colors and dots coding

      In the 'Monday Tip' posting about "empty prescription bottles", I mentioned that our family is 'color coded'. Then I mentioned it again in the 'Monday Tip' titled " 2 Calendars & a File Box". I 'think' I've written all about it sometime in the past ... ? ... but didn't come across it while scanning back words through July of '09. Therefore, even if I have posted about it before, it was long enough ago now that it's okay if I do so again. (That's my story and I'm sticking to it! ;-p)
     Back at the time that I originally started our calendars system, I did everybody in the same color, just wrote their name by the event. But sometimes that pushed a particular day's square from rather full to squished. After some thought on it, I bought a pack of multi-colored erasable markers and assigned one color per person. That worked great!!! 'The boys' could tell by just a glance if they had something going that day. And via the color coded method, they could tell that way before they were capable of reading what exactly was written in their color! They liked that!
     Seeings how that worked so good, I started implementing it to other areas of our life as well. Every time I bought new toothbrushes, I searched for 'their' colors! The small sized back packs they had for 'travel' (toys when they were young, CD players and Cd's as they got older ...) were also in each person's color. The perscript. bottles I put that day's pills in on the counter, were also marked accordinly. Etc.. In-fact, I took it to the point of color coding every-body's socks.
     Yes, their socks. Once a year, when the good brands were nicely on sale, I'd buy up new socks for everybody. No, I didn't just throw their current ones away ... I waited till they had holes to do that. But some from the previous year, never made it until the new years supply arrived anyways. 
     Shortly after all of the new ones were bought, I'd get out all of the appropriately colored spools of thread, and a good pair of scissors, and a needle, and put all of the new bags in (a) paper grocery bag(s) by my chosen seat, and while either watching a favorite movie, or listening to some preferred music, I'd start marking socks. On one corner of each and every sock, I'd do five or six stitches, super close together, of the color of the person that pair was intended for. Yup, it took/takes a bit. Thus the movie or music. Oh, and a glass of Pepsi ... o;-p
     But this method had proved itself worth the time and effort after having done it that first time!!! A basket of underwear and socks to 'fold'. W-A-Y easier when matching socks up by color!! Oh yea!!! And on the 'rare occasion' (8-/) when you find a pair just lying someplace, it's pretty easy to tag the guilty party.
     While this methodology worked great on socks, it wasn't as effective on the inside bands of underwear. And some of their colors hardly showed up at all on the inside bands of certain colored clothes. Bother!
    Then one day my friend Becky VW called, a-l-l excited (she is the mother of five sons). She had just heard this most wonderful idea on the radio show she was listening too, and KNEW I would want to start doing it too!!! She was right!! After she told it to me, I got as excited as she was and thought of another mother of several boys we should share it with.
    The idea? The 'dot system'. Seeings how we had only boys, we went to the fabric store and bought permanent fabric markers in bright pink color. Then we started marking the inside labels/tags of all of our sons clothes. The eldest son got one pink dot applied inside the back wait bands of all of his underwear. And on the inside of the collar/neck, of all of his shirts. And all of his pants. And any and every thing else clothing wise that was his.
    Then two dots were applied to all of son number two's clothing.
    And three dots to son number three's.
    And four on son number four's.
    And Becky did five on her fifth son's .....
    What a wonderful difference that made!!! Folding clothes and putting them into the right piles got ever so much easier!!! :-D
    And when an item got passed down to a younger sibling, you just added another / or more dots. Bonus!!!
    Our boys tell the story about how one time up at I think it was a snow camp, the counselor was hollering over the top of everybody, wanting to know who's pair of jeans a pair was he'd found on an empty bunk. Somebody asked him if it had a name stitched on the inside. He'd answered "no, but it does have two pink dots on the label ?!!???" About half the guys there answered, "Then it's either Benson's or Luke's."
    Between two VW brothers, and two B. brothers, and some VW cousins, and some B. cousins .... yeah, everybody knew how the system worked. ;-p
    And it's still working.
    As a matter of fact, Brian and I gave all four of our sons matching coats for Christmas this now past year. Why? No, not so they'd all match. Rather, they had all commented (re-peat-ed-ly) about how they would like to have a short waited/elastic waisted, hooded, heavy, work type coat. Well, shortly before Christmas we found them on sale. Down to half price. And we could top that, since they were at Meijer's and we got an additional ten percent off due to Benson working there. :-D A definite 'sign' in our book!
    But they only had them in two colors - tan, and this grungy looking gray. Blah! But we needed three XL's and one L. Hum mmm. They had them - in stock - at the same Meijer's - all in tan, and yet it was the end of that weeks sale.. What are the chances?!!! A definite 'God thing'!!! So all in tan is what we went with. And when I started to explain why all the same color to 'the boys', they declared that part didn't bother them in the least!! (:-D !!) Brent went and got a black permanent marker and was going to put four black dots on the inside, right above the zipper on the inside pocket. But then he decided to just stick with "B4". But that way, when he went to grab a cot, he could verify that he had his own. And the others followed suit. Nice!! (<- Not the 'Onslow' type ;-p)

    All of that then is what I'm talking about, when I refer to either 'color coding' or 'the dot coding' system(s). All of you are more than welcome to copy them. In-fact, you are encouraged to do so!!! Yup, it helps t-h-a-t much!!!!

I 'plan' on linking this particular posting to:
~ "Homemaker Mondays ... Yours, Mine & Ours", hosted by Mom2my9, at '11th Heaven's Homemaking Haven' (http://rtheyallyours.blogspot.com/).
~ "Make-Do Mondays", hosted by Shari, at 'My Practically Perfect Life' (www.practically-perfect-life.blogspot.com).
~ "Making Your Home Sing Monday('s)", hosted by Nan, at 'Mom's the Word (I love to hear)' (http://momstheword--livingforhim.blogspot.com/).

~ "Tightwad Tuesdays with Canada Girl", hosted by Mary, at 'Raising 4 Godly Men' (http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/canadagirl).
~ "I am Blissfully Domestic", hosted by Kim (from 'Up North Mommy'), at 'Blissfully Domestic' (your life, your bliss) (http://blissfullydomestic.com/i-am-blissfully-domestic/).


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