Back to school: Organizational center

Weekdays are super hectic in our house, as I know they are in yours too!  I try to keep mornings running smoothly by planning ahead & keeping things as organized as I possibly can.  It can be a bit tricky since I leave for work in the wee hours of the morning, leaving Mike to handle the morning rat race.  The night before I always lay out clothes, pack lunches & bags & leave Mike a list on our "Remember Board" to be sure he isn't forgetting anything.

The board wasn't working initially when summer camp began since Mike wasn't remembering to check the Remember Board!  After beating him up a bit (well, not really), he finally got into a habit of checking it before bolting out the door.  Now it works like a charm & keeps me from needing to text him daily morning reminders.  I update the board every Sunday based on the school calendar & what is needed each day.  I use the push pin side to list our weekly menu which keeps us eating healthier & saving money since I try & maximize ingredients.

We don't have a huge area off our garage/laundry room, but I did the best I could with what I had.  The shelving unit is from IKEA & we just screwed in hooks on each side & a filing system/magazine rack (also from IKEA) on the one side.

The turquoise, silver & white board you see above is a magnet board from IKEA that I spray painted with a strip of masking tape down the center. 

 In this same area, we have a door that leads to nowhere, aka A/C ducts, so I picked up a super inexpensive over-the-door shoe rack from Dollar General to use as a school supply holder.

I also grabbed this bin from Dollar General to use as a daily homework caddy for any essentials Cameron needs to work on homework such as pencils, colored pencils, crayons, etc.  Thus far, I only have a binder with wide-ruled paper since I'm waiting to see what he often uses when he starts kindergarten.

Mike made the doorknob coat rack you see above & I already had the other wicker looking wall mounted organizer from Marshalls & the wall was already painted with chalkboard paint.  All together, this project cost me somewhere around $100.  Thus far it's worked wonderfully for summer camp, but the true test will be when he starts kindergarten.