Where To Start To Get Organized and Manage Your Household

How do I get organized and get my home and family life under control? Where do I start?

You may be surprised to find that my answer to these questions are not to start frantically cleaning or buying the perfect storage containers, because if you did frantically clean it would just get messy again in a day or two, and the perfect containers would soon be filled with more clutter that you really should just get rid of.

Well then, where do I start?

You start by first figuring out why it is that you are interested in "getting organized." Why do you think this would be a good thing for you to do with your limited time?

Overwhelmed woman trying to get organized

Have you ever felt like this woman?

About ready to pull your hair out because your daughter can't find her new shoes or your son needs to go to his soccer game NOW, but his uniform is still dirty, or a million other everyday problems we encounter?

If you are like me, you want to get organized to try to solve some of these problems and make your life easier. But getting organized is not enough.

Now, don't get me wrong, organization is an important part of solving these problems. But, you can be Ms. Organization, and if the rest of your family is not on board, with everyone contributing to the effort, everything will fall into disorder and chaos again, or you will work yourself ragged trying to keep everything organized, for organization's sake, and begin to resent your home responsibilities.

Knowing that the end result you are seeking is to enjoy your home and family, and not to be overwhelmed by all the tasks and activities that go on and need to be done in your busy home, your path to get there should not be just to "get organized" but instead to become an effective household manager.

Like with anything in life, when you don't know where to get started, it is always helpful to get some introductory information before you put the rubber to the road with physical actions towards your goal.

The first thing to understand is the difference between household management and home management.

Next, you should understand your role as a household manager for your family, and how this differs from being your family's maid or servant.

Finally, because every family and home is different, you need to define your aspirations and goals for your family, so that you know what results you want and can get on the right path to achieve those results.

I hope I have convinced you that just saying, "I'll get organized" is not enough, and instead you should begin your journey to becoming an effective household manager today.

But, that leads us back to the original question: Where do I start?

You start with small steps, which is the only way to create, and more importantly, maintain, habits and routines, which are at the core of effective household management.

If you don't know where to start, check out my article on sticking to your New Years resolutions, which lists 12 habits or key concepts for household management we are focusing on over the course of this year to help us with our journey.

As I write the articles over the next year I will post them here also:

Habit: 8 Hours Of Sleep Each Night - How Much Sleep Do I And My Kids Need Each Night? - Find out why you need 8 hours of sleep each night, and your kids need even more, to be the best household manager, parent, and person you can be.
Habit: Make And Use A Household Notebook - How To Make A Homemaking Notebook - Making a homemaking notebook does not need to be complicated or elaborate, but it should involve some thought process. Find out how to make the most of this useful tool to write down the stuff in your brain, so it reminds you and you don't forget things.