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"  It just hit me that Ariana gets her own little backpack and lunchbag this September. She&amp;#039;ll have incoming papers from her preschool as well as art projects. I can&amp;#039;t get emotional about my kids starting school or get in a panic about which teacher they may or may not get. (Our elementary school keeps a lock on the class list.) I need to focus on more important matters: Housing three kids&amp;#039; school possessions, ingoing and outgoing paperwork and artistic creations\u2014without a mudroom. We don&amp;#039;t have a separate space designated as &amp;quot;Command Central&amp;quot; with wall-to-wall message boards and storage nooks. In our house, backpacks, mail, memos and lunchbags all end up on the kitchen counter, and wet shoes and jackets usually sit by the front door. With summer ending, I feel rushed to clear out the clutter (which I didn&amp;#039;t even do a good job of before summer). I shamefully admit I still had the kids&amp;#039; snow pants, coats and mittens mixed in with their camp bags, swim goggles, sandals and towels. The thing is, I know how to get organized with storage bins and &amp;quot;toss&amp;quot; and &amp;quot;keep&amp;quot; piles. But I don&amp;#039;t know how to stay organized. Last year, I bought letter trays to keep our house mail separate from Josh&amp;#039;s and Samantha&amp;#039;s school papers. The trays were buried inside a cabinet by week&amp;#039;s end. They are probably still holding school hot lunch menus from September &amp;#039;07. Am I the only one with this problem? Yes, birthing three kids has changed me. I now yearn for a room that holds the kids&amp;#039; backpacks, sports equipment, outerwear and art projects. Just one little room\u2014with a door I can close.\u2014Julie Weingarden Dubin What solutions do you have for getting more organized and keeping your kids&amp;#039; school stuff out of sight? Share your thoughts and stories in Comments. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.womansday.com/life/a42207/show-me-the-mudroom-5529/>