Zero Waste Lunch

My child's zero waste lunchbox. 

When you are organized you can do so many things that you might not be able to do otherwise. One of the things that being organized allows me to do is pack zero waste lunches for my kids. It is a small thing that makes me happy. 

My main goal for my children's lunches is to have everything together in one package, so that they can focus on eating the (mostly) healthy food that I pack. 

The photo above shows the insulated lunchbox loaded up. The ice pack (on the left) is tucked in the pouch so it can stay put at lunch and not get lost. On the other side my child has a cloth napkin, a Nalgene bottle (BPA free and made in the USA), utensils and a two tiered bento box I found on sale at Old Navy last September (also BPA free).  

Of course, an organizer's kid has to have everything labeled. This is a great example of good, better, best labeling. I used a combination of Sharpie pen, Brother P-touch and Name Bubbles labels. Except for the napkin, everything has a label, even each individual utensil. 

Bento box using silicon cups to separate food.

The second photo is an example of a lunch I packed for my kids this summer. I use silicon cupcake cups to separate the food in the bottom tier of the bento box. The top tier is just thick enough for a sandwich. This lunch contained cucumbers, tomatoes and basil from our vegetable patch. The fresh mozzarella ball is store bought. 

Last week I volunteered at the school during one lunch hour. The parent volunteer's role is to help the young kids open containers, clean up trash, keep things together and on the particular day I volunteered, it seemed that half the class had to use the bathroom during lunch. 

Even if your goal is not a zero waste lunch, make sure your kids can easily open the containers or packages in their lunchboxes. While it may seem easy for us, I opened a lot of cheese stick packages last week. 

Carolyn Anderson-Fermann is a public speaker, organizing expert and founder of Simply Organized Life. Carolyn will be presenting "Easy Organizing for Busy Families" at My Urban Toddler in Saline, Michigan on September 26, 2012 (childcare is available, check with My Urban Toddler for details). Register with My Urban Toddler by Wednesday, September 19, 2012. 

Monday Musings

Mackinac Island, Michigan---Fall 2010

Despite all of my good intentions, it has been a long time since I have posted to the blog and summer is rapidly slipping out of our hands here in Michigan.

After such a hot summer, I welcome fall, my favorite season of the year. I recently discovered, however, that many busy families dread fall. They are stressed by new schedules, the deluge of papers from the school and the general busyness of it all after the supposed lazy days of summer.

Here are three quick tips to address the stress families feel in fall:

1) New Schedules---Times of transition and change can be difficult for adults and children alike. For many readers this may be the first full week with kids back to school. Remind yourself it might take another week or two to adjust to new schedules. In the meantime, pull out your calendar and put EVERYTHING in it. Your calendar is your time management bible.

2) School Papers---This is where nearly everyone struggles. The problem with paper is that it just keeps coming at you, ready or not. The trick is to have a few simple systems in place and keep ahead of that paper monster. Designate one place for incoming papers and take 5 to 15 minutes daily to file, act upon or toss those items.

3) Busy Days---Mahatma Gandhi once said that "There is more to life than increasing its speed." I always joke that my clients have much more interesting lives than myself and there's a lot of truth in that joke. My clients are often the folks that hold up our communities: the go-to people in the schools, churches or synagogues. They are wonderfully kind people, who sometimes take on too much. Remember, to take a step back and slow down life a little if you have inadvertently taken on too much.

I hope these quick tips will help you feel just a little less stressed this fall. For more free tips and a free gift, sign up for my monthly newsletter at Simply Organized Life.