momofsix I am a homeschool mom with six children. View all articles | Contact author

A couple of months before having our baby Abigail, I did a fast self course on organization and management. I read up on some great books, internet sites, etc. This is what I learned:

From the Idiots Guide for Time Management I learned that any decisions and all decisions create stress. Those who are in management (which we families could consider ourselves) all minimize their decisions, such as commitments or meal decisions. The author says that even the ball players don't make decisions on where to sit in an airplane. They try to get the ball players the same seats in every plane so they don't have that stress. If they get that much routine in detail with something like that, then I need to get routine in my home as well.

I have tried to make a routine for just about everything. We have a routine for our meals. Wow, we have done that for two months and our grocery budget has been cut by more than half! I have put routine into our family outings, making our outings only on Sunday afternoon, after a nap (bike riding or such). I have also made our homeschool outings to only one day, which is on Tuesday. The family routine for when the children do school, chores, meals, and family time is now routine. My husband has commented over the past weeks that things are so much more relaxing in our home.

Now, I want to simplify things. I hired a girlfriend to help me (she is good at this). I put all my recipes in one three ring binder. I put all household notes in a three ring binder (just print off from www.organizedhome.com). I put a plastic three drawer on the counter. There is a box for incoming bills, a box for bills to file later, and a box for immediate attention (phone calls, etc.), we went through each room to organize (which I used www.organizedhome.com to help also). We now have a plastic three drawer mover next to the door with matched socks (girls drawer, boys drawer, and toddler drawer). We have a shoe box of 12 shoe holder next to door, with the coats above it). I want to do more though. I want to try to cook enough to get ahead. I am on my way to the store to buy paper plates, paper cups, and plastic silverware so that I can have the extra time to get my house in order. I will hire a teenager to help this week or next week (she helps while my older girls each watch a younger child). I want to simplify. However, I have a pile of things to sell on ebay, which are from eliminating the clutter. We really don't need as much stuff as we think we need!

Does anyone else out there have any great ideas for laundry? I have seen some neat storage holders for the living room. I think I will get those. I bought different colored baskets, one for each child...but, I have laundry coming out the ears! I bought the sweater holder vertical canvas thing. The children have clothes for each day in it. Now, if I could just keep up with the wash! I think I need two washers and two dryers, ugh. 

Ok, here are some of my favorite websites:

www.ourfamilyplace.com &

www.organizedtips.com which is useful, and there is a fun one with printable lists called:

www.lifesaverlists.com, and another favorite organizing websites which is a must-save-to-favorites is:

www.homeschooling.about.com

Anyone else have any great ideas for organizing websites to help?

Post them on the Comments and Discussion Wall!

This was originally posted on my blog: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/momofsix