Setting priorities on how your home will run smoothly depends on what is important to you. The one who runs the household. As a homeschool mom who balances many plates, I have the challenge to decide what plates get tossed into the air.  These are some of the best ways I have found to accomplish my management tasks. 

 Some household task managers want a clean, organized home. While others’ may be happy with the dishes being done. Every  home manager has a  different way to run their home.

Step one is to create the outline of basic tasks. schedules, routines, homeschool schedule (if that is necessary), and laundry management to get done.

 

 

Household Management Binder

In my binder, the days’ are set up for my tasks. and the best way complete those.

Home management binders allow for a place to keep all parts of running a house in one place. Individualized home binders are where ideas for projects are stored. When leaves get raked, where to buy the bags to put them in and more.  Having a tool to use that will put household chores on autopilot is priceless. 

Using the binder to keep your thoughts in so that the next year it is available at you fingertips. 

An important element is making the home management binder about how you run the home. If something happened to where you were not available, make it easy for other’s to step in and help.

My binder is my referral system. I created my own household binder over many years. Creating what works for the priorities in each home is important. Laundry is my weakness, so that had to be priority number one. I try to do the task first that is not my favorite. Otherwise, it will be pushed off into the next week, and voila…a mountain of laundry. To this day, putting away clothes for me is a huge chore, so I make a game out of it.

To get my laundry put away before the next week I lay the clothes out in the categories they will be put away and set a timer. 5-6 minutes to put away laundry. Whatever doesn’t get put away in that time will wait until another moment in the day that becomes available. The object of the game is to set my mind on something fun to get this dreaded activity completed. All of this is written in my laundry section. 

 Each sections holds notes, ideas or comments on what worked well, how to change it, or to never use again. Being able to turn to my office day section and apply my checklist allows the priorities  to be done more efficiently. 

Cleaning System

Cleaning is one of those necessary evils. Most people abhor to clean, I find it soothing. So to spend an afternoon cleaning is high on my priorities list. Because I can get wrapped up in my cleaning hobby, I would let other necessary parts of household management slide.  That is why I use index cards. Writing down one task on each card allowed me to stay focused. I only do 2-3 tasks each day. 

Index cards and a box are the best ways to hold my cleaning system. I went through each day of the week (not Sunday) and wrote 2-3  cleaning spots to hit. Next, I worked on monthly task cards which is a deep cleaning for the room of the month.  

Finally, for the month and year those index cards are saved for Saturday’s. Usually monthly or yearly  cleaning tasks take a bit longer so I don’t try to manage those during the week. Most of the yearly tasks are seasonal and the best ways to handle those are to mix them in with the monthly tasks. 

Command Center for Management

After many year’s of paper clutter, organizers and other ways of keeping my “week” organized I settled on a chalkboard wall.  The chalkboard wall is in my kitchen. Several  purposes are served: 

1. My kids can draw and utilize it to create.

2. I can look up and see my week.

3. It eliminates paper clutter, or my binder laying on the table all day. I have easy access to see what we are eating, doing, or cleaning. 

My chalkboard command center is the quick version of my detailed binder. 

Meal planning, the daily schedule, children’s kitchen chores, daily/weekly cleaning schedule and daily management tasks such as “errands or laundry” is right there for me to see.

This multipurpose wall has been a conversation piece for many who have come to visit. Command centers should center around one purpose. Creating a quick space for the household manager and other’s in the home to get an overview.  Visually seeing mine on a wall works for me, but you might want a calendar or dry erase board. Employ the tools that will work best for your style.

Follow me on Instagram @momsarefrugal to see my daily life in homeschool, homesteading and homemaking.