1. Have a home for everything, so at the end of the day you can do the 5-minute tidy, then you can wake up to an organized home, not a home of chaos.
2. Laundry – have a spot set up near the bedrooms, because this is where most the laundry is created, with 4 hampers, Darks, Lights, Colours and Towels. This way when the hamper is full you know you have a load of laundry. Train everyone in the home to understand this, so any one can do laundry when needed.
3. Have an OUT BASKET near the door – this is for books to return, borrowed items, mending or dry cleaning – anything that has to be delivered somewhere.
4. Have a calendar of chores that need to be done each day with a name beside them. Manually or on computer. Then you will have no arguments who’s day it is to empty the dishwasher etc.
5. Make everyone aware in the home, if you put things away, keep things neat and tidy and take 10 or 15 minutes everyday to help out around the home, everything will run smoother and that will leave you all more time to do what you want to do.
6. Have a mail centre set up for incoming and outgoing papers. Use the RAFT systems. READ, ACT, FILE and TOSS. Files set up so you can quickly sort mail and papers in 5 minutes.
7. Have a filing cabinet for all important information, paid bills, insurance, bank information, children’s information – ie teams they are, events they are part of, forms and information for camps, colleges, university etc., – teach them how to keep there own papers in order and they will function better. I have a file for each child and if they are looking for something they know where to find it.
8. Keep original copies of important papers in a fire safe or safety deposit box. Also have a list of all important information and contacts for someone you trust outside the home in the case you were to die or be incapacitated that someone would have this information.
9. Do not be too hard on yourself, none of us are perfect.
10. DON’T SET IT DOWN, PUT IT AWAY!
