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Amber’s Home and Office Organizing Blog index

Blog entries for the category Toys/Kids

While Your College Student is Away

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, November 7, 2011

Four Options for Your Student’s RoomYou may be an empty nester or a semi empty nester. In either scenario, there’s a bedroom that is empty and void of your highschool student. He or she is now at college and their room sits open and unused. It’s tempting to use this space for our own personal use, isn’t it? Here are some opt...

Using Toys To Touch Others

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, October 20, 2011

Organizing Toys Gives Back This Holiday SeasonAfter leaving my organizing appointment yesterday, I was reminded Christmas is right around the corner. Yes we have about nine weeks, but it will be here sooner than we realize. The family I was organizing with decided to clean out three closets. In each we found brand new unopened toys and gifts ...

Mudroom Mania

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, June 17, 2011

You’re not alone, if you haven’t cleaned out the coat closet or mudroom to make room for summer. Scarves, mittens and hats are still floating around and it’s June. This mom was very organized and made this spare bedroom closet into her off season mudroom. Instead of having everything cluttr up the mudroom, she shifted things...

Making Room for Baby

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Sunday, April 3, 2011

Creating Special Storage Spots for Baby Expecting your first baby? With a slow housing market, many couples are choosing to stay put in their condo or apartment. It may be easier to organize, downsize, and make room for a new family member instead of selling and buying a home. Prep and organize space around the home to make the tranisition smo...

Routines Promote Organization

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, February 4, 2011

Teaching Organization to Kids through Basic RoutinesRoutines are a great way to get kids to naturally help around the house and keep their rooms cleans. If organization is worked into their daily routines, they really don’t even notice. They view it as part of what they should do on a regular basis and usually don’t question it.&n...

Organizing A Backpack

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, December 20, 2010

How to Keep you Child’s Backpack Organized Organizing a backpack and keeping　it neat and tidy　is not much different from organizing something else in your home or office. Similar principles apply. Here are my top tips! (and if you’ve got some to share- please comment! We’d love to hear them.)　1. Use pouches th...

Organizing Kids’ Paper

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, December 17, 2010

Organizing School and Activity PaperworkOrganizing paperwork that comes home from school activities and park district sports programs can seen overwhelming and annoying but processing and storing them is acutally pretty simple. I’ve sifted through countless kids paperwork with moms and each and every time we come up with certain categories. B...

Organizing Kids’ Closets

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, December 14, 2010

We’re in the midst of fall here in Chicago, so lately I’ve been digging through lots of kid’s closets, dresser drawers, and rooms. If you want to control the revolving door of clothes and shoes, try these three essential tools. ...

Organizing Baby

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, October 12, 2010

I recently helped a new mom organize her child’s bedroom. Grandma watched the eight month old baby as we worked together. When we got into the closet and dresser drawers, I was quickly reminded that organization doesn’t always come easy when a new baby comes into a family. Finding room for all the baby gear, baby feeding items, bla…

Tough Toy Questions Answered

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, October 8, 2010

This was a recent toy transformation the homeowner and I worked on together. With such a dramatic positive change, questions and curiousty are bound to follow. Here is how we did it and here are common questions I get asked.   Where do you start? What do you with the stuff? When should I go t…

Recycling Trophies

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, September 16, 2010

Mom’s often ask, what do I do with all these trophies and awards my kids get? Up until now, I really didn’t have an answer for them. Well now I do. One mom suggested removing the face plate which contains the accomplishment and name of your child.

A Successful School Year

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, August 26, 2010

Timely Organization Tips for Your StudentI think it’s fair to say I have organized my fair share of kids, teens, and collage age students. I think my youngest was a five year old boy. He really couldn’t make a decision to save his life. He was very cute, but just didn’t have the decision making cap on just yet. Then I’v…

Memorabilia Cases for Kids

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Sunday, April 18, 2010

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Teaching Kids Organization

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, March 3, 2010

I just posted a new article on organizing toys and getting kids involved in organizing. Here’s a snipet of that article. For the full version follow this link. 5 Ways to Teach Kids Organization Skills 1. Daily clean up toys with the kids. Notice the word DAILY. If this is done daily, it’s manageable. 2. Be intentional with toys. Keep …

Back To School Tips

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Take one morning to pull out all school supplies- paper, pens, folders. Gather it from all over the house, or if you’re organized J go to that one spot where you keep school supplies. Take inventory of what you do and don’t have. THEN take the kids shopping. When they are begging you for something you already have you can say, &ldqu…

Helping Out Mom Part 2

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, July 16, 2009

No child can focus for an hour organizing their room or toys so these simple suggestions can make it easier to start implementing organizational skills bit-by-bit. Here are some starter suggestions: -         make their bed  -         set the table/clear the table-…

Helping out Mom

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Why is it important that kids help mom organize or simply clean up around the house?  It teaches responsibility. Kids need to learn that as they play, read, or perform crafts, that they need to finish what they started and put their belongings away.  If there’s no restoration to order, they’ll never be order. It…

Children’s Books

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Tuesday, July 14, 2009

In order to provide for needy families in DuPage County, SCARCE is looking for donations of unwanted children’s books that are in good condition PLUS your unwanted Dictionaries & Thesauruses. SCARCE drop off hours are Monday - Friday, 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.…

Treasure Hunt and Dump

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Treasure Hunt and Dump is my slogan and solution in the following situation. Often times while organizing toys rooms or kid’s rooms, we (normally a mom and myself) come across large containers chest, Rubbermaid bins, or oversized baskets/bags which are full of toys. After pulling out the big toys, recognizable large items, and misce…

Clutter that Kills the Calm

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Friday, May 22, 2009

At the end of a long day or long week (in today’s case) I love sinking into bed and enjoying a peaceful and quiet atmosphere. It’s taken me awhile to figure out how to best create a calming, restful room. When I first was married we painted half our bedroom red- I don’t know what I was thinking. It was crazy. Red aw…

Maintenance w/Mom’s Help is Key

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Thursday, April 30, 2009

Recently I found myself organizing the same space for the third time alongside an energetic mom. I was not bothered by the repetition of the organizing but not to my surprise, she was frustrated that we were back in this space, again and rightly so. She started to pick my brain by asking, “why does this happen and why do we have to const…

To Keep or Not to Keep, that’s the question

Posted by: Amber Kostelny-Cussen on Monday, April 6, 2009

Kid’s memorabilia can get out of control. Everything they draw is cute so what’s the best way to organize it all.