Top 10 Organizing Tips for Nannies
Organizing the home for your charges.
By
Lorie Marrero, Creator of the Clutter Diet®
© June 2008 Stephanie Felzenberg, Be the Best Nanny, www.BestNannyNewsletter.com
Organizing is part of every nanny’s job. To organize the
home successfully always keep the family you work for, and the children you
care for, in mind.
1. Communicate first about organizing anything for your employer.
Some people are very particular about how they want things done, and even if you think an area is messy, they may know exactly where things are and like it that way. After you’ve discussed this issue and understood how they like things, you can feel free to pursue these kinds of projects independently.
2. If your role gets you involved in organizing any paperwork for the family, be very careful about throwing anything away.
There can be legal and financial reasons to keep certain papers, even if they are very old or don’t look important. If you are not sure, create a box or pile of “probable trash” to have them review it before throwing it out. You also need to shred anything you are throwing away that could be damaging to your employer’s identity, finances, or reputation.
3. Organize from a “kids’ eye view.”
What are their favorite toys?
You want to put those at a level that is easy for them to reach so they won’t
have to climb for them or get frustrated.
4. Consider safety always, especially if you have multiple charges
of varying ages.
You will want to organize
spaces considering the choking and poison hazards of the younger children, yet
make it easy for older children to reach things they need as well.
5. If you help the family with their laundry, ask your employer if
you can use the “dot system” to help you identify clothing.
It’s often difficult to sort
and put away laundry for siblings of the same gender. Use a permanent laundry
marker to make a single dot on the tags of the oldest child’s clothing, then
the next oldest child gets two dots on their tags. The younger child from there
gets three dots, and so on. When clothes get handed down, you just add another
dot to know which clothes belong to whom.
6. Discuss with your employer a system of managing hand-me downs and
out-of-season clothing.
Kids grow fast, and you need
to know where to put the clothes that are outgrown or out
of season when you identify
them. Does your employer want to save them for other children? Give them away for donation? Or possibly give them to a friend? We recommend storing hand-me-downs in clear containers by gender and a range of size (like 0-6 months, or sizes 4-6).
7. Consider clear containers versus baskets or opaque containers.
Sometimes storing things inside clear containers is perfect
so you can see items inside the boxes before opening them. Other times, it’s
advantageous to hide the items you are storing. If you’re not sure, ask your
employer his or her opinion, since some people like everything to match and to
camouflage their storage. Other people are “out of sight, out of mind!”
8. Use a label maker to establish homes for items you have
organized.
Particularly when many people are sharing a space, this
makes the organizing work official and keeps the space organized longer.
9. Label with pictures and words together to help with reading
skills.
You can label toys containers with both a picture of the
toy and a written label, so this associates the words with the toys and helps
with learning to read. If your employer’s household is bilingual or just trying
to learn another language, you can also label items in both languages to help
everyone learn more.
10. Many children are overwhelmed by
too many choices.
More messes get made because kids dump out everything to
find what they want. Many of your charges may be blessed with an abundance of
toys and belongings, but this blessing may actually be a curse and may cause
confusion. Ask your employer if it’s okay to start rotating some toys in and
out on a regular basis and store ½ to 2/3 of them away to simplify choices and
cleanup.
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