This “Wood Block” Organizing Trick Makes Following Routines Super Easy

With three kids under 10 in my house, it’s safe to say that things can get chaotic quickly. While we try to keep routines and expectations consistent, there are always questions, hiccups, mishaps, and meltdowns that can derail a morning or a weekend day pretty quickly. Over the years, I’ve tried different methods to set expectations to make them as easy as possible to understand and follow. The hope is that these methods will ultimately help keep things moving without becoming another thing to keep track of. 

Now that all of my kids can read, lists have become the go-to. So when I found out about a “wood block” trick that’ll help you stay on track with what needs to be done, I genuinely felt a sense of calm come over the house. The kids even got involved in setting them up and claimed a few as their own to write their own notes and lists. 

In an Instagram Reel by Audrey Barton of Organized Chaos, she shares her “wood block” trick that’s meant to help anyone who has difficulty remembering basic tasks that need to be done. It involves taking a small block of wood that has a cut in the middle of it to hold a card, and then writing on a card a list of tasks needed to be done in the room that the block will be eventually placed in. You’ll want to put these wood blocks in an easily accessible location to serve as a friendly reminder for the tasks you need to complete. 

“If you have ADHD, this little block of wood will change your life,” says Barton in the video, who also notes that she’s never actually been diagnosed with it, but suspects that she has ADHD. This idea draws on visibility and routines to make daily life run a little more smoothly, and after trying it for a few weeks I can attest to its effectiveness. When I decided to try the “wood block” method, I knew I could adapt it to help my kids follow certain routines and reduce the number of times I had to remind them about what came next. 

I looked around the house, and evaluated the areas that caused issues during the day. Things like doing laundry or dishes are pretty straightforward, and I didn’t think they needed a dedicated routine. The things that I kept coming back to were the routine for getting dressed and out of the house in the morning, and the tasks that needed to be done before the kids got technology time on the weekend. Both of these routines were on a whiteboard, but they were just scribbled in dry erase marker and weren’t very pleasant to look at.

I decided to get a 10-pack of wood place card holders I found on Amazon that measure 4 inches long. For the cards, I went on Canva and made 5-by-4-inch cards that listed out each task for each room they’d be placed in. My kids helped with this, adding their own flair to make it a little more detailed and personal (like cute capybara graphics). I laminated the cards to make them sturdier, cut them out, put them on the wood blocks, and placed them where they would be most visible when we needed them. 

Implementing this method has definitely helped routines go smoother in the house. I’ve noticed the kids checking the list on the weekends and making sure they’re doing all of the items on the list — even emptying their shelf bins, which is a huge win!

For me, it takes some of the reminders that I would typically be issuing a dozen times off my plate. If they ask what needs to be done, I remind them to check the list, and they run right over. Plus, the wood blocks look cute — so I don’t mind having them strategically placed around the house. I have a few wood blocks left over, and I’m going to pass them on to a friend who also loves the idea.