What is the best way you have found to organize a household?

Question

I am the only driver, husband and I work opposite shifts to ofset childcare expenses, one child in school, plus I have a home business that I am trying to organize as well.

Answer 1

Just for the record, my home is still very much a work in progress, but I've come a long way. The following are authors whose advice have helped me:

For homemaking help:
http://www.flylady.com/
http://www.messies.com/
http://www.shesintouch.com/

Some authors who have written good books on organizing are:
http://www.juliemorgenstern.com/
http://www.peterwalshdesign.com/1home/1_1whatsnew/1_1whatsnew.html

You can probably find all these books at your local library.

If you have time to do only one, I recommend the FlyLady's book and website as tops.

Answer 2

I have found that the best way is the 20 rule and recommendations from the flylady website.
The twenty rule is that every time you get up during a commercial or take a break from reading or a hobby you do twenty things around the house. If you house is cluttered, you throw away 20 things every day, and you make yourself work 20 minutes every day as hard as you can without pausing. I mean serious sweating. In fact, right now I am surfing, but when the phone rings, the rinse cycle starts, or every 1/2 an hour, I get up and do 20 small things. When my husband gets home at midnight, it will look great.
You will also find recommendations from the flylady that will really help. www.flylady.com

Answer 3

I work best in a "routine" in the morning I use the restroom and wipe it down with antibacterial wipes and clean the mirror/countertops... Once a week on WED. I do a deep clean where I clean the toilets,sink and tub and mop... I then make my way into the kitchen.. .I prepare breakfast for the kids and while they are eating I vacuum the house. I immeadiately put the dishes away/load the breakfast dishes and wipe the counters and high chairs. The kids play all day and at night they help pick up toys with Daddy while I'm putting away the dinner/food and loading the dishwasher. I set it for time-delay, sweep/mop kitchen... I also do at least one load of laundry at night and put it in the dryer the next day... This routine works for me.. I think if you are trying to start a home based business that you should set a certain amount of time each day or night to be "at work" you should work in a room where no one will bother you and do work related tasks only... Good luck

Answer 4

This is the exact reason why people will tell you that being a 'homemaker' or a housewife is a full time job. I don't have any easy solutions, I don't think anyone does. There is only so much time in the day, so you need to prioritize. Figure out what's important to you, and concentrate on that area. Also, put it in writing. For instance, tell yourself you will spend an 15 minutes cleaning the bathroom on Wed. nights. Then post the list. You may end up going to bed a couple minutes late, but you will feel better about your house.

Answer 5

Some universal principles:

Declutter before you even start about organizing anything. Get rid of anything that doesn't benefit your life NOW. Sentimental things should be small or functional so as not to hog space you need in the present. And sounds crazy? But the memorabilia stuff you hold on to should remind you of happy things. Gifts from a strained relationship or from a bad phase of life are just reminders of mistakes. Holding onto things that you don't use or love out of guilt doesn't change the situation.

Another principle is to define your rooms and their contents according to what is going on there. If you do this, you will know what items belong in the room and which don't. So if you want a relaxing space, you want it to be a room that doesn't have a lot of traffic, and it shouldn't have anything in there that causes stress or high energy. If you want a work room, you want good lighting and clear surfaces, and appropriate storage, and you don't want to decorate it in a sleepy or distracting theme. You might not have a specific room for each task, but some ways to cluster activities are by noise level created, mood desired, and people who use it.

Related is to break individual rooms into zones. Again it helps you know what goes where. Arrange zones where activities that share items can do so easily. If you have a work room, beyond lighting and work surfaces (shared by all activities) you might have different zones: a storage and small work area and task lighting for each so more than one person can be in the room at once. You might have a zone for home office and family finances (filing storage, correspondence items, office supplies), homework (reference books, computer, pens pencils), arts/crafts/sewing (storage for both large and small items related to each thing), gardening (water source, tools, etc)...and an island in the middle with a large work space kept clear for anyone to do any larger scale project, taking turns in the room.

Re: your particular situation, it might be that dad works more around the house, either as the main homekeeper, or working from home, until both of you can drive, or until you can get a second car.

Time management is important to any household. You can maximize your time, not by trying to scatter your attention, but by stacking tasks so a machine works while you do.

First household chore is to gather laundry and get a load started. Keep it moving. Then gather dishes and get them soaking or running in the DW. Then go about your other tasks.

Stacking tasks in the kitchen saves a lot of time. If you are chopping an onion, chop 4 more while you have a dirty cutting board and knife, and bag up the extra to freeze. They are ready next time you need chopped onion, no mess. In this way a freezer works for you. You can also put your freezer to work by making extra meals, serve one and freeze one. Homemade convenience food with no real extra effort.

Answer 6

there are 4 of us in my house now. my middle daughter, my grandson, daughter's boyfriend & me. My husband died in 2000 & my dad ( who lived with us for over 35 yrs) died last yr.

everyone in the house has to do their own laundry, including my grandson who will be 16 next month.

daughter & boyfriend have to pay all the utilities, which are high, so I don't charge them rent,

my grandson takes care of he vaccumning and the dishes.

boyfriend is a lanscaper, so he take car of the outside, pluse he takes care of the pool & hot tub.

me?? I have earned the right to be just a supervisor.