UPDATE: Here are the links to the printables:
iHeart Organizing's
Free Printables and
Ones You Can Purchase
Life Your Way's Printables (All Free or you can pay $7 for a zip file including all of them)
Clean Mama's
Free Printables and
Ones You Can Purchase
This morning, I gave my first official presentation on being organized. As terrible as I am at writing, I'm even worse at speaking in front of people. I'm afraid my presentation was scattered and rushed as I was trying to cram a lot into 30 minutes. So, here's a review of what my perfect talk would have been.
Why Does Being Organized Matter?
While there is no direct commandment from the Lord to be an organized Mom, there are a few places that refer to our role as a Mom in Scripture. Our God is a God of order. He created things in a specific order and has a perfect purpose for every thing He has created. Our lives are ordained to the second to go a certain way. He is all about order and not chaos! Titus 2 says that older women are supposed to teach younger women how to be good workers at home. Whether you're a stay at home mom or work outside the home or a combination of both, you're still a Mom and still a manager in your household, even if you're husband is very much involved in that aspect of life. 1 Corinthians 14 tells us that God is a God of peace and order. Matthew 25 tells us to be good stewards of our resources. The Bible also speaks against laziness in Proverbs.
Hear me say that being organized does not make you more or less spiritual or on top of things. I am simply submitting that we've all been given a set amount of time, the same 24 hours in a day, and if some of these things help you better manage your household so you're freed up to do other things, then please implement them.
A Few Things To Remember:
- What works for you may not work for someone else. What works for you for a while may not work once your life enters into a new season. BE FLEXIBLE and always evaluating and adapting your plan. Forcing yourself to do something that isn't working is counter productive to your cause in being organized to free up time.
- Let go of perfectionism. Accept good enough as just that and move on. Perfectionism is the enemy of productivity.
Being Organized in your Cleaning
Before we can address cleaning, we've got to address all of the stuff in your house. If you don't find something beautiful or functional, get rid of it. For things that you want to store, store them in numbered crates. For instance, crates with the numbers 1-4 are all Christmas decorations. Crate 5 is spring home decorations and Crate 6 is that black and white table setting that you love to use on special occasions. Then, you know what you have and where it is.
Maybe you're a once a week cleaner and you'd rather spend a couple of hours once and week to knock it all out. Maybe you prefer to do a little at a time every day. Personally, I follow Clean Mama's routine of doing a few chores daily and one bigger chore. I declutter, wipe counters, vacuum, and do a load of laundry every day. Mondays I clean bathrooms, Tuesday I dust, etc. You can read more about her cleaning routine
here. Find a routine that works for you. And remember, just because it works for a friend doesn't mean it will work for you. BE FLEXIBLE and READY TO CHANGE if life demands it. Maybe you'll want to clean twice a week or on Monday and Wednesday and Friday.
Something else to remember is that clutter, even if you despise it as much as I do, will come into your home. Have somewhere it all goes so that you can deal with it at the appropriate time (whether that's nightly or weekly). Put a laundry basket somewhere that everything goes into and deal with it at night after everyone has gone to bed. Not letting it pile up more than a week will be incredibly helpful in staying on top of things.
One more thing in the area of cleaning: implement the one in, one out rule. If your child gets a new toy, tell them they have to pick one to give away. New shirt for you? Find one to donate. Having this rule ensures that you don't acquire too much stuff to deal with and keep clean. Less is more.
Being Organized in your Menu Planning
Whether you make a menu monthly or weekly, it's important that you make your menu plan realistic. Don't plan a 45 minute cooking meal on a night you have a lot going on. Use the crock pot that day or just plan to eat out. Find a few easy meals that are quick that you can throw together in a few minutes for other busy nights.
When you make your meal each week, take your schedule into consideration and shop at home first. What items do you have that you need to use up? Then, make your grocery list as you make your menu. Add any non-food items and then go grocery shopping. Stick to the list!
A few things to keep in mind:
- Make double batches of food to freeze if you can on nights that you have time to cook for those nights that you don't.
- Remember to be realistic in your planning
- Considering freezer cooking with some friends to stock your freezer
Some Final Things
I shared my planner that I print at home and have coiled bound at Office Depot for $3. I use printables from
Life Your Way,
iHeartOrganizing and Clean Mama (see the link above in cleaning). I also use Dropbox and Evernote (both free!) for other things I want to have on file without dealing with the paper. With iPhone apps, I always have them with me, too! If you have any questions or want to talk, hit me up on Facebook or leave a comment below!!
