6 Steps to Organizing Your Chaotic Household

 

So, you think you're going to take on the world? You're middle-aged and have a family that still requires most of your attention. You decide, somewhat impetuously, to take on a new venture. You've got the tiger by the tail. Or do you? It doesn't take long, while prepping your household for the new chapter, to see the tiger has you. The chaos that is your lifestyle is a bit more overwhelming than you first expected. It's quite clear something must change, but what? Before you have the mental breakdown you so aptly deserve, grab yourself a cup of coffee and a legal pad. Let's have a seat at the kitchen table and hash this out. It's time to get that tiger's tail.

1. First things first in any style of organization...you must prioritize. Don't worry, that word freaks a lot of people out. After all, the home is chaotic enough as it is. Years of self-help videos have taught us that the chaos we feel mentally will manifest itself in our environment. So, prioritizing that swirling mess inside your head might feel like an impossible fete. But never fear, my dears. Just one important question will give you a jumping off point: Out of all the chaos that exists within your head, what is the one issue that consistent. For me, it is my kitchen. My starting place is always my kitchen. What is it for you?
2. Next, on your legal pad, write out all the small steps you feel need to be done to meet your goal. For instance, my goal is my kitchen. I usually list off my dishes first, then counters, island, refrigerator, and lastly, the floor. Even my floor gets broken down into sweep and mop. This is a general clean only, but it is a necessary step to getting your life organized.
3. On another sheet of paper, I want you to diagram your home. Don't worry about making it to scale or perfection, just create a visual representation of your living space. From your starting point, list the flow of your house and break down all the pieces necessary to organize it. Now, this step gets a bit tricky for me. At my heart, I am a tad OCD. I get caught in the rabbit hole of organizing and will start deep cleaning. Nothing will get you off track more than that. Keep it in perspective. The are other parts of your life that still need handling.
4. The last thing to sketch out for the home itself is a schedule of what to do when. There needs to be a schedule. Dishes are generally listed as an everyday function, while something like clean the curtains will only be once every six months. Not only do you need to sketch out this schedule, but you really need to take this opportunity to write out a chore chart for your entire family, including laundry days. Do not leave them out of this process.
5. Once you have a plan for how to organize your environment, it's time to move on to your family. One of the best moves I ever made was to buy myself a planner. In it, I keep track of all appointments, school events, sporting events, you name it. Each person has to find a way to do this for themselves. After all, planners aren't for everyone. But before you leave this kitchen table today, you should have an idea of what matter of organization will work to keep your family's calendar straight.
6. Lastly, on another sheet of paper, or in another planner, begin the tedious job of meal planning. Get your family involved in this one too. Make sure they not only help with the planning, but the meal prep and the execution of these plans. Plan your meals out for one week at a time at first. After a few successful weeks, we'll roll it out to every month,

Organization is so key when starting a new chapter in your life. Follow this plan for a bit, get your feet wet. As you acclimate to it, you'll add a bit more. It won't be long before you will feel comfortable in your now organized surrounds. Now sit back and relax. You've earned it.

And that's what she said today!

Special Note: This was written for my BA243 class at LBCC. There are a couple of questions that I do need to answer outside of the blog post:

1. How would you promote your blog in order to gain more views?

I would watch the analytics and focus on key words. I would then optimize those key words by adding them to an SEO. This will increase the views of the page.

2. What did you learn from writing the blog?

I learned a few key points while writing this:

a. My writing still needs work. I'm not as funny as I would have like to be, so I needed to play to my strengths.

b. I am trying to post to a site I don't entirely understand (wix.com)

c. Never try to write a blog at 3:00 AM. You find funky stuff on your document the next day.