Stop Organizing

STOP Trying To Organize Your Home!

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I was recently reminded of how vital taking care of the essentials is in managing the home …before all of the other home projects. And by ‘all the other home projects’ I’m referring to organizing projects.

Listen. I know that it’s January, and January is the time when we spend a bundle on organizational tools…containers, baskets, file folders, label makers…because THIS year it’s gonna be different!!!

But listen!

If you do not start with ‘first things first’ then this year is NOT going to be different from any other year where your home is a wreck, you don’t know how it got like that, and you still don’t fully understand what it takes to keep it clean, neat, and….

Organized.

The only difference is that there will be even more organizational tools lying neglected around your home than last year.

Is this coming across as harsh? I hope not, but I need you to understand that until you master the foundations of homemaking, you will continue to struggle.

Until you have your priorities rightly ordered in the home, you will continue to be frustrated.

I don’t want that for you. This time next year I want you to feel like you have your home under control and YOU are running your home instead of your home running you.

Your number one priority in running your home includes three separate tasks.

Not only are these three tasks essential to the successful running of a household, but they are also confidence building. Feeling confident in your skills as the manager of your home is half the battle, so these three essential tasks do double duty!

Task #1: Getting yourself ready for the day

 

This may seem silly to you, but putting in the time to get yourself showered and dressed presentably for the day will do more for your productivity than just about anything else!

I’m speaking more to stay at home moms and work at home moms here, if you are going off to work each day, then getting yourself ready is already a necessary part of your day.

It may seem like a ridiculous extra step if you’re staying home all day, with no plans to leave the home. But this is a matter of respect. Respect for yourself, your family, and your very real job of managing the home. You will have an easier time taking your role seriously if you are dressed like you are doing important work.

This is going to look different for different moms, but a good rule of thumb is dress yourself to the point where you are happy with your appearance, so that if someone were to drop in unannounced, you wouldn’t feel embarrassed by your appearance.

My own personal daily style involves a nice pair of dark wash denim jeans or slacks and either a button down shirt or a blouse. I wear light makeup daily, style my hair neatly, and I always have on a pair of earrings. 

Task #2: What’s For Dinner?

Every single day your family will be eating dinner. It’s unavoidable. This means that every single day a decision must be made.

What’s for dinner?

I don’t have a problem with grabbing pizza on a busy night. We do this at least monthly.

What I have a problem with (and I also think it negatively affects a mother’s confidence) is being forced to pick up pizza or other takeout because of poor planning.

Take out should be a proactive choice. This means the decision wasn’t made at 5:30 when you realized that you forgot to thaw the meat, or the cupboards are bare, or you just don’t have time to cook before having to run out of the house for basketball practice.

Make the decision earlier in the day…or even better, it should be made during the weekly menu planning session!

I make a point to always know what I am serving for dinner by 10am. This gives me the flexibility that I sometimes need to omit a weekly menu plan if I don’t want to…but also gives me plenty of time to make and execute a dinner plan for the day.

If I know by 10am that I am going to serve a crockpot meal…this gives me the time to get it started, instead of realizing at 2:30 that I wanted to do a crockpot meal but never got it started!

So figure out what you are serving for dinner by 10am!

Task #3- Laundry!

Laundry is a fact of life, and it renews itself each day. In my home, with twelve people, I have to do laundry every single day, or I will get terribly behind.

If I want to get to ‘laundry zero’ I have to do three loads per day. So this means that if I skip a day, I will then have to do six loads to get to ‘laundry zero’…three days skipped equals nine loads…

You may not have to do laundry every day, but the important task to remember here is that you stay up to date daily on your laundry. So if you only need to run a load of laundry every other day, that’s wonderful!

You can either wash, dry, fold, and put away the laundry all in one day, or split the tasks into two days…wash and dry on day 1, fold and put away on day 2, then repeat!

Putting your laundry on a routine and treating it as an essential task will do wonders for your confidence! How amazing would it feel to be a mom who has the laundry under control and to not feel buried by it?

If you start working these three essential tasks into your everyday routine and turn them into habits, THEN you will have laid the foundation for a well-run home.

Once your foundation has been laid, then you can begin adding in chores for the children, cleaning spaces, decluttering, and deep cleaning!

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4 thoughts on “STOP Trying To Organize Your Home!”

  1. Great advice! Starting January off wanting to organize your life , your home is a great goal but after a short time the goal flops. I don’t make a long term goal. I know I can restart whenever I face the fact oops I messed up, . I like the 3 points you suggested. Get up and make myself presentable. Don’t stay in your sweats/jammies all day. That’s a great start to feeling productive and alive. As for dinner prep, I don’t know how many times I had to rush to thaw out steaks or chicken so I could have dinner ready for the family. Laundry is not an issue at our home but great advice. Thank you for sharing your experiences. God bless you, Ashley.

  2. Thank you. I’m a retired lady with two adult children (out of the home), so all I have are the husband and dog. Still, get up and get dressed for the day, try to plan dinner (husband likes to cook), and set a laundry schedule (wash, dry, fold & put away in a day). What helps me is the super list of daily “get done”:
    #1 Make the bed in the first five minutes of feet on the floor
    #2 Get the trash gathered from each room and throw it away
    #3 Keep the kitchen (including the sink) clean all day.
    #4 Wipe down the bathroom sink every time I use it and swipe down the shower and toilet daily.
    #5 Declutter, declutter and declutter some more.

    Of course, there are other maintenance things during the week, but all of these keeps me sane in an insane world. Thanks for your tips.

  3. Hi Ashley. Laundry is not a problem. I wash , dry, put away. I do it on Saturday and on Wednesday.
    My problem is my kitchen counter. Every thing gets put on there and I am constantly working at it but never get it done.

  4. Hi. I disagree. I honestly believe that I don’t need to be dressed up or have all the laundry. It might make me feel better BUT I think the e MOST important thing is to give people hope. Hope that they CAN de-clutter your home. I think people need to start getting rid of stuff in order to give them hope. De-cluttering starts in the kitchen. Do the laundry while u are de-cluttering. This is just me!!! Thank you for helping people.

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Ashley is committed to helping ALL Moms (working moms, stay at home moms, homeschooling moms, ADHD moms, and any other kind of Mom who wants a change!) realize and achieve a calm, peaceful, neat space that really feels like Home Sweet Home.