A Magic Basket

Back in the day, all my creative paper-crafting supplies fit into one shoe box.  My sister, who was my roommate at the time, dubbed it "The Magic Box."  I've since applied the concept of all supplies in one place to other things.  My cleaning bucket is also marked, "The Magic Bucket."  Although, it may be in the hope that the magic would work and I wouldn't have to clean the bathroom.  (I digress...)

Going into the school year, I made one small change that's made a world of difference for working with three children at different times, with different needs every day.  I call it, (Drum roll, please), "The Magic Basket."

I decided I was tired of sitting down to work with one of the Blossoms, only to jump up for a pen, a highlighter, the stopwatch or some other such miscellaneous item.  The Magic Basket is my brilliant solution.  Since we have about 40 days of school in, I can safely say that it is working wonderfully for me. 

I snagged a small basket from the Dollar Tree and stocked it with the following:

- mason jar of pens, highlighters and dry-erase markers
- small notebook
- every size of sticky note that I'd ever need
- index cards
- dry eraser
- pink eraser
- small pencil sharpener
- timer
- stopwatch
- tape
- cough drop
- tissues (though they weren't in the pic)
- small white spanking spoon (also not shown)
- white out
- extra ponytail holders
- extra clippies

The Rugged Mountain Man pointed out that this was a great idea, until Blossom4 gets into it.  I store this in a drawer when not in use.  When it is in use, it is right by my side.  So far, so good.  Maybe this little solution could work for you.