple and efficient.

1. School Supplies

  • Obtain your child's class supply list from his/her school as soon as possible.

  • Take advantage of Tennessee's tax-free weekend August 7-9

  • Wait for discounts on items like clothing, electronics, and shoes that typically drop in price around mid-August

  • For eco-friendly options, check out MightyNest and earn money for your school while you shop.

2. Ease into School Routine

  • These last weekdays before school begins, begin waking late sleepers up a bit earlier and re-introduce school year bedtime.

  • Keep snacks readily available for kids throughout afternoon as meal times during school may differ from summer eating routines. Real Simple has a great list of snack options.

  • Remind your kids what you expect from them in their morning routine and after-school routine so they know what they're responsible for. Here is a checklist HYD likes.

3. Calendar Prep

  • Find your school's or your school system's calendar for the year and place all important dates including holidays, in-services, half-days, and report card days on your personal calendar now.

  • Create a central calendar the whole family can see with school and after school activities using a paper or whiteboard so it's easy to read and adjust like this one.

4. Prepare for Paper Piles

  • Make an effort from day one of school to fill out each form as you get them, place them back in your child's folder, and back to school before it gets lost in a pile.

  • Create a system for keeping art or school work that allows you to discard all other items the day they enter your home. In other words, go through folders each afternoon/evening, look at each piece of work, if it is an original that you would've liked to have seen as you looked back to that age and you have no other like it, keep it. Otherwise, recycle it.

5. Teacher(s) Support

  • Try not to miss any opportunity to meet your child's teacher or teachers. If you're not able to meet in person, reach out with an email to introduce yourself and offer help to make the school year successful. This is invaluable to both your child and his/her teacher. Teachers need our support, encouragement, and helpful knowledge that only we can give them about our child.

Help You Dwell wishes you and your family a safe and successful 2015-2016 school year!

 

 

,

Organizing Your Summer with Your Kids

,
IMG_2529.JPG

It's been officially one week since my kiddos had their last day of school before summer. So far, they've enjoyed sleeping in, lounging around the house in PJs, some crafts they've been wanting to get to, and taking a road trip to visit old buddies in Asheville. Thankfully, we're off to a pretty good start.

“Summer will end soon enough, and childhood as well.”
— George R.R. Martin

With that said, summer with school-age kids home can be a bit overwhelming without a plan. It can also be a wonderful time for kids to explore, relax, create, and enjoy the freedom of days without the time restraints of the school year. All you need is your time, a little rhythm in your day and a brainstorming session with you kids to make the most out your family's summer.
Here are 7 tips to get you started:

1. Make time each day to play or connect with your child.

Take the time to play a board game, make a milkshake or catch fireflies. It doesn't have to be an elaborate project or outing, just a few minutes of your attention can make simple moments last forever.

2. find the balance for structure

After the long school year, kids need time to unwind, relax and let their brains and emotions take it easy. Kids also need a routine so that they know what to expect. Come up with a loose plan for each day, like hang at the house in the morning doing a small job or working in the garden, afternoons are spent running errands, at the pool or splash pad, or visiting a friend. The summer is a great time to teach kids how to do certain chores well so that during the school months, they can continue contributing to helping the house stay in order.

3. help kids develop a healthy relationship with time

"I'm bored" is a phrase we can all remember using at some point and one I'm sure you've heard from your child as well. Use the summer as a time to help your kids be comfortable with themselves, without technology. This may be hard to commit to at first, but don't lose heart. Here is more on why being bored can be a good thing and ideas for kids when they are.

4. Strictly limit screens

Give your kids certain times of the day for technology. Kids are less likely to bug you about it and more inclined to use their imagination if the option of being on a screen is off the table until a certain time.

5. establish daily reading / quiet time

Setting up this time during each day keeps your child's mind engaged and growing as well as gives you time to yourself. Here is a great list of summer reading ideas.

6. plan memory making activities

Get the kids involved in this brainstorming activity. Here's a list to get you started...
- Play an outdoor movie in your backyard
- Have a lemonade stand
- Make a firepit in your yard and enjoy s'mores together
- Have a water party with sprinklers, water balloons, water guns, slip-n-slide, etc
- Plan a bike ride and pack snacks for a picnic along the way
- Go berry picking
- Make your kids breakfast in bed (or encourage siblings to do it for one another)
- Surprise Dad (or Mom) at work with lunch
- Go hiking, camping, kayaking or canoeing
- Plant a small garden or even just a couple of pots of plants
- Host a pot-luck outdoor party, let your kids help with the guest list

7. capture the summer in a photo album

My kids love to look back at photos from previous summers. As you embark on this summer's activities, grab your camera to snap shots along the way. The week before school starts, have your kids help put an album together as a way to celebrate the priceless memories you've made. It will be time very well spent.