Before and After: Family Bulletin Board

With four kids under 9, this mom had a jam-packed info center―and needed help.

Before

“These are the papers that run my life,” says Bevin Tierney, a Morristown, New Jersey, stay-at-home mom of the permission slips, schedules, invitations, and more that were thumbtacked three layers deep on her bulletin board. “I kept putting them up and attacking my to-dos one at a time without ever throwing anything away or looking at the big picture. And I could never find a calendar that was large enough to handle all our family’s activities.” And with a family of six―including Sean and Brendan, both 8; Connor, 7; and Kendall, 4½―there are always plenty of activities.

 

Found on (and Tossed From) Bevin’s Board

 

• 1 expired $100 spa certificate
• 3 summers’ worth of swimming-lesson schedules
• 1 invalid $4 coupon for Baskin-Robbins (“I totally would have used that,” says Bevin)
• 1 year-old request for blood work from Bevin’s doctor
• 1 recreation brochure from 2007
• 8 school lunch menus