and now finally - the finished mudroom as promised

okidoki - so here is how we roll: 

From top to bottom beginning with the left: big basket of boots (boots only go there once dried - they have to stay on mats and only Mom makes the transition). Kids can put dry boots from their feet into the baskets - hence the disarray.

 Basket for:

gloves, mittens, scarves, warm weather over soccer basketball clothes kind of gear. 

Under the bench: tennis shoes and flip flops (depending on the season). 

On the right: big basket of boots - no rhyme or reason for the boots or what basket they go in, soccer socks, club soccer shirts, a bin for each kid soccer/basketball shirts and under that a bin for each kid soccer/basketball shorts. Pretty straight forward mudroom stuff. 

 Now here is where I take pride and love my system: 

I got this great Pottery Barn locker thing from a lady that was selling it locally for dirt cheap(see picture way at the bottom). On the wall are three picture frames that I write on with dry erase markers. 

They tell me what their specials are at school so I don't forget that on Monday A kid needs tennis shoes and B kid needs to bring their Clarinet to school and C kid needs to bring their library book back. 

Anyone with multiple kids knows that "specials" can be your kryptonite and this has really helped me keep things in order. 

Each child has a basket and binder. They come from school and know (after what seemed like 50 gajillion reminders at the beginning of the year) to put all papers/library books/homework into their baskets, backpacks in their lockers, shoes in the shoe bin, gloves in the glove bin, jackets on their hook, hats in the hat bin, lunch boxes and water bottles (that is a WHOLE other post - packing lunches) on the kitchen counter. 

What about the binders you ask. 

Well - I always go through the baskets to see if there is anything emergent - you know - 

a big whipping of a project in which I have to come up with 4 cute pictures of my family and talk a kid into doing something on a posterboard 

or

 head lice in school 

or

 "your kid did something inexcusable" 

 you know - the fun stuff. 

Anyhoo - whenever I have a free minute I sit down in front of a mindless TV show like Dance Moms (not that I would admit to watching something like that - much less something like Toddlers and Tiaras) and punch holes in everyone's papers and put them in the binders. I do recycle a few things (multiple notices etc) but not much. 

Why do I do this you ask? 

Well for several reasons: 

I like to thumb through the binders and see the progression from the beginning of a grade to the end. I also like having it in case any problems or anything strange comes up. 

I also never face the whole,

"Hey Mom - where is my seemingly innocuous paper that is actually incredibly important that I brought home 4 weeks ago and you promptly recycled that I need right now"

 crisis two minutes before the bus comes home.

Lunch boxes live on the bottom along with a clarinet and to the far right of the baskets is a bell I never ring but seemed like a good idea at the time and a cup of dry erase markers. 

The hamper on the left of the lockers was quite simply

The. Best. Idea. Ever. 

A much used piece of equipment. 

Anyway - that's all I know 

for now at least ;)