For those of us with multiple children the blame game all too familiar. When we ask, “Who left the towel on the bathroom floor?” or “Who keeps getting all these drinking cups out?” we get the familiar, “Not me, must be one of the other kids.”

To help put a stop to this, you can start color-coding a few common items so you know exactly who’s to blame.

The first thing you need to do is assign each of your children a particular color. Make sure you choose colors that will make it easy to find the items listed throughout this article.

Let’s start with the wet towels found on the bathroom floor. A simple fix is to buy each child two towels in their color. The second towel ensures they will always have a clean towel when one is in the wash. Now when a towel is found on the floor you know exactly who to call to hang it up. For fun, I went a step further and bought each of my children two towels in their color and had their first name monogrammed on them.

In the kitchen, purchasing cups and sports water bottles in their colors will let you know which child is leaving them out on the counter and who needs to put them in the dishwasher. When friends come over to visit, they also use the same color cup as the child they are visiting making that child responsible for their friend’s cup as well. The water bottle in your child’s specific color helps when they leave them in the car after their sporting event. You instantly know who needs to make a trip back out to retrieve them.

If you want your children to take on more responsibility with their own laundry, buy hangers in each of their colors. Your children can easily see if they have laundry hanging up that needs to be taken to their rooms. Also, you know immediately who needs to bring their empty hangers back to you. This tip was especially helpful when four of my children wore the exact same uniform shirts and pants to school. The morning rush was made easier by them being able to find their clothes in a hurry.

In addition to gaining more time in your day by having children pick up after themselves, children also start policing each other. Instead of you doing all the nagging about who left their things out, your children will start saying things like, “Get your cups off the table I need to do my homework, or pick up your towel I’m taking a shower next.”

A quick decision on a color for each of your children and purchasing a few regularly used items in those colors will help each of your children become responsible for their own belongings. Not only will you save time in your day, you’ll have less detective work to do.