Get organized
Get Organized
We welcome our first contributor - Marci of Marci McAvoy Home Organization - who has some great tips on how to keep your home tidy, just in time for back to school!
This week, Marci gives us some tips on how to make the time-consuming task of packing kids lunches stress-free and efficient. Look out for some more great organization tips from her in upcoming newsletters!
School Zones and Drop Zones: Your Fall Guide to Back to School with Form & Function
Written by: Marci McAvoy, Marci McAvoy Home Organizing
Back to school...
Say it isn't so. As August arrives I always feel the pang of summer's end drawing near. Let’s not fret, I have some helpful pointers for transitioning back-to-school with a little more ease, more form and more function.
So are you at-the-ready with all the essentials?
We’re a month away from school resuming here in New York City, so it’s time to start thinking of back-to-school checklists. Now is the time to make appointments for health checks and sports forms, perhaps it’s also time for the dentist or orthodontist too. It’s also a great time to take inventory of what you already have. I’m talking about backpacks, lunch bags, bento boxes, sporks, water bottles, hand sanitizer, masks, pencil pouches, name labels, clothes too. Who knows, you may have all you need - (LOL - who are we kidding!)
Once you’ve booked all your appointments and have taken inventory, you’re ready to tackle the day-to-day. Here are a few pointers to get you started...
Lunch zone set up: form & function
Our friend Mary has 3 lovely school aged children, who all pack lunch. Like many of us, Mary is tired of scrambling all over the kitchen when she makes lunches in the mornings. Streamlining this morning routine can be as simple as dedicating a zone for lunches and reorganizing that space. Mary has deep drawers in her kitchen, and her current system is a drawer full of jumbled containers and water bottles. Sound familiar?
First, Mary takes everything out of the jumbled drawer and discards any broken or missing items. Next, Mary thinks about the best system for her family, and decides a bin in the drawer for each child is the way to go. Mary measures her deep drawer for dimensions, and orders multi purpose bins to create three separate lunch zones - one for each child. The same zone contains a separate, shallow drawer for all the beeswax, sandwich bags and stashers, all neatly categorized with the use of drawer dividers. Voila, each child has a designated lunch zone with everything they’ll need at the ready to pack a lunch...and Mary can easily see what needs to be added to the shopping list. Speaking of, here’s a quick and easy meal planning printable and shopping list just for you.
Here are some lunch packing products that I find useful:
Bento box: LunchBots, love a stainless steel sectioned bento box.
Spork: Koziol Klikk Cutlery Set 3-pack, compact and perfect for on-the-go meals.
Waterbottle: Yeti Rambler Junior, they really do keep things cold or hot for a LONG time.
Lunchbag: PackIt Lunch Bag, love, love, love because this whole pack is freezable - no extra ice packs to deal with.
Extra sustainable/reusable bits and bobs of course: Beeswrap + Lunchskins Recyclable & Sealable Paper Sandwich Bags + Stashers.
Visit Marci McAvoy Home Organization for more pointers and consultation, and Marci’s Insta account @marcimcavoy
Highest & Best
This week’s home is a recently-renovated co-op on the north side of Garfield Pl between 6th and 7th Ave:
3 beds
2 bathrooms
Private Garden
Heated floors in the bathrooms and kitchen
Common laundry room, bike storage, outdoor space
Fancy Wallpaper included!
Guess how much for this home!
Click to find out the answer and read more.
Park Slope Picks
This beautiful Insta reel from @yourbrooklynguide will make you fall in love with Park Slope over and over again 😍😍.
Events this weekend
Celebrate Brooklyn! continues - you can view the full lineup here.
Friday
Skip Marley | Ivy Sole @ Celebrate Brooklyn! 7:30pm: SKIP MARLEY, the grandson of the reggae legend, will be joined by IVY SOLE, who will kicks things off.
Saturday
Outdoor Yoga on the Stoop @ Brooklyn Museum 10-11am: tickets are $16
Salsa @ Besito Restaurant & Bar 12pm-10pm: free dance class with Live Salsa band and DJs
Open-air theatre @ Vanderbilt Open Streets 2-7pm: an afternoon of music, dance, double dutch, art, and more!
Vijay Iyer with special guests Moor Mother, Arooj Aftab, Ambrose Akinmusire, Tyshawn Sorey, and Daryl Johns Joel Ross | Melanie Charles | Mahogany L. Browne @ Celebrate Brooklyn! 7pm: Four local artists created new works meant to honor their beloved fellow musicians we lost to the pandemic.
Candlelight Vigil @ Old Stone House 8-9pm: The community is welcome to join in a public Candlelight Vigil honoring lives lost to Covid-19. The evening will include: Performances by Lydia Hong, violinist of the New York City Ballet Orchestra, of works by Bach and Leonard Cohen; reflections; candle lighting.
Sunday
Brooklyn Symphony @ Brooklyn Museum 2-4pm; hear string players from the Brooklyn Symphony perform a festive, family-friendly selection of music by Vivaldi, Mozart, Copland, and Tchaikovsky
Wednesday
4th Ave Yarn Bomb Meeting @ Old Stone House 5-7pm: Join us to craft the 4th Ave Yarn Bomb, a fun activity to celebrate art and community on 4th Ave in Park Slope and Gowanus! The 2021 theme is Protecting the Earth/Climate Change.
Thursday
Family-friendly outdoor screenings on the north end of the Prospect Park Long Meadow at 7:30pm:
Black Panther on August 19.
Job Listings
BRIC Celebrate Brooklyn: Star Volunteers
Bonbon Lakay: Immediate Hire! Cashier, Prep Cook, Order Fulfillment, Ice Cream Server, Delivery
That’s it for now! If you enjoyed this newsletter, share it with another fellow Park Sloper or send us a tip.
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