Attempting to Organize the 6 of Us

School started this week. Everyone likes their teacher, and they LOVE their School PLANits. If your kids don't have one, you should get them one.

Let me rephrase that.

If you like to be organized and you like your kids to stay organized, THEN you should get one. Especially if they are at least in fourth grade. These systems were designed for kids with ADD or ADHD, but they are great great even if your kids don't have these disorders. After putting the labels on Jack's planner and folders last night, I wanted to marry the thing.

But . . . then I walked back into the mudroom to continue working with Robert on our latest Home Project, and my heart skipped a beat. I don't need to marry my son's school planner, I am already happily married.

Cut to:

Tuesday night, before school started, this what the mudroom looked like:

That is embarrassing.

My eye started twitching in anticipation of starting the school year under these conditions. How could I hand my kids their School PLANit Systems as an organization tool, then ask them to keep them in the warzone that was our mudroom?

I dug out my graph paper and some cardstock and made this . . .

. . . a scale model of what I wish my mudroom looked like. Of course, it would be constructed with screws and not scotch tape, and I would use a level so that the corners would be square. I also made a list of the supplies I would need and estimated the cost. I stared at it, showed it to Robert, we slept on it, and the next morning he was on board. After all, he had two whole days before he had to return to work! Why not take on a crazy project the likes of which neither of us have ever tried? We dropped the kids off at school and went straight to Menard's for supplies.

And also a book about building shelves.

I got to work painting and he got to work building.

We worked on it for two days straight and this morning he went back to his regular job (have I mentioned that he has one of those now? A regular old JOB! Hooray!), and we are nearly done. Hooks need to be installed, some trim needs to be added, and my paint job needs to cure before I can add the finishing touches, but I think we may have done it.

I'll post pictures of the finished product next week, after we have put everything away and added a few design details.

A new mudroom and School PLANits, what more could a girl ask for?