Does anyone have any suggestions for organizing a busy household?

Question

I have a full time and part time job. I have 2 boys age 9 and 11 with ADHD. My husband is a minister and we are busy with church activities, including going out of town often. Our house looks like a tornado has gone through it, and it seems like we will never be caught up with anything. I need any help you could give me.

Answer 1

I am the mom to 5 children, ages 16, 10, 9 (with ADHD), 7, & almost 2, my husband owns his own businesses (including a restaurant which is a lot of work), and I work in the restaurant and help with the other businesses, so it's hard keeping our house under control. Here are a few things that I've done in my house:
1. Each child has their own basket that sits on the stairs with their name on it (you know, those "stair baskets" that have like a notch in them so they sit on the stairs correctly). Whenever I find things downstairs that belong to them, I put it in whomever's basket that it belongs to. All baskets have to be emptied nightly on their way up the stairs (or I assume that it's not very important and I throw it away after they've gone to bed).
2. Laundry is done once a week. As a fold the clothes, I put them into the person's basket, and once the laundry is done, they take their baskets upstairs to empty them.
3. Mail. I really don't have time to go through the mail thouroughly every single day, so I accumulate all of it in a mail sorter on the kitchen counter (which keeps it from piling up all over), and I spend one day a week sorting through mail.
4. The kitchen gets cleaned up every night after dinner. Never let the dishes sit "until tomorrow" (you'd be suprised - some people do this). It makes your day start out so much better when you wake up to a clean kitchen. Also, take the few minutes to pick up the stray things laying around the living room before going to bed. It really makes a difference in your mornings.
5. The kids have to pick out their clothes for the next day at night before going to bed. That way, there are no "where are my socks" and "does this match" in the mornings. Also, shoes stay on the stairs so they can be found in the morning, and backpacks have a certain spot so they can be found as well.
Hope these help. I have lots more if you need them! It takes some work, but staying organized isn't as hard as you think. Your children are old enough - even with ADHD - to help you keep things organized. You should have them pitch in and help.

Answer 2

I'm sure you would hire a housekeeper 2 days a week if your budget allowed it, to solve the problem. But undoubtedly it doesn't,

So here's what I did:


lol...Pray hard...speak plain...and carry through!.lol...

Years ago when I raised 5 children (2 of them very hyper), cared for a stroke victim father and held two 2 part time jobs, my house became the same way. lol.. A close friend of mine told me those above words and reminded me, your family will use you if you let them. So stop letting them! lol...

You need to Pray about the problem, then set the family down and explain: "I'm not asking everyone to clean the house, just keep the stuff you want picked up, because if I find it not put up, I'll assume you no longer want it and I'll throw it away. We can not live this way any longer and we have to clean up after ourselves.
So if you pick up after yourself it would help me alot."

For the first week, give a reminder and if they don't listen throw everyones thrown down items in a trash bag and place it at the back door and ask if they want to look through it before the trash service hauls it away. Then let it get hauled away. The family will only believe you when you prove to them your serious! So prove you've had enough of this.

Also, clean a room a day, throwing away all the clutter things. If it dosen't have a proper place, get rid of it! The house will be quickier to clean once you do this.

Also, do not clean the childrens rooms. That's their daily responsibility before they play. (You have enough to do). And let them put away their own laundry, their old enough to do it.

Now, be strong and make no exceptions, this will work. In three weeks, you will be shocked how everyone will be doing it (most of the time) without being told anymore.

My 6 grandchildren have also been trained in this method and my grown sons still do it. lol..

Give it a try. And Good Luck.

Answer 3

Drop the part-time job and enlist your husband's help. Take a couple of days, organize and clean your house to start with a clean slate.
Teach your boys how to clean behind themselves and that everything has a place and should be kept there (that's the real trick) unless being used.
Do the other suggestion by assigning the big chores like laundry and detail cleaning to a certain day of the week. And have everyone help! It doesn't take long to scrub a kitchen or bath when one person sweeps, one scrubs counters, one mops etc,
On the other side...don't let the label ADHD rule the way you live or the way you handle your boys. Teachers, doctors and others are too quick to use that label to explain why they can't control high-energy, intelligent kids. It is a diagnosis not a way of life.

Answer 4

Purge one drawer, one shelf, one closet at a time. Keep nothing that doesn't fit or isn't used.

With that schedule you must get rid of everything unnecessary.

You do realize your household is long past being busy.??

The two older boys can definitely take care of their own space. Don't expect perfection.

They can set the table for dinner and help clear the table . Assign jobs around dinnertime so everyone knows exactly what they are expected to do. That absolutely includes DAD.

This is why wives and mothers were meant to be at home most of the time. Keeping a house and raising a family is a FULL time job.

It sounds like you need to give up the part time job for sure.

Check the library or on line for some organizational books to help yourself out.

If you were near me I would be glad to help.
Being retired now I have plenty of time.
Good Luck and God Bless.

Answer 5

Here is a trick I use to get everybody involved. I let my kids pick out a basket at the store their favorite color shape what ever trips their trigger. Now once a day we all grab our baskets and go through the house and gather our things in our baskets. The first one to get everything gathered and put away gets to make a house hold decion such as What family activity we are going to do this week of what we will have for supper the next night. My kids are 13 and 9 and it still works you just have to find what motivates your kids. I am finding that the rewards constanly have to change. Believ it or not my 13 year old favorite choice is what we will listen to in the car. Hope this helps.

Answer 6

This almost sounds like someone is making it up...but I can relate!
Here is your answer:
www.flylady.net
sign up for her emails, but not under the family email account. I made an email account just for her.
After a while, you start getting "flywashed".
She is a strong Christian woman which is one reason why I trust her, too.
"Getting organized" isn't going to help. You need to change your routines and habits. Believe me, I've tried every organizing system in the world. When it didn't work, I would beat myself up for being so...........fill in the blank with anything negative.
The cluttered mess was/is a reflection of the way I feel inside. As I work on the clutter and as I work on emotional pain, both get better. She just wrote a book called "Body Clutter" that you can get from her website.

Answer 7

I know exactly how you feel... I have 3 children and raise them alone and I also own my own business. I found a solution and you won't believe just how great it works! Go to Amazon and order the book called: Sidetracked Home Executives: From Pigpen to Paradise. It's written by two sisters names Pam Young and Peggy Jones. They have a VERY SIMPLE plan you can easily incorporate into your busy life, just as I did in mine. It's inexpensive to put together. All you'll need are index cards and a box. My house used to be just like yours... and then I implemented the system... AND IT REALLY WORKS! Good luck... and remember one thing: I'm sure that on your death bed, you won't be saying "I really regret not having done more housework."

Answer 8

quit the part time job. set up the schedule from monday to sunday, for example, after work, you come home and monday is the laundry night, do the laundry, and clean up the house at the same time. also train your kids to clean up after themselves, it'll make things a lot easier. tuesday clean the bathrooms, etc.

Answer 9

Getting organized means you can organize your home quickly. Tips, articles, and links to organize every room of your home. Organize the office. Organize the garage. Organize closets. This site will help you organize the entire house.
http://housekeeping.about.com/od/getorga... (About Housekeeping

Answer 10

DOWNSIZE!!! Maybe have a big yardsale! Less stuff to clean up. Have your boys help! Pray;)