Organizational Tips and Tricks: Lunch Boxes!

Yay for Tuesday! 

Last week, Andrea, hosted her Show and Tell Tuesdays Link Up and the topic was "Organizational Tips and Tricks."  

So...I may be a week behind, but I thought I would share one of my favorite organizing tools...LUNCH BOXES!  I know...it's kind of obvious...you can use lunch boxes to pack lunches. DUH.  But...there are also a couple other uses that they work great for too!

Okay...so first- I use lunch boxes every day to pack my girls' lunches.  My baby boy is not old enough for a packed lunch so he doesn't get one yet :)  My oldest daughter is in kindergarten, so she brings her lunch to school.  My other two daughters are home for lunch- but I still pack their lunch everyday.  I do this for several reasons: 1) They LOVE it.  They think it is SO fun to have their lunch packed in their special lunch box every day.  2) It is SO convenient to have their lunch packed.  Three days a week, I am picking up my second oldest daughter from preschool and we are in the car at lunch time. My two daughters watch a show in the van and eat their packed lunches.  By the time we get home, they have time to play before nap time AND I don't have to clean up a mess from lunch!  On the days we don't have preschool, my girls love to have picnics or lunch at their little table in their playroom.  Again, SO easy to hand them their lunches and they are good to go!  

It is especially helpful to have their lunches already made in the event my baby needs to nurse or it is time to put him down for a nap.  Everyone is taken care of and I am not stressing out trying to get lunches made and feed a hungry baby!

 My girls have lunch boxes from Stephen Joseph.  
You can find them on Amazon and a bunch of other sites. 
When we get home from picking up my oldest daughter from kindergarten, one of the first things I do, after I get everyone settled and happy :), is pack the girls' lunches for the next day.  It takes me 10 minutes max.  I do NOT pack fancy or super cute lunches.  I occasionally slip my oldest daughter a sweet note...but on the regular, I am just packing them a healthy, simple lunch.  The moms who pack their kids really creative, cute lunches- you are my heroes!! I think that is so neat!  My girls are simple (or AKA picky) eaters- so we stick to fruit, cheese or peanut butter sandwiches, goldfish or pretzels, yogurt and a little "treat"  like animal crackers or a couple Nilla wafers.  I use containers because I hate wasting a bunch of plastic baggies.  For my youngest daughter, I use those snack containers with the flip lid you can get at the Target dollar spot.  
She is able to open up all of her containers without any help- 
which is super helpful and a must when she is eating her lunch in the car.
So there you go- that is the first way I get the most out of lunch boxes! :) 

Next up is using a thermal lunch tote for a snack/diaper bag when we go to the park or when we are out running errands.  This bag is from Thirty One and I really love it.  
My mom got it for me a couple years ago for Christmas :)

I have 4 kids: 6, 4, 2, and 6 months old.  Whenever we are out- it is a MUST to be organized and have everything I need.  I use a large Vera Bradley tote for a diaper bag...but when we are running around or out at the park playing, I don't like to haul my big diaper bag around.  That is where this lunch tote comes in handy!  I am able to fit water bottles for all of my girls, snacks, diapers, wipes and my nursing cover all in this compact little bag!

I have three good sized water bottles (which stay nice and cold because the bag has a thermal lining), 2 apples, 3 granola bars and a bag of gold fish inside the bag.

I tuck my nursing cover into the bag and I am ready to go!

I am also able to slip my keys, phone and wallet in the pouch where I have my diapers and wipes.

It is such a convenient, multi-functional little bag!  I just love it and I use this lunch tote ALL the time, especially in the warmer months when we are out and about every day!

Now for the last way I use a lunch box/bag....

I put my makeup in it! :)

I use the Vera Bradley Lunch Bunch bag as my makeup bag!  I couldn't find a makeup bag big enough to fit all of my makeup in, but compact enough that it didn't take up a ton of space (that makes sense...doesn't it?!) HA!  I stumbled upon this bag when I was looking in a Vera Bradley store and figured I would give it a try!  I love that it has plastic lining that I can wipe clean, I love the two little handles, the fact I can zip it up and that it fits A LOT of makeup inside of it!  It really serves as the perfect makeup bag!

So there you have it...the good old lunch box...used 3 different ways! :) 

Hope you have the best day!