chalkboard labels, an old crate, and thrifty organizing finds

I decided that with summer just 4 days away I needed to get a little more organized around the house--yep my kids are out of school on Thursday--yikes!

Here are some things we're doing around here to keep the mess to a minimum:

chalkboard labels:
can you tell I'm in love with chalkboard paint yet?

here's a shot of my mud room/laundry room.
I have 4 laundry baskets to organize the dirty clothes

and these 4 baskets are for each of my kids. *Hint* This is the best organizing thing I have ever done--got the idea from a neighbor one day. Each of my kids have their own baskets (as marked by their chalkboard initial tag).

When the kids sort the laundry they put the clothes in that person's basket. Also, as I go around the house, if I see something of theirs lying around I will pick it up and put it in their basket. Once a week (or sometimes more) their job will be to empty their entire basket and put away whatever is in there.

I love organizing bins and totes, and never pass up a cute basket or bin from the thrift store--I know I can always find something to put in them.

I found these cute old crates for $5 each, and love the additional character the signage makes.

In one, i've thrown in all kinds of stuff (egg cartons, paper plates, random scrap papers) for the kids to go to town on any art projects they want.
I found this cool vintage coal bucket to coral shoes.

more buckets: this small one is from the dollar spot at Target--I just spray painted it with chalkboard paint--it works great to hold my gardening supplies and random balls and baseball mitts, etc.
This really large metal bucket was found at the thrift store--it sits in the garage to hold larger items like bouncy balls and bats.

thrifted paper organizer:

summer school: In the summer I try to be the good mom and have my kids keep up on their school work. They do one math page and read for 20 minutes, then do one job, per day. I have 3 kids in school so I have prepared math pages on their level for each of my 3 kids.

Remember my chalkboard door I recently finished?


This is where I put the jobs my kids need to do each day.



I think these ideas will help keep my house from looking like a total disaster this summer. What ideas do you have for me?