WFMW: My "home management center"
I will be having our second baby in December, and I need lots of encouragement as I face this new season in our lives. I was wondering if you could post some of your daily schedule and the list of "weekly" and "monthly" chores that you do. I am learning to be a better homekeeper, and I really need some help in knowing what do to when. Thanks in advance! - LindsayHi, Lindsay!
Thanks for a great question. I love talking about scheduling and organization, even if it is something I have plenty to still learn about myself! I think that different systems and methods work for different people at different seasons of their life. For me, right now, this is what works:
This is my home management center. It's in a central location of our home - on the kitchen counter - and it truly helps things run much more efficiently and smoothly.The top binder is my home management binder. I keep it open to our daily schedule* - something I tweak about every 6-8 weeks at this season of our life. The pages are in page protectors and I use dry erase markers to mark each thing off as we complete it. I put times on it as guidelines, but I don't necessarily follow them to a tee. If I was up a lot of the night with the girls, then I usually sleep in later and so everything gets bumped up. Or, there will be interruptions that throw us off track. The schedule is just a guideline, not a slave driver!
In my home management binder, I also have a section for daily chores.* These are things which need to be done every day or a few times per week. I have assigned different chores to different days. These are also in page protectors and I mark things off as I complete them. I don't always get to everything on these lists everyday, but if I try to and do most of them most days, the house stays pretty orderly.
Also in this binder I have a page for monthly jobs.* These are jobs which don't need to be completed all that often, but do need to be done occasionally. Things like sweeping the garage out, or dusting the baseboards, or cleaning the phones, etc.
My planner is in front and always open to the current day. I write down extra things that need to be done each day - phone calls to make, things to remember, errands to run, etc. Anything that is not on our schedule which needs to be done is written down here. Whatever doesn't get done off of this to-do list is transferred to the next day. On the opposite side of the page, I write down extra notes for the day - like blog posts I want to write, business ideas I want to pursue, or anything else which comes to mind that I don't want to forget for the day!
The sheet of paper lying on top of my planner is just a temporary nutrition and fitness thing. I'm trying to lose the last eight pounds of pregnancy weight, so this is my personal help to keep me on track. I record what I eat for each meal, how much water I drank (since I'm nursing, I'm trying to make sure and drink plenty - I often can forget so that's why I write it down!), that I took my SuperMom vitamins (love those!), and that I exercised.
*As far as what our daily schedule looks like and what my daily and monthly jobs are, they would take up a lot of space to post here so instead, I've put all of those into a file and would be glad to send it to anyone who is interested. Just drop me an email - biblicalwomanhood @ sbcglobal.net (remove spaces).
posted by Crystal Paine at 8:00 PM
16 Comments:
I have started trying to find some organization. Very important since I have a 2 year old with special needs and have started home schooling my 4th grader. I love the website flylady.net. Her system has helped me alot.
As I work on getting back to basics I thank you for bringing up this topic again. It is so easy to get off-track and have to refocus again - I hope I'm not the only one who feels this way. I am easily sidetracked it seems.
Keeping the planner in the kitchen with space for blog ideas, etc. is a great idea! I keep a notebook by my "nursing station", but frequently forget to write in it because it's on a shelf and not open in plain view. I need to modify this! Thanks for the peak into your daily habits for us new at mama-hood :)
Thank you for sharing your great organizational tips, Crystal!
Those binders are quite handy aren't they? I only have a small and basic one, but it's VERY helpful... I'm thinking of expanding it.
regarding the supermom vitamins....I read about some of the potential side effects that you can have after the initial start of taking them. (i.e. body odor, profuse perspiration, etc.) They say it's b/c of your body releasing toxins and that it doesn't last very long, but I must say that I've been deterred from buying this for this reason. =)
What has your experience with them been?
Heather
I have almost the same "look" on my kitchen counter every day Crystal. Oh how I praise the Lord for "tools" like my "Christian Family Organizer" by Amy Napp, and the "Homemaking Journal" that I've just begun using... thanks for all you great tips!
Heather - I didn't have many, if any adverse side affects that I can remember when I first started taking them. I was unable to take them while I was pregnant, though, since I was unable to swallow that size of pill. I started taking them again two days after Kaitlynn was born and I truly believe that they contributed to my hemoglobin levels shooting up tremendously in a short amount of time.
You can read my lengthier review here:
http://www.biblicalwomanhood.com/2006/04/supermom-vitamins.html
Great info here. Also check out Sidetracked Home Executives. It offers a simple home management system using 3x5 cards.
Thanks for this very helpful tip!
Thank you for sharing that Crystal. I'm also glad to hear that I'm not the only one who needs to adjust her schedule on a fairly frequent basis. :)
I love your home organization! For me the biggest thing in really being organized, is living a simple life. I have cut back on so many obligations since I have two kids under 2 1/2.
I break up my week like this (in case writing things down is too overwhelming for some people):
Monday: cleaning day, go no where, catch up from weekend. Laundry.
Tue. Grocery shop before dh goes to work at 10 am. Library day twice a month. Clean house.
Wed. DH day off, family day
Thurs. Bible study, afternoon at home. Laundry.
Friday. play date day twice a month, afternoon at home
Sat. breakfast with grandparents (dh works sat. mornings)clean and laundry.
Sunday church, family night
It's easy and works for me!
Just wanted to sharing!
Heather
(www.xanga.com/patenaude) family blog
Thank you for sharing this! For some reason I had never thought of having a system like yours, with open notebooks in a set space. I am a very visual person, so usually if I don't see something to do, I forget. This is going to help me so much!
About the SuperMom vitamins, I've been taking them for a month or two and haven't had any of those side effects. The only thing I have noticed is that I think the iron in them possibly contributes to less frequent bowel movements. (sorry! TMI!)
You are so right that organization is always important, but it will look different in each stage of life. These are great tips that could carry over into a lot of stages!
Great post as usual. My planner is also in my kitchen. Good grief mine looks similar! http://multicultural-cuisine.blogspot.com/2007/12/tackle-it-tuesday-revamping-routine.html
I'm revamping my routine this December also.
I have something similar to this and would love to see your pages so I am emailing you. Thanks!
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