I love to travel by air even though it makes me a little nuts, sometimes.

I obsessively check and recheck things (Boarding pass? Phone? Carry-on? Suitcase?) when I’m at the airport, so there’s no telling what I must look like. I live in fear of doing something really stupid and being stranded forever in some airport.

Hey, I never said my fears were realistic.

Even though I usually carry my suitcase on board (It fits, I promise) I’m especially attentive to packing the bag I keep in the seat with me. I’ve spent more than a few hours delayed on a tarmac wishing I’d had a bottle of water or an actual paper book when the electronic ran down.

Also, I really don’t like being bored on long flights, so I’m always balancing just the right amount of essential stuff that’s easy to access with what won’t drive me crazy around an airport all day.

I just got back from a trip over the weekend, and am unpacking, so I thought I’d share what I think is important in a carry-on bag.

1. The bag itself - I’m very picky about the bag I use. First, it’s got to zip across the top (as opposed to a magnet closure) so things don’t fall out of it when you have to shove it under the seat. It also has to be bigger than an average purse, but not like a second suitcase. It’s also a plus when it’s at least somewhat stylish because I often carry it around conferences and meetings.

It’s also got to pass my “one arm scoop test”. I suppose it’s left over from my days of carrying kids around, but the straps have to be long enough for me to get it over my shoulder comfortably using one arm. It’s also got to be really sturdy with the straps fastened solidly to the bag since it’s no fun to have a strap break when you’re on your way to Gate 346C from Gate 2C.

2. Travel documents - I always carry 2 printed copies of boarding passes, and I’ve actually had to use them both before. I also make sure I have paper copies of ground transportation, lodging and meeting information even though I keep that information electronically, you just never know.

3. Magazines - I confess: I read celebrity rags on the plane. They have to be the latest copy, too. Don’t judge.

4. Book - Even though I don’t tend to read them on board, I always keep a book with me when I fly. You never know when you’ll be delayed or batteries will run out on your electronic devices leaving you with nothing to do but stare at people while they decide if they should get up and go to the bathroom, or not.

5. Water - I’m not really one of those people who carries a water bottle around everywhere, but I’ve learned the hard way to keep one with me.

6. Snack - I make sure I have something on the sweet side and something salty, since if I have one I inevitably want the other at 10,000 feet. If it’s an especially long flight, I might bring a sandwich or something.

7. Movies and games - I like to watch movies I haven’t had a chance to see. I load up my phone or table with one for going and one for the way home. I also play games on my phone when I’m in the mood.

8. Jacket - A jacket can keep you warm, and it makes a reasonable pillow in a pinch.

9. Pen and paper - It’s handy for making lists, drawing pictures or compose blog posts when you’re bored.

10. Wallet - I don’t usually carry a purse with me when I’m only going to be gone a couple of days. I put my wallet, sunglasses, keys and essentials in my tote and leave the purse and things I can live a couple of days without at home.

11. Personal items - I keep a hairbrush, mints, lipstick, mirror, nail file, Tylenol, bandaids etc. in my travel bag at all times, so I don’t have move those things from my purse to the bag and back.

12. Cords and headphone - I have a make-up bag just for cords, chargers and headphones for my various gadgets.

Since I usually carry my suitcase on board (Seriously, it fits. I’m not one of “those” people. Why are you looking at me like that?) I also have my clear bag with liquids, but I usually put that in the suitcase after I go through security.

I like to believe I’m prepared for anything that comes my way with one simple bag over my shoulder.

What about you? What goes in your airplane carry-on bag?

I pride myself not only on keeping my car reasonably neat, but also on being prepared for whatever comes my way when I’m out and about.

A while back, I wrote about must have items for the car trunk, but I also have a certain set of things I keep in the console next to me.

The contents may look like random items (OK, the loose change in there is random, I don’t know how it got there), but I spend a lot of time in the car, and contents of the center console are a carefully crafted list of things I like to keep close without having a lot of extra stuff.

They’re not emergency or winter-preparedness items (I keep that kind of thing in the trunk) or anything smart like that. I’m talking about little things that drive me crazy if I don’t have them when I’m away from home.

Some of the things in my car console:

Lip balm - inevitably, one of the kids will complain about the worst chapped lips in the history of ever when we are 250 miles from civilization on the Interstate in the middle of the night.

Spare reading and sun glasses - Mostly self-explanatory, but they rank near the top of my list of things that bug me to death if I accidentally leave them at home.

