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. 

Get Organized for Back to School

Photo Source: 
http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2011/08/01/frugal-back-to-school-shopping/ 

I love the idea of a fresh start. If things have gotten cluttered over the summer, back to school is a great time to make a fresh start in your home. Why wait until January 2013? Here is what I am doing with my children to prepare for back to school before Labor Day rolls around: 1) Update the Family Binder If you do not have a family binder, or even know what it is, now is a great time to set one up. The family binder functions as one place where you can store all of those important papers that you will need to refer to in the future.  My family's binder is simply a three ring binder (that I already had) filled with babysitter information, school class information and information related to activities such as swimming or soccer. I like to use and reuse Avery's erasable tabs, so it is easy to switch from year to year. Take the time now to clear out the old and make room for the new.   2) Update the Calendar By now most schools will have their annual calendars posted on-line. While more detailed calendars are forthcoming, take the time now to post all those holiday breaks and random days off into your personal calendar.  Transferring the school, church or activity calendar into your own calendar as soon as it is available is a great habit to get into to make sure nothing slips through the cracks.  3) Start the Schedule Shift Most of us let our schedules slide a bit in the summer. If your kids have turned into night owls over the last two months, now is the time to slowly shift bedtimes earlier.  Carolyn Anderson-Fermann is a public speaker, organizing expert and founder of Simply Organized Life. Carolyn will be presenting "Get Organized for Back to School" at My Urban Toddler in Saline, Michigan on August 17, 2012 (childcare is available, check with My Urban Toddler for details). Register with My Urban Toddler by Friday, August 10, 2012.