Organize Family Center

" You're watching Better.tv. Home, family, life. And now, here is Brooke Carlson."

" Alright. So the kids are back in school. They've got all kinds of activities that includes schedules, a lot of paperwork. So Dream Team Organizing editor, Ellen Damaschino is here with some great tips on getting you and your kids all organized."

" This is a crazy time of year. You've got multiple schedules, activities. How do you keep that all organized instead of having a big pile on your [unk]."

" Where you're fighting through it, too, and I just find the right information. So where do you get started?"

" Well, the first thing you want to do is you want to find a good location in your house. I have all of my things right in the breakfast room."

" Okay."

" Another good location would be by your front your front or back doors, people going in and out of the house. Some bad ideas for family information, your dining room table, the pile on the kitchen counters, front of refrigerators, and bulletin boards."

" Okay."

" Because you'll never find anything."

" Right."

" You need to set up a good organizing system. You want to take control of your paperwork. Make files, categories, and you can use this type of open-type filing system."

" Okay."

" Another thing I like is one for the child. If you have small children, get them into the habit of putting it in a little box when they come home. That way Mom can just look through it, sign the permission slips, see what's going on."

" Uh-huh."

" But nothing's gonna get done unless you put it on the calendar, so you have to make sure that the information that goes into this is also put on the calendar."

" Okay. 'Cause otherwise, you're just, you'll see it there, but then where's the paperwork?"

" Still have to get a birthday invitation or a class scheduled or soccer team, you can write everything on the calendar and put it in that appropriate file folder, and it's easy to find. You know exactly where it is."

" Sure."

" These things should be together. These, too, to be together."

" Now what's this? Is this for yourself?"

" Yes. Because you don't forget Mom in all of this."

" I think no."

" So I found this mail-centric here. You can keep all the supplies that you need that you're going cutting coupons because that's the kind of paperwork that's involved in the family, too. This is a great little new item that I just found. It has the grocery list, and then you can make your menus for the week."

" Uh-huh."

" To help you with your shopping."

" Perfect. Fabulous. And this? What's this? It just looks really cool."

" I knew you were gonna like this, Brooke. Sometimes you have to take things with you, so whenever your information is portable, this is a hanging cloud. You can have it hanging in the kitchen. Put all the information. You can clip a calendar on the front and it closes all up so [unk] to take with you. So if you're kind of a mom that's on the go, you may want to use something like this for your."

" Yeah."

" Family information."

" Now real quickly, this is a great thing to where you know where everything is. Now do you want to get your kids and your family involved in your process as well? Find out what works for your family, whatever system it is, and then make sure to have it. So if you just push the kids on it everyday of the first few days, by week 2, they're gonna know exactly where everything is, and it's gonna make it easy for all of you. So much easier. So much organized. So great tip. Thanks very much, Ellen."

" Thanks for watching Better.tv, always on with home, family, life. E-mail us at . Together, we make it better."