Hand lotion -I’m not a lotion addict by any means, but there seems to be some relationship between noticing dry hands and sitting in a huge traffic jam.

Nail clippers and nail file - For those times when that annoying fingernail has to be dealt with RIGHT. NOW.

Pens and paper - I’ve never mastered typing in a number on the phone at the same time I’m talking on the phone, so I have to be all retro and write it on paper.

Mints - I keep them in there mostly to let my youngest child think he’s discovered a secret treat.

Napkins - I have kids, need I say more? My paper napkin stash is also like a retrospective of everywhere I’ve been over the past few weeks.

Tweezers - We all know about the annoying stray hair that only shows up when you’re at a stoplight, right? Tweezers are also good for a variety of kids’ backpack-related malfunctions like stuck zippers.

Also, when my kids were younger and were going to lots of birthday parties, I used to keep gift bags, tags and tissue paper in there because I may or may not have been that person who bought the gift on the way to the party.

I may be the only one who thinks this deeply about the subject, but are there things you find handy to keep in your car?

Every year, I promise myself that I’m going to put the holiday decorations away properly.

I even plan to go out and buy things on sale for next year so I’ll be prepared.

However, I somehow talk myself out of it saying, “I’ll just take care of it next Christmas”.

But, now? This is my year.

I may have missed the sales (we’ve been out of town a couple of times), but I’m going to get a grip on storing this stuff if it’s the last thing I do.

Here’s my plan so far:

1. Get rid of worn/broken items and things we don’t actually display. We have quite a bit of Christmas decor as a result of being on a tour of homes thing (long story) several years ago. I don’t really have a need for the “all out” decorating scheme anymore, so it’s time to thin out the collection.

2. Make sure we have proper storage containers and decide what goes in each. While I don’t want to fall into the trap of buying boxes to contain junk, I do want to have what we need, and home organizing things are on sale right now.

3. Divide items into categories such as soft items (stockings, towels, tablecloths etc.), knick-knacks, garland and lights, fragile items, tree ornaments, outside decorations and kids’ personalized items.

4. Re: kids’ personalized items. A couple of years ago, I bought 3 identical plastic boxes for each of my kids. They each have a nativity set and personalized ornaments from each year, so these things go in their labeled box. They like to unpack them each year, and eventually I can present them with their box when they have homes of their own.

5. Plan for where the boxes will be stored. Most of our decorations go in the closet in the dining room, but I don’t want the boxes to outgrow the closet or anything, so I want to make sure they all fit before I pack everything.

6. Pack everything logically and carefully, even if it takes a long time.

We’ll see how I do as it’s just now underway, but I’m going to try to make sure Christmas 2012 me thanks (instead of curses) Christmas 2011 me.

Do you have any tips for storing Christmas decorations? I’m all ears.

The gift-giving holidays are done for the most part, and there’s a wrapping paper, gift bag, box explosion in the house now.

Someone (and, by “someone”, I mean probably you) will eventually have to sort through is because some of that stuff can be reused. Really, have you noticed the price of gift bags?

Once the aftermath is combed through, you have to decide what you’re going to do with it all.

A long time ago, gift wrapping supplies consisted of a few rolls of paper, some tape, a few sticky bows and some scissors stuck in the hall closet. But, when gift bags, decorative boxes and such came on the scene, gift wrapping supplies began to take up more space.

Additionally, gift wrapping has become such an art form (a competitive sport?) that birthdays and other events no longer mean there’s just a roll of non-Christmas paper to add to the supplies. Now, is seems like there’s a whole other set of item we have to store for birthdays, anniversaries and surprises.

Maybe that’s just me since my kid’s school sells wrapping paper for a fundraiser, and I have quite the display of “all-occasion” wrapping supplies.

Any way you look at it, all that stuff has to go somewhere, and for those of us without a “wrapping room” in the house that means paper, bows and other supplies go in some sort of box.

A long time ago, I splurged for a “gift wrap organizer” that was actually just a long box, thinking it would solve the mess. But soon, paper rolls got longer and gift bags came along and things no longer fit neatly inside it and I ended up having an “annex” box.

I’m not really happy with my gift wrap storage solution, but I haven’t come up with anything better.

Currently, I have those 2 boxes for holiday wrapping supplies, and I keep the all-occasion supplies in the kitchen closet since we have to access them more frequently.

