color -coding for kid stuff?

I like the color coding idea, especially for towels and such. My two boys are 3 1/2 years apart, so even tho they wear the same size underwear (big bor is skinny) I can tell them apart because 7 year old wears character underwear and 11 year old wears solid white. As for socks, 7 year old likes crew socks and 11 year old prefers the ankle high socks.

My kids are 6,7,9, & 10....and yes, I use color coding for some things. I have a set of 10 cups (walmart, cheap!) that are different colors. Every day they choose the cup they are going to use and stick with that color. They also have their own towels which are easily identifiable. When they were younger and it was I who needed to keep track of who had what etc., they used the same color for the week and then switched off the following week with a different color. (kids didn't always want the same color all the time) Now they are old enough to remember which cup they have for the day so we can change up daily. I use colors or certain characters they like for toothbrushes, homework pencils and other things too. (pencils sounds extreme, but I discovered that the sharing of pencils during cold season contributed to the germ factor. chewing on erasers etc. oh vey!) If you also have trouble keeping their stuff/school papers etc. organized (I did!), you might consider buying a shelf unit and assigning everyone a specific shelf/drawer. I have a 4 shelf "cubby" organizer in the laundry room and that is where they keep daily/weekly things. It makes it easier for me to keep track of their stuff as well as for them. Plus, they know where to put/find things. Because my two younger boys are so close in size, I buy a pack of socks and each boy just gets the same number of socks. I used to do it for all 3 boys, but now my 10 year old needs bigger socks. Underwear I do buy a certain color/character for each one and that helps a lot.

HiI use a permanent laundry marker and put one dot on the oldest girl's clothes (on the tag), two dots for the next oldest and three dots on the tag for the youngest. As the clothes get passed down or they get new ones, I just put the appropriate number of dots on it. I also would mark an X on the front of the waistbands of their underwear (where the bellybutton is) when they were younger so they knew front from back. My girls are 9,6 and 5 but can all fit in about the same clothes. :flowergift:

each of my kids have a color. their bath towels are that color and i had their names embroydered on them. each has a certain brand of socks, t-shirts, underware. so i dont have to look at tags when i am doing laundry. ie: one son gets costco socks, the other gets hanes - etc. as they get older they dont much like the color coding thing and that is when they get to do their own laundry, lol! i tell them they can have any socks, underware, etc. they want but they have to wash it themselves or i will give it to whoever already has that brand item. a funny story about underware. when my oldest daughters were much younger one always wore colored underware and the other always had white. when she was a young teenager and hormoning about soemthing, she lost it and went into a rant about *and why do I always have to wear white underwear* i stiffled a laugh and told her she could wear any color underware she wanted, but had to do her own laundry because i could never tell the difference between the 2 girls underware and the girls had a definate no sharing underware policy. she is now 20 and has a huge underware fettish. i always think its my fault for making her wear white underware for all those years, lol! guitarmom - you better get some system in place with all those girls! my kids have adopted the color system so far as having the quilts on their beds, gym bags, etc. in their color.

You awful mother! Just kidding :) Your story made me laugh though.

We have color-coded plates, cups, bath towels, washcloths, junk cubbies and clothes hangers. It makes my life a lot easier. I can look at an object and instantly tell who it belongs to. Just the other day there was a white cereal bowl in the trash can... sure was easy to figure out who it belonged to. :) K1- Light blue K2- Pink V- Dark Blue S- White Kathy

I thought this sounded like a great plan for towels... I am so tired of going into the kids' bathroom and asking who left their towel on the floor... then listening to 10 minutes of "Not me"'s and finger pointing. So yesterday I bought two orange towels and two aqua towels (we have royal blue already). Youngest was thrilled with the orange as it is his favorite color, but wouldn't you know it: the 10 and 11 year old fought over who got the aqua! I have a feeling that if 11ds had said he wanted the blue 10dd would have wanted that one too.:grr:

I can sooooo relate!! I informed my kids I was going to be buying certain colored towels for each - and all three girls want purple!!!:grr: But even if I get them separate colors, i can see them taking the wrong colored towel " by accident" and letting the other sibling take the blame for having their towel laying around!

there are different colors of purple and then have their names emb. on them. i do this through the company store online and then i dont even have to go out. they arrive at my doorstep!

I too use monogrammed towels and rags. It really helps. Our children all have tall laundry baskets with their names on them. Any clothing that they have worn that week goes immediately in their basket. (We have three girls that wear the same size and share a room). They have to take the basket to the laundry room...only one child's clothing is washed at a time. It all goes right back in their basket and they fold it and put it away.In the kitchen, they get one cup for the day. We have a magnetic ring on the frig that holds (new) colored hair rubber bands. They slide the rubber band on their cups and we have no issues. This works really well when there are tons of extra kids over too....you can even use two if you have lots of kids over. It works well for canned drinks too.

I have 6kids - 14,12, 6, 5,4 & 2.. The 2yr old still uses sippy cups.. The 14& 12 fend for themselves.. So I have special cups for the 6 (monkey cup), 5 (flower cup) & 4 (blue stripes).. They use the same cup all day long but I always know whose cup is out or missing. The 6&5 yr old share clothes but wear 1 size difference in their underwear which is the only way I tell them apart right now.. I'm going to have to start the laundry marker idea!