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by Cheryl R. Carter
As I have struggled to maintain a household, I have discovered that managing a household well involves an understanding of two key elements: (one) inventory and (two) maintenance.
Everything we do falls into one of these categories.
Inventory items keep the family moving and spontaneous. These items are their needs. Most times these things simply cannot be delayed without some dire consequence. They include things like food, clean clothes, etc. I have to feed my family. They need to wear clean underwear. I have to pay the electricity. These things simply cannot be delayed or ignored.
Maintenance items, on the other hand, can be delayed. The kitchen floor may be adhesive, but the family will still function. Your windows may be full of grime, but you can still see out of them. I do not advocate sticky floors or grimy windows but I hope you get my point. Inventory items should be taken care of first in your home because this will free you to address maintenance issues.
Let’s be very practical here We’ll start with laundry as a good illustration.
Laundry is a very basic household inventory item. This is a task with various steps. Often we neglect to think through the whole process; therefore, we do not complete the laundry in a one-time segment. The journey from the hamper to the dresser draw can take weeks in some households.
Since I hate doing laundry, I do it everyday! No, its not some redemptive character building spiritual exercise, I simply hate dealing with the volume of laundry so I try to do it everyday so it does not pile up. With a husband who goes to the gym daily and three active kids, and a tactile homeschool curriculum, this is actually quite easy for me.
It is also imperative that we admit we need help and enlist the other family members particularly our children. Train your little ones to sort the laundry and older ones to help. Teenagers should definitely be doing their own laundry. My kids have their own laundry baskets, so they fold and put away their own clothes. I ‘d suggest you get different color laundry baskets if you are still doing laundry for little ones so at least they can learn to fold and put away their own clothes.
If you commit to doing an inventory item at least once a month you are well on your way to an organized home.
Quick and Painless Meals
Okay, we looked at laundry. Now we will examine another major home management concern. Meal preparation can really stress some families. This is because like laundry, it is a multi-faceted task. It can be quicker and painless than we think.
It merely involves shopping, planning, preparing and finally cooking the meal.
The time spent in this area also can be greatly reduced. You should really only be going to the grocery store once a week. With careful planning, you can go shopping once or twice a month. This can be easily accomplished with a bit of creative and efficient planning.
(One) First, visit the store you frequent the most and write down the items in each aisle.
(Two) Next, type it up, if possible then photocopy it.
(Three) Write your grocery list on it; it will reduce your shopping time.
(Four) Post the shopping list in the kitchen when you notice you are low on an item you can simply write it on the list. This will keep you from running out of items and from going to the store so frequently.
Having your own personalized ready-made shopping list speeds up the time when you are in the store.
You can also write out tentative menus for a week and then go shopping for these items at one time. There are so many great cookbooks with simple meals with little preparation time. I have also noticed if our meals consist more of healthy vegetables, etc, it does not take long to cook. You may also take time every Saturday to plan the next week's meals. I try to plan for a month’s worth of meals.
Add things like kids’ snacks and lunch foods; cook double portions when you cook and freeze the second portion. Try cooking for two weeks, or even a month at a time, if you have the freezer space. In a pinch, I store prepared foods (I catch them when they go on sale).
The time I save on cooking I like to spend playing with the kids. So get out of the kitchen and onto the playground with just a little planning.
About the author:
Cheryl R. Carter is the author of Chasing God and the Kids Too and Getting Organized and Staying Organized, A Practical Guide for Christian Mothers. Visit www.Momtime.net for more
organizing/teaching tips.
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