When the kids were younger and they were going to birthday parties all the time, I also kept a supply of gift bags, tissue paper, tags and tape in the car because I confess to being the person who usually bought the gift on the way to the party, but I really don’t have to do that anymore.

Also, since the kids are old enough to get into the supplies themselves, things end up looking like this:

I’d love to be able to keep the gift wrap supplies neat, and all in the same place. Do you have a storage system or a container you like to use to organize gift wrapping supplies?

Please share in the comments below!

I have a nice enough digital camera, and I love to take pictures. I’m not especially good at it, but what I take is meets our needs, and I’m always learning something, so I keep doing it.

One thing I’ve never come close to mastering is what to do with the digital pictures I take.

I’ve tried most every system I can think of, but I haven’t been able to sustain any routine with them. From storing them to viewing and printing them, I have a bit of Digital Photo Paralysis, I want to make sure I do “just the right thing”, but sometimes I can’t decide what that is, so I don’t do anything.

Saving our digital pictures has been a bit of a challenge. I always download them to the computer (Confession: our computer isn’t backed up, so I need a plan quickly. Don’t judge.), and sometimes I even sort those files into years and months, but not always. I’ve always managed to rescue pictures from the hard drive if we have a computer croak, so I have some on external drives.

Viewing and enjoying our digital pictures has been a challenge, too.

For a while, I kept a photo blog, determined to document everything promptly and in order. Predictably, that started taking up a lot of room, and it fell by the wayside. Additionally, that method never really caught on with my parents who just wanted to see pictures of the grand kids.

I’ve had a Flickr account since it became popular years ago, but I mostly use it for blog-related photos rather than our entire collection because I’m not wild about the idea of depending on a 3rd party to store them. If I have pictures from an event that I need to share with other people, I upload them to a photo sharing site, but even then I haven’t really settled on one with any regularity.

So, we have many years of digital photos that we actually don’t look at all that often, mainly because I’m not sure of “just the right way” I want to do it.

Don’t even start me on printing digital photos. We usually just don’t do it, and I know that’s terrible, but it’s true. Our 3rd child is the only one who was born during the digital photo age, so there’s very few prints of him, and he’s old enough to notice, now. That’s going to be a problem for graduation someday when he needs baby pictures for the yearbook, huh?

I’m ready to try to turn over a new leaf, though, so tell me about your digital photos:

1. How do you store your digital photos? Computer hard drive? External drive? Third-party site?
2. How do you organize them? By year and month? By event?
3. How do you share digital photos with other people? Do you send specific photos, or do you put them all on one site that anyone can view if they wish?
4. Do you print your digital photos? What do you do with the prints? Scrapbook? Traditional photo albums?

Also, if I were to turn over this new leaf, should I try to go back and organize/upload/print photos from the beginning, or should I just start today and move forward?

My kids are getting older, and I want to make sure we have photo memories for them, but I hate that they have to fish around the computer to find them, so I’m determined to get our digital pictures organized and keep up with it!

I have a kitchen drawer that’s a “catch-all”.

OK, OK some people may refer to it as a junk drawer, but we prefer to think of it as “miscellaneous storage”.

(Apropos of nothing, as I was pondering what to write, I discovered a guy who photographs junk drawers and medicine cabinets and a Flickr junk drawer group. Who knew?)

While there doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason to what’s in our junk drawer at first glance, the inventory has actually been cultivated over the years, and we know what is supposed to live there. Here it is:

We’ll probably never be those people with the meticulously divided junk drawer. It actually needs straightening at the moment, and we do clean it out from time to time. But I’d be lying if I said it didn’t usually look like this.

We keep things in there that we use intermittently,  things we don’t want to lose track of, and things simply may need “sometime”.  Yes, I do know this violates all manners of organizational principles, but I’m just putting the good, the bad and the ugly of disorder out there for you.

Actually, it’s kind of like a treasure hunt and a time capsule all in one!

I may try to make better sense of this area someday, but for now, here’s 5 things in our junk drawer:

1. Conference badge lanyards - I keep those in there because the kids have to have IDs for school, and trading lanyards is big business there.

2. Vintage postcards - I found some vintage postcards at my dad’s house. He doesn’t need them, and I don’t have a “vintage postcard drawer” and I don’t want to lose them, so there ya go.

3. A bag of safety pins - Self-explanatory.  Many moons ago, people kept safety pins in their sewing baskets. I have no sewing basket. But, I do have a “miscellaneous storage” drawer!

