Keeping Track of Cups & Towels

Sometimes it's difficult to keep track of whose cup is whose, isn't it? The more a family grows, the more one is required to come up with creative solutions to manage things that can easily pile up. Not only is it hard to keep track of which towel or cup belongs to whom, but continually washing more than is necessary adds up to bad environmental stewardship. Bath towels, washcloths, and drinking cups are the things that I've been tackling in this last month.

For towels and washcloths, I've bought two of each for each family member. So I'm green, Daddy's navy, Ethan is turquoise, Baxter is royal blue, and Maranatha is purple. And each person has two coordinating washcloths. No more wondering if your facecloth has been used on some little behind! (egads!) And no more running out of towels... everyone's got two. You use one for a few days to a week (the little ones bathe much less often, and you're clean when you use it anyway), the other one's in the wash. Oh yeah, and I bought some lovely white ones to have on hand for guests.

As for cups, I borrowed an old idea from a friend of mine... we have a cutting board that we've drawn little circles on and everyone gets one cup a day (minus coffee cups for adults). That way, there's none of this "no, MY cup was the blue one" business. Kids, you pick your cup in the morning and you keep up with it throughout the day. If you're not drinking from it, back on the board it goes. I wrote names in the middle of each circle and drew a picture for easy identification for the 2-3 year old range that doesn't yet read but can remember, "mine's the one with the smiley face." Here's a picture of it:
Yes, we currently have two empty circles. One will, obviously, be for the new baby when he/she is using cups. The other will serve as a guest spot until any future family members make their debut. And no, just because there are 2 extra spots doesn't mean that's our limit or something. That's just what would fit on the board. :)