One of the biggest joy stealers for many parents is a disorderly home. If you're always looking for something that's been lost or running behind due to lack of forethought, it's just about impossible to enjoy the present moment.
I think these are challenges that we all face to some degree.
As I've sought to gain a good balance, I've found it helpful to implement a few organizational strategies in effort to retain peace in the midst of what would otherwise be utter chaos.
I'm far from an organizational expert, as anyone who ever comes by my house knows. Just writing this reminds me how wanting I am in this area. But we're all works in progress.
Sometimes it's the simplest things that can make the biggest difference.
That being said, these are some of the things that make our household run more smoothly.
1. Dishes- We do dishes only once a day. You may be saying "yuck" but it really does work a lot better for us that way. I've found that I have a lot more time and energy to put toward other things if we make dishwashing a "once a day" event.
After meal times, I clean off the table and try to make sure the dirty dishes make it to the sink. Then I move on to more important things.
2. Glasses- In order to limit the number of glasses my kids use and keep up with whose glass is whose, I keep plastic bowls on the counter with the kids' names on them. They are responsible for putting their glasses in their bowls when they're done with them if they're not dirty. Then they'll know where they are when they need them later.
Also, when the next meal time comes, I know whose is whose and I'm able to transfer them from their bowls to my serving tray, ordering them from oldest to youngest child.
3. Mealtime-Serving up food for a lot of people necessitates order.
At mealtime, I line all 6 plates up on the counter by age, same order each time. I distribute each food in every plate before moving on to the next. This streamlines the process.
The kids come to the kitchen to pick up their own plates and are also responsible (except my 3 year old) for taking them back to the kitchen and putting their cups in their respective bowls when they're done.
As mentioned above, I place their cups on a tray, pour their water or juice into their cups, take them to the table, and hand them out.
This makes mealtime a lot easier for me.
4. Time to Go- I have a set of plastic drawers to the left of our front door, one for each kid, for their shoes, socks, hats, etc.
We have a place to hang their coats on the right side of the door.
We have a laundry basket under that for the overflow. This minimizes a lot of the running around trying to find stuff when it's time to go that a lot of people deal with.
5. Laundry- We have a lot of people here so naturally we have a lot of laundry. Instead of folding clothing and laying it on a flat surface, we fold it and place it into baskets as we go. We have one mesh rectangular basket for each bedroom (so one for every two people) and one basket for linens.
When folding, we sort by owner, not by clothing type. This means that all of Brayden's shirts, pants, and pajamas will be in one pile, which he will have to sort by clothing type in his room just before he puts his clothes in his drawers. And so on with every other person...
Fewer piles and using laundry baskets as boundaries results in fewer mishaps overall.
6. School Books- I recently turned an upright bookshelf on its side for housing my kids' individual school books. There are four sections, one for each child. This being located right behind the kitchen table has made my school planning so much easier, and reduced the chaos of kids having to sort through a shelf of books that they don't need to get to their own.
7. Art Supplies- A shoe bag organizer hanging inside the door of the closet that houses our deep freezer has made art supplies much more accessible.
The more kids are able to find things for themselves, the less they have to rely on me.
8. Keys- We keep a basket on top of our dryer for keys and sunglasses.
"A place for everything and everything in it's place" is a mantra that I was never taught to live by. But thankfully, I'm learning.
I hope something here has been of help to you. If you have any suggestions or encouragement for me, please share.
Enjoy your day!
No comments:
Post a Comment