Help
With Your Rule
Where do I Start?
Dear Holly,
My main problem is that my house is very disorganized, and I'm finding it hard to know where to begin to get organized. I know that once the house is organized it will be fairly easy to keep it that way, it's just a matter of finding the time to do a major overhaul to get it that way. My husband works long hours and is also attending graduate school part time, so I can't rely on him for too much help with housework.
Labels: 5th P Provider
posted by Holly at 6:24 PM
7 Comments:
I think the first place to start with organizing your house is your own mind! :-) Without thinking all this out in advance, you are staring at a house and thinking "Geesh! Where do I begin!?!?"
So, start by only thinking about it.
Take these questions and write them on a single piece of paper - one piece for each room. Walk thru your house and answer them.
1. What is the purpose of this room? What exactly do I want to see happening in this room?
2. What furniture and supplies need to go into this room then?
3. What furniture and supplies do I need to take out of this room then?
4. What needs to be repaired in this room?
5. What would I like to do to fix up or beautify this room?
6. What chores will be necessary to maintain the new room and keep it tidy? Daily? Weekly?
Now - if you do this, you will have planned out in advance everything you can and ought to do with your rooms. I think that's the first step. Designate a temporary holding place for un-assigned stuff - like a spare room or a basement or an attic - and put everything you haven't accounted for in it.
Then, you can attack it as you go. For me, I tend to want to stop everything else while I just 'fix' it - so it would not be unusual for me to drop everything for a week or two, if necessary, and clean and sort and organize. We actually do this twoto three times a year anyway - Sept, Dec, and April. That way every stays in organized shape.
Other people prefer a more slow and steady, daily pace. And for this, I have heard flylady.com will be of assistance.
Another idea would be to have a hen party - once you've done your room analysis, invite some friends over for a 'sorting party'. Ask them to help you put things where they belong , and then feed them pizza and a wine cooler for supper! I've done this and it helps :-)
Or enlist a homeschooling family to come help - Mom and kids - if they know where to put things, the sheer number of people helping you will pull it together quickly! We've done this too!
I have found that one of my biggest obstacles was that I felt I needed to get it all done at the same time. Take little bites off as you can, and then move on to something else, coming back when you have time, don't fret over incomplete work, know it is a work in progess working towards a satisfying goal . . .
Patty said
I agree with Holly's suggestion of identifying the purpose of a room. Moving on from there makes a big difference.
Choose one room to start organizing, a suggestion would be your master bedroom. You need to be able to sleep peacefully at night without being overcome by piles of things to be done. Get 3 green plastic trash bags or opaque bins. Label them 1)put away, 2) throw away and 3) give away. Things you haven't touched in a year or out of style get rid of. You haven't used it _ you won't. (A benefit to inviting those friends over is their not attached to your stuff and can really challenge you to make choices.) If you need to break it down into 5 or 15 minute blocks do what you can and feel good about the progress.
May I suggest a website? www.flylady.com It will show you how to gain control of your house in a very do-able system.
www.flylady.com really changed my life! I was so disorganized and worked all day and accomplished nothing. Now I have more time for prayer. I divided my weekly tasks to do a few a day throughout the week, wrote up the daily ones, wrote it all up on a sheet of paper and slipped inside a plastic cover, and use a dry-erase pen to mark progress. For a long time, I followed that list like a 'little rule'. It's worked out great!
Hey! I REALLY like that idea of putting yor list in a plastic cover and using a marker to checklist... Thanks! I think the notion of separate days for separate chores is a good one for many people - especially if you have very small children.
Flylady (many mentioned her) has a CRISIS CLEANING area. That is what I do when I have been overwhelmed.
It really does help. And I only do the major areas just to get started.
My problem is consistancy.
What has worked is if I keep a schedule. After I do the crisis cleaning, I do 2 days a week where I just quickly feather dust and vaccum. My kids do their own rooms (they are not that great at it, but it is better than not at all!).
Then each day I do a room.
It is kind of Flylady style, but I do my own schedule.
And I have 2 set days a week when I clean the bathrooms.
I also use Flylady's idea of Windex. I spray the bathroom with that and swish the toilet with a brush.
My wash is probably my best area. I bought round washbaskets at the Dollar Store. I do not use hampers. I automatically sort wash (and so does the rest of my family) in these baskets.
So when the whites or darks etc. are full, I know to throw in a load. I don't have the kids doing wash yet (they are 11,7, and 2), but the older ones will transfer wash from washer to dryer for me.
Meals are getting better. I just have to remember to get the meat out of the freezer!! And I have been using my crockpot more.
Creativity with meals is also an issue. And you figure, we are home for 3 meals when we HS!!
I bet your husband would really appreciate coming home to an organized home!!!
I try to think of that to motivate me more when things are such a mess.
I don't rely on him to help me too much with cleaning. He isn't really good at it, but he is a GREAT cook.
I am like you though. I look at the mess and am OVERWHELMED!!!
I want it all at once, and I don't want to work at it little by little, but I am getting better at that (somewhat), and it is better. I just have to tell myself it doesn't have to be perfect.
PS. I am waiting on my book to arrive so my above schedule may end up being totally trashed! LOL
I have no clue what to expect, but I am dying to read it!!!
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