Organizing Thursday: Wall Organizer

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My front hall is a dumping ground for all sorts of things — mail, keys, school papers, receipts, bags, etc. Here’s a simple wall organizer that (I hope) will conquer them all.

This wall organizer has a pocket for magazines and even a tablet. Add hooks and clips to the pegboard for keys, photos, and jackets. There’s even a small shelf available that can hold sunglasses or wallets. Use as a hall drop spot or even in your office or bedroom.

Ikea’s Vattenkar wall storage is $26.99. Compatible Skadis accessories (like the hooks and shelf) are sold separately.

Sales of note for 9.10.24

(See all of the latest workwear sales at Corporette!)

Kid/Family Sales

  • Carter’s – Birthday sale, 40-50% off & extra 20% off select styles
  • Hanna Andersson – Up to 50% off all baby; up to 40% off all Halloween
  • J.Crew Crewcuts Extra 30% off sale styles
  • Old Navy – 40% off everything
  • Target – BOGO 25% off select haircare, up to 25% off floor care items; up to 30% off indoor furniture up to 20% off TVs
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Help me navigate something complicated with my daughter. She’s a second grader and v. young for her class. Her BFF is one of the oldest and most popular girls. I have no issues with this girl, personally, but am noticing a not so great dynamic in their friendship where BFF is sometimes kind of mean to my daughter and my daughter not only gets upset about, which is normal, but puts up with treatment I don’t think is healthy or good, which does concern me.

By way of example, BFF will sometimes run away from my daughter at lunch or say that my daughter has to make an appointment to play with her at recess because she’s playing with other friends today. Other days, she will say “oh, today, you’re my number 1 best friend so you can play with me.” She does this with other girls too, but I don’t know that everyone takes it the same way. None of this would concern me much except that my daughter listens to this and follows BFF around and basically puts up with all this nonsense. I don’t care what BFF does, and I realize they are kids and each navigating complicated social dynamics, but I want to help my daughter stand up for herself and/or just not put up with this. Like, if BFF wants to play, great, if she doesn’t, go play with someone else. My daughter seems to have plenty of other friends so this is not a lack of options situation. She just seems inexplicably drawn to the this girl. Also, BFF is generally a polite, nice kid to me, great on playdates, etc. I just think she’s taking advantage of the situation in a perfectly natural way that kids in her position would and I just want to keep my kid from being a doormat. My husband and I have both had many talks about this with my daughter, together and separately – about how friends don’t treat each other this way, how it isn’t nice, what she can do, etc., but it’s almost like talking to someone in an abusive relationship or at least a highly manipulative one. And she really does gaslight my kid sometimes, albeit I don’t think intentionally. I really am at a loss. I can’t ban them from being friends and I can only do so much to try to cultivate other friendships. What else can I do?

Are Millie Moon diapers supposed to be overnight diapers? They have the whole moon theme going and say they have 12 hour absorbency, but it seems like they’re marketed as regular diapers.

I took two years off working after my twins were born (I have three kids). Now I have a job offer and I’m going to take it, but it’s made me realize I don’t actually want to work, I just feel like I should. SAHM life is boring but it’s not chaotic. I’ve never really felt fulfilled at work it’s just a paycheck, which is nice, don’t get me wrong. I don’t know if I’m asking for advice or commiseration.

I just got my performance review for last year and am incredibly disappointed. While factually accurate, it’s super dismissive of what I accomplished. I did the equivalent of running an ultra marathon in a blizzard while barefoot and while people lobbed grenades at me, all without a manager in role and with zero internal support from my company, and still managed to exceed expectations for our finish. Her review says that I ran a race. She’s new to role and wasn’t my manager at the time of the big race, though she was in the department and aware of the race. These events only take place every few years and I feel like I’m getting zero, if not negative credit, for performing extremely well during a critical event. It’s just that I didn’t have manager so no one was paying attention (or supporting me). She tells me she’s new to role and doesn’t know how I did so she can’t say more. I consider this a big cop out. It’s going to be a while, potentially years, before I get another chance to run a big event and this is a cloud over my reputation. WWYD?

I’m 36 weeks as of yesterday and have been having random painful tightening in my back for a couple weeks now. I did mention it to my OB and she didn’t seem concerned, but OW. Any ideas what this could be so I can try to circumvent it? (The Internet seems conflicted on whether or not you feel Braxton Hicks in your back at all.)

Has anyone ever closed a 529 plan when the plan is at a loss from your initial contribution value? We are considering doing this, and the 529 administrator couldn’t tell me whether there would be a penalty or tax in this circumstance. They only said that you would pay tax on the interest and a 10% penalty on the interest, and that they didn’t know what would happen if I closed the account when there is a loss.

Anyone have experience or thoughts on kid room sharing where there’s a decent age gap (like 4 years)? I’d plan to have the infant in our room for the first 6 months. For various reasons would rather not move unless we really can’t make it work.

I just want to yell into the void. My husband and I have a two year old. In the last month, my husband was sick for two weeks with norovirus, then went on vacation for five days, and literally the day after he came back he hurt his back and can now barely walk. The most frustrating part is that I felt like it was actually easier for me when he was out of town, because the house was easier to keep clean and I didn’t have to deal with parent favoritism and the meltdowns if our daughter wants daddy to help her instead of me. And I’m taking all this frustration out on my husband, which is causing more problems for our relationship but I can’t shake the resentment that he’s just making more work for me when he’s home than when he’s not. I don’t even know what I want anymore or how to fix this feeling.

DC mom here, just submitted our first lottery list for PK3 and still not totally sure what to hope for. We ranked a walking-distance Montessori first, with the understanding that we’d likely not get in, and a regular charter and a traditional public school second and third. It’ll all be fine, I know; I’ve just got cold feet about Montessori and how to know if it’ll be a good fit for my energetic, very social kid, and if I’ll be able to tell whether it ultimately is not. Any advice?

I know there are some Takoma DC-area moms on here, so maybe worth a shot: any thoughts on Breakthrough Montessori, Cap City, or Takoma Elementary in particular? TIA.

My 3 year-old is a nose-picker — which I’m fine with during the day, whatever, gross but I figure peer pressure and increasing social awareness will eventually take care of it. But when she’s (theoretically) falling asleep, she’s so intent on digging around in her nose that it keeps her awake; her eyelids are heavy, but she just can’t quit. We’re post-snot-sucker with her, and blowing her nose is more recreational than effective — I don’t think much actually comes out. Is this just a phase to get through until she can blow her nose better? I don’t know that it’s actually an issue of congestion or that there’s really much to get out… she just seems to be super-focused on the picking itself.