Ok, so I love systems, and getting organized. I also love staying organized, so once I find something that works, I do stay with it. Last year, I realized that Lily had a really hard time getting dressed in the morning. She just couldn’t decide, and couldn’t cope with deciding, so we decided to put her clothes out the night before. Which she also couldn’t cope with. She would change her mind, or need tights, or just in general begin to melt. Meanwhile, Sam’s matching skills were iffy, and his ability to remember that he needed a collared shirt dubious, and Wyatt was two, and me–not at my best in the morning. 

So I bought four five-shelf hanging organizers, and moved an old portable coat rack thing into their bathroom upstairs and hung them from it (picture a kind of half-sized open closet. We have lots of room but no storage in our house, so I had space for this, and not much else would have worked.) Each has a slot for each day of the week, and yes, I fill them every Sunday, and yes, generally, they wear what I put out. Or they switch it themselves, without help from me–and it’s clear what to switch–different shirt, or socks, or whatever. Much easier, apparently, than gathering a whole outfit. This worked beautifully at the end of the year last year, and Lily and Sam would even dress Wyatt, saving me much angst.

This year, Rob has conceded that I am even less of a morning person than he is and begun to pretty much cover mornings. Rory isn’t much of a morning person, either, and I think he’s been having to go up and get her dressed about half the time, maybe more–but there the clothes are, so it’s easy, and if she CAN face doing it herself, or getting a big sib to help, it’s do-able.

I’m solo tonight, so we’ll see how well the system is evolving in the morning. Otherwise, I’m fully prepped–breakfast set up, lunches ready to load, my gear packed, Sam’s nordic gear for tomorrow (and mine too) packed–he can do that, but there won’t be a minute to lose in the am. Which reminds me, I need to move the toothbrushing alarm back a few minutes. We’ll be cutting it too tight as it is.

Are other people’s lives this complicated?