Home Organization Tips - Proverbs 31 Woman

Wouldn’t it be great if we could wave a wand and “get-it-all-together” overnight? There is so much written about this woman that she has become an icon to many homeschooling moms. She is what they strive for, model on and set their sights on becoming.

So Christian woman begin to model themselves on the image of the perfect homemaker – sewing, cooking, gardening, running a small business, rising early, working til late…

I however feel that they often overlook the most important part of this scripture which is tucked away neatly at the end: “…but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” Read more on the Proverbs 31 woman

Home Organization Tips – touch something once

A principal I have taught myself over years of being a homemaker and what I am trying to teach my children, is to touch something once.

So as we finish our dinner we “touch our plate once” as we put it in the dishwasher. When we bring in towels or costumes from outside, we immediately hang them up or put them away. When I receive an email, I do my utmost to deal with it once. When we get home from an outing or picnic we immediately unpack our bags and return the items to the correct spot.

This principal saves a lot of time and pile up of things around the home. Read more organization tips

Home Organization Tips – Laundry

Need laundry help? A friend who proof reads my pages for me commented that she now felt incredibly unorganized in the laundry department after reading how I do laundry. But she also said that she knows that her system works. Please do not see my way of doing laundry as prescriptive, but if you are looking for a system be sure to check it out!

Home Organization Tips – arts and crafts

Making sure that you have the right things in your home for your children to enjoy art and craft in the afternoon is part of being organized. Not all my children enjoy arty things, but I find that as one brings out a creative endeavor, the others follow. I have two pages on my website for you that will help you get more organized in this area – organize your craft cupboard and art & craft ideas

Home Organization Tips – Book Review

On the off chance that I could learn something new, I picked up a copy of Elizabeth George’s Life Management for Busy Woman with a voucher I received for my birthday. I have been so thrilled with this purchase. Elizabeth George is a well known name for her books which cut to the chase and speak directly to the heart. This book is no different. She calls woman to a higher standard of life management using Titus 2 : 3 – 5 as her basis. She covers the following areas: Managing your spiritual life, managing your physical life, your home life, your finances, your social and ministry life and your mental life. This book is worth every cent.

Home Organization Tips – Doing it all

When I collected my dry cleaning today the assistant asked me how I manage to cope with homeschooling, housekeeping and a business. It really is simple…if you diligently train your children to work with you, you will reap many long term rewards in this area. A friend who is pregnant with her 5th baby is laying down good habits in her children by getting them to help fold their laundry and pack it away. I started cooking with my children when they were little, gradually giving them more responsibility.

As I get up early weekdays, I sleep a little later on a Saturday. Often on these mornings I wake to find my oldest child having prepared Scrambled Eggs or Flapjacks for us. What a treat.

Home Organization Tips – Your will

A mom asked the other day: “How do I un-lazy myself?” First I wanted to give her a great big cyberspace pat on the back for asking it. When moms ask a question like this it means that their conscience has been awakened to a lack or neglect in there lives. It also indicates that God has spoken to them and they are responding.

Charlotte Mason talks in her writings about strengthening a child’s will. By this she does not mean creating a child ruled by their will, but rather helping a child mature to a place where their will serves them and enables them to will them to do the right thing.

This mom who asked the question above hopefully will begin to exercise her will to get up a little earlier and tend to just one thing more today than she did yesterday. She will hopefully choose to wash her dishes tonight, as her will flexes its muscles and enables her arms to be strong for their tasks. She will hopefully spend each day picking up in her home before she reads a chapter of her book. All the time, as with any muscle in the body, her will will become stronger and stronger to serve herself, her family and her Lord.

Home Organization Tips – Holiday Jobs

One of my goals during the school holidays was to do a big declutter throughout my home and office. I have to admit to not following the Flylady’s daily tips for some time now. Her principles are very much ingrained in our housekeeping but this year there was not much time for a deep decluttering which is why we are spending a little time each day focusing on one area together.

As we move through the areas we have three containers – one contains things that can be thrown away, another for things to give away and others to pack away for later.

This reduces the mountain of things as you go and helps with the final organization of the area. You can find a free printable Holiday to Do List half way down this page.

You can also see how we perform a three day blitz in our living areas here!

Home Organization Tips – Baking Center

Have you ever thought about creating a “baking center” in a section of your kitchen?We bake a lot, even more now that both my daughters are able to work in the kitchen safely on their own. For simplicity I have grouped all our baking things together in one cupboard underneath the counter where we work. This includes ingredients as well as mixing equipment and baking trays. >>>More kitchen organization

Home Organization Tips – Sunday Evenings

Every Sunday I ask myself a simple question: “What can I do today to make my life a little easier this week?” Every evening I ask myself a similar question: “What can I do tonight that will save me time tomorrow?” For my children I often prompt them with a question along the same lines. This may be packing their specific items for an extra curricular activity or making sure their pencil boxes are in order for the next day.