4. Birthday candles - This is just where they’ve always lived.

5. A telephone line splitter - If you come over, and say, “Hey, I need to split a land line connection in two, can you help”? I’m on it.

Do you have a junk drawer? Tell us 5 things in there. Are they useful or just orphaned?

It’s travel season with vacations, conferences and more right around the corner, and it seems like everyone is off to somewhere, and there’s so much to be done before leaving the house.

Proper planning before you go is the key to piece of mind while you’re gone as well as the key to not coming home to chaos.

Sometimes, it’s hard to do everything while you’re trying to work, mange kids, do everyday tasks AND pack, but the preparation is worth it when you walk in the door on your return home and you feel like you’ve actually had a vacation rather than postponing tasks at home.

Here are a few tips to get things situated at home before you go:

1-2 weeks before departure

• Make arrangements for pet care
• Arrange indoor/outdoor plant care or for someone to check your house periodically
• Get your car checked: brakes, oil, tires, windshield wipers etc.
• Confirm that you have important documents: car insurance proof, health insurance IDs, valid driver’s license and license plate tags
• Pay the bills
• Reduce the amount of food you buy
• Check your personal and business calendars to see if you need to cancel (don’t forget kids’ sports practices!) or RSVP to anything and for events occurring soon after your return
• Confirm any reservations and make sure you have directions, keys, phone numbers etc. for your destination
• Pick up any dry cleaning/prescriptions
• Suspend mail and newspaper delivery, or get someone to pick them up (you can put your mail on hold online at the USPS)
• Mow grass, do other yardwork
• Clean the house (You’ll thank yourself when you get back. Just do it.)

Day before departure

• Charge any items that need charging
• Round up items needed to entertain kids en route Get cash, complete any banking arrangements
• Fill up gas tank
• Leave your itinerary and contact information with a relative or neighbor so you can be reached in case something goes amiss
• Clean out the refrigerator and discard (or eat!) anything perishable.
• Clean up yard and put away anything that could become a missile in the event of a storm (trust me)

Day of departure

• Turn air conditioning down (but not off)
• Empty trashcans
• Empty dishwasher
• Water plants
• Clean out coffee maker after use (No, really. Trust me.)
• Unplug most electronics to save electricity and protect from a power surge
• Adjust shades and blinds, consider leaving lights and radio on for safety
• Lock your doors (don’t forget the garage) and make sure you have your keys

Last, but not least? Turn off the water to clothes washer.

Yes, I know that’s standard women’s magazine advice and really, who does that, right?

We do.

Want to know why?

We had the water line to the washer burst while we were on vacation and came home to about 2 feet of water in the basement and the entire first floor saturated.

That’s why.

Do. It.

While you’re at it, consider replacing the water line to the back of the washing machine with metal braided hoses (rather than rubber or anything else) and check them often.

If you don’t, and something happens, I promise the aftermath will give a new meaning to “Ordering Disorder”!

Do you have any hints about preparing for vacation, or have you ever had a mishap at home while you were gone?

Share it with us!

Like many families, our kitchen is our command center for schedules and documents.  We have 3 kids in 2 schools, 4 sports teams and various camps. Combine that with life in general, and it can make for an avalanche of “important stuff”.

We’ve tried many organizational tools over the years (there are so many great ones available), but we usually revert back to what works for us even though it’s not very fancy. Perhaps I should even be embarrassed by this “system”, but it’s just what we do.

For us, folders, holders and books for current, “active” papers, schedules etc. tend to make them “out of sight, out of mind”, so we don’t have much luck with them. Now that I’m writing all this down, though, it seems we use the “appliance method” of organization.

As far as schedules go, our weekly and monthly calendars are on the side of the refrigerator. The monthly calendar is a standard paper one, and I write in the recurring events such as sports practices and all the other known activities.

Every Sunday morning, I write the schedule for the week on the white board next to the monthly calendar. We go over it on Sunday nights as a family to make sure everyone knows what’s going on for the week and to ensure we haven’t left anything out:

Important, “active” paperwork (as opposed to things that need to be filed away) is kept on top of the microwave (yeah, I know). I’m not sure how that started, but everyone treats it with proper reverence and knows things you don’t want to lose go there, so that’s where it stays:

Finally, those reminders and papers that are critical for the day, the ones that absolutely can’t be forgotten, go on top of the coffee maker:

While that may not be the most conventional place to keep vital information, if you think about it, it makes sense. The kids won’t touch it, and there’s no way we could forget to look at it in the mornings.