If we have an outing the following day I ask my children to have their clothes laid out and their backpacks packed. I make sure that I plan for these on my meal planner too but having the correct food to pack as well as planning an easy dinner for that evening.What can you choose to do on a Sunday evening or weekday evening that will have a positive effect on your week ahead?

Home Organization Tips – Double up your time

I have always found ways to double up my time, here are some of my favourites:

1.When I was still nursing a baby, I would use that time for reading to older children, or have them read to me.
2. I return phone calls on my walk-about-phone while I clean my kitchen.
3. I water my garden while I return phone calls.
4. I clean out my wallet while waiting at my children's extra activities or while waiting at the petrol station for the tank to fill.
5. I wash dishes as I go when cooking.
6. I cut and stick things with my preschooler while waiting for our older children to complete their maths problems or phonics workbook page.

Visit my organized mom pages for more help.

Home Organization Tips - Clutter

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with all that you need to do in your home? I do! I find that if I don’t keep on top of my clutter collecting areas each day then after a week I feel so overwhelmed that I do not know where to start. I have a spot at my desk that collects papers, and well, they make babies over night!

To prevent this from happening I devote a few minutes each day to throw away, put away or deal with. Accounts I place in a folder for pay day, items to read get read, and filing gets done. This way I don’t have a pile of papers growing next to my desk.

Another spot that collects stuff is above my microwave oven. It seems to be a gathering spot for my children’s artwork, my keys and bag, broken toys and my husband’s wallet. My last chore in the kitchen at night is to sort this spot by hanging up my bag and keys, determining whether the toy can be mended and then placed in the mending draw and to put the art work in the school room.

Do you have a few minutes in your day to deal with your clutter collection points?

Home Organization Tips – Just Do It!

I have a theme when it comes to really bad jobs like some I had to tackle these holidays. There are also day to day chores that are yucky – like cleaning out the hutches, ironing or cleaning dog’s mess…my saying is “Just do it”.

Having a just-do-it mentality takes away the expectation that all homemaking jobs should be a blessing – some may have this thinking, but I find it hard when I am gagging over dirty guinea pig hutches!

How about this list for training yourself in a just do it mentality? Tracy has put together a list of 52 things to organize your life…one per week of the year. Take a look at Tracy’s 52 tips

Home Organization Tips - 6 quick organizational tips for busy moms

Never go to bed with a messy kitchen

Take out your frozen food for your evening meal in the morning

Briefly plan your week on a Sunday evening so that your weekend is spent with other relaxing pursuits

When chopping veggies for an evening meal, keep an empty container next to you to collect peelings, so that you have only one trip to the bin or compost heap.

Get your children to take 10 minutes on a Sunday evening to make sure their desks or working area is tidy and their pencil boxes are ready for Monday.

Take a full basket of washing to your laundry area in the evening ready to be washed in the morning, just one thing less to do!

In our days nothing can waste more time, or create more frustration, that looking for things that have not been put in the right place. Reading through Isaiah 28 I remembered my frustration a few weeks ago as my gardening implements seemed to have grown legs and walked. “…each in its proper way and each in its proper place.” Verse 25b.

The following day we all piled into the garden shed and sorted it out. We found all the gardening implements that were in this cupboard and behind that bush and found a “proper place” for them all in the garden shed.

So whether it is stationary for school, workbooks, library or book club books… isolate those things that you are always hunting for and put them away in their proper place in the proper way. Then train your children to return them to that place each time they are done with it so that the items are ready and waiting for the next time they are needed. Read more organizing tips

Home Organization Tips - Quick clean up tips for children

If you take something out – put it away.

If you dirty something clean it.

If you use the last of something throw the container away.

If you open something, close it.

If you mess something, tidy it.

Touch something only once i.e. return something to it correct place the first time.

Home Organization Tips - In the garden

As some of you may know we have recently begun to grow our own veggies, take recycling a little more seriously, own our own chickens and live more frugally. Frugal living is a biggie for many of us as the world takes a downward economic turn and particularly for those in the USA who have been hard hit by the current economic trends.

The problem with recycling is that it takes up space in between visits to the centre. We do not have a smooth municipal system yet where they will supply us with bins for the individual products of plastic, metal, glass and paper.

We had to make up our own system using boxes which we take up to the centre once a week on the way to sport on a Thursday.

As we are now composting, collecting off cuts for chickens and our wormery we also have three different containers in our fridge which we add to through the day and they get dumped to the individual recipients in the evening.

We are also collecting seeds from our vegetables and storing these in the fridge in air tight containers.

All of this adds to our list of “to-do’s” but when everything has a landing place it makes it much more simple.

Home Organization Tips – Online

One additional organization tip - a friend introduced me to rainlendar which is a desktop calendar with some fabulous tools like running events and to do lists which you can edit in a flash! A great tool for homeschool moms! Be sure to download the free version.

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