So, that’s how we keep ourselves going. What about you? Tell me about your family command center, where do you keep all your “important papers”?

I have 3 kids in 4 different sports, and have had more than that (sports, not kids) over the years, so we have more than our fair share of sports “stuff” around the house.  In order to keep the sports miscellania from literally being “around the house”, I’ve had to develop a system.

Now, I’m not saying it’s a life-changing system, but it works for us for the most part. I’d love to say that we just fold uniforms and put them away neatly in their rooms with the rest of their clothes, but as many of you know, it doesn’t always work that way.

When my older kids were young, if changing clothes once a day was good, changing clothes 8 times a day was better. They didn’t discriminate between play clothes, church clothes, bathing suits, costumes or soccer uniforms, all was fair game in “change your clothes roulette”, and that made for some interesting searches the night before the game, so I have a “thing” about wanting to know where the uniforms are.

The older 2 kids take care of their own uniforms for the most part, but our youngest, age 9, plays several sports and has quite a few uniform and practice things to keep in order. We use an inexpensive baker’s rack to organize all of it. The keeps things easily accessible, but the the shelves help maintain a system.

The top shelf is uniforms and associated accessories ONLY for whatever sport is in season. This shelf is “sacred”, and he knows not to get things from there unless there is a game, because he’s prone to wearing his uniforms all the time if left to his own devices.

The next shelf is cold weather clothing that’s obviously not used in summer, but he does have the occasional need for warm-up pants or a sweatshirt in a cold gym. The third shelf is a basket full of string tote bags since bags (and water bottles) seem to be disposable around here.

The bottom shelf is a round laundry basket that contains the “other” stuff for whatever sport is in season. Since soccer is getting ready to start back, it holds items such as practice clothing, spare shin guards and cleats and a ball pump. It used to be able to hold a ball, but as you can see on the right of the rack, the red bag holds his ever-growing collection of soccer balls.

We have multiple round laundry baskets, one for each sport, that we store on the top shelf of the laundry room, and we just change out the basket and uniform items on the baker’s rack with the sport season.

For example, when soccer is over, it will all go back into the soccer basket, and it gets changed out with the basketball basket, and those uniforms go on the top shelf, etc.

For us, it’s important that the baskets are different from our regular laundry baskets, so they don’t get sucked into the laundry abyss.

Even if you don’t share my driving need to know where the uniforms are at all times, how do you keep all the sports items in order?

Hi, I’m Elizabeth, better known as Busy Mom around the Internet, and it’s nice to meet you! Chris is a tough act to follow here, but I’m really excited to be writing for Ordering Disorder. I’m married and have 3 kids, and I work full-time as a nurse, so I always appreciate hearing ways you create order in your life and I hope you’ll join in all our discussions here.

Enough of that, let’s get started!

My husband is a teacher, and I also tend to hang around teachers, and the warm weather and their relaxed summer schedules inspire parties and other evening gatherings.  I love to get together with friends, but my schedule in the summer is the same as it always is, so I sometimes find myself rushing to parties after work and changing clothes along the way so I don’t miss out on anything.

Like any good guest, I always volunteer to “bring something”. Now, I love appetizers, and when I offer, I truly mean it. But somehow, I never actually get around to planning ahead for what I’m going to bring, and I inevitably tell myself, “I’ll just pick up something after work”.

While that’s a good enough plan on the surface, more often than not, I end up wandering in circles in the store looking for “something” I can walk out with that doesn’t have to be prepared, and is presentable for a gathering.

My fallback appetizer, (mighty tasty, though not exactly revolutionary), is the tried and true Cream Cheese and Pepper Jelly:

1 8oz. block of softened cream cheese
1 jar of pepper jelly (red or green, your preference)

Spread the jelly over the cream cheese and serve with crackers of some sort (I like to use Wheat Thins)

Gather those ingredients, buy a fancy disposable plate or tray in the baking section, and you’re good to go straight from the store to the party.

Action shot (or proof you can go straight from the store to the party):

Help me out, though. I need something new to add to my repertoire of, “Appetizers You Can Prepare in the Car” because, let’s face it, that won’t be the last time I run by the store after work to find something party-worthy.

Do you have a standby appetizer that you can pick up on the way to the party that looks like you made an effort, but is something other than chips and salsa from the gas station?

Do share!