Does anyone have any good suggestions on books to read to help me better manage my home? I thrive on organization and schedules but am feeling like I can't keep any one area of my life organized let alone coordinating them all!

We are finishing up our third year of homeschooling and I am looking toward our next year with mixed emotions. I have a 9yo dd that we homeschool and then two little dd's (age 2 1/2 and 8 months) When we first started homeshcooling we only had our oldest daughter..... that made teaching and managing my home fairly easy. Then we had our 2nd dd and life started to get a little more disorganized. then before I had time to master juggling homeschooling one, caring for the needs of a baby and managing my home I was giving birth to another dd. I feel like my house is a mess, none of my children get quality time from me, I'm falling behind in schooling and I am so exhausted and overwhelmed at the end of the day that I can't offer much to my husband. I do best emotionally when my house is clean and life is fairly organized but neither of those is happening right now so I am really feeling overwhelmed.

God has been faithful to carry me through each day and for that I am forever rejoicing! My dh has been encouraging me to "reach out to other homeschool moms" for some advice on the practical side of things... so here I am..
Any words of encouragement? I love to read so any suggestions on books that would offer up some practical advice would be much appreciated.... of course I am assuming life at this stage in life can be somewhat managable.
Janelle

Have you read through the www.flylady.net website? There is a long section in there with tips for homeschoolers

http://www.flylady.net/pages/FlyBaby_HS.asp

and the whole method she teaches for managing the home is wonderful and so encouraging. You may need to read through the abbreviations at

http://www.flylady.net/pages/FLYFaq.asp

before you read the posts for homeschoolers because she has developed a cute vocabulary that you will need to understand the posts.

HTH, Trishel

Just wanted to also list www.titus2.com
This is managers of their homes by steve and teri maxwell. I found their website and books very helpful.

Also, I just want to encourage you to hang in there. It will come together with endurance and persistence. I know I have struggled in this area and still do. I have 4 dc and have usually been pregnant, nursing and moving to a new home/town and sometimes all three. I know how hard it can be at times and how discouraging it is to look around and feel overwelmed. Take a deep breath....and go to God. His word and the Holy Spirit will guide you.
God Bless and keep on keeping on..your little ones are worth it!!

Hi Janelle,
I just finished creating a dinner schedule, master grocery list and chore schedule for our home. The two books that are unbelieveable for this would be

MrsCleanJean's Housekeeping with Kids by Tara Aronson and Emilie Barnes' Emilie's Creative Home Organizer. I would read MrsCleanJean's first and then use the creative home organizer to put finishing touches.

I have what I came up with at my blog so you can see an example if you wish.

http://triviumacademy.blogspot.com/2007/06/cleaning-plan-of-action.html

and

http://triviumacademy.blogspot.com/2007/06/getting-it-t...r-meal-planning.html

Hope this helps!
Jessica

Hi Janelle!
I have 6 dc and also prefer and function better in an organized home. I have read several of the above listed books/sites and gleaned ideas from all that I looked at. Ultimately, though, you have to put together what works for you. I learned the hard way while on bed rest during one of my pregnancies that everything didn't have to be absolutely perfect for the house to function. (That was an eye-opener for me! ) So as you read, decide what you can live with and what you can't.

For example, when the kids fold the towels, they aren't as pretty as when I do it, but as long as they don't fall off the closet shelf when I open the door, they are OK. The kids are SUPPOSED to fold their laundry before they put it away. Sometimes they don't. I'm OK with that as long as 1) they aren't hanging out of the drawers, 2) their church clothes aren't wrinkled, and 3) they don't leave them in their laundry basket. I can't tolerate clothes on the floor and it drives me crazy that my sports oriented boys can't seem to put their dirty clothes in the hamper, so those are the battles I choose to fight. Of course, I continue to train them in these tasks, but I don't sweat it on a day to day basis if the occasional T-shirt gets tossed into the drawer instead of folded.

Most importantly, train your dc to help. When people ask me how on earth I manage to homeschool six children and keep up with the laundry, I say this: "I don't do laundry. I also don't vacuum, I don't dust, and I don't clean bathrooms." While they are in the process of picking their jaws up off the floor, I explain that I have trained my children to do these things. Almost every time I do a household task, I ask myself, could one of the children be doing this? Sometimes the answer is yes, but I haven't trained them, so I figure out who to train in that task. Sometimes the answer is yes, but just this once I would like ALL the chip crumbs off the floor, so I'm going to sweep it myself. And sometimes the answer is yes, but the laundry room is nice and quiet and the children are enjoying themselves outside, so I think I'll sort these socks myself. But I make these the exception rather than the rule.

Just remember that noone else's management system will be entirely compatible with you, and be sure to pick and choose as you read, setting priorities as to what's most important and to training your children to help.

And yes, this stage is manageable--they don't stay babies and toddlers forever (unfortunately??).
Michelle

A great big thank you to each of you who offered up advice (and anyone else who might still have some encouraging words to share)! I am going to take everyones input and prayerfully consider what would be best for our family. I can see now that my day is rough because the kids don't know what I expect of them and when they are suppose to have certain chores and school work done by. AND I don't have a plan for each day so lunch and snacks and naps are hazardly thrown in to the day. I plan on including my husband in the final decision as his support is crucial for me (and the rest of the family) to stay organized and scheduled.
Well, since my younger dd's are napping, this would be a great time to take all your input and pray about it and start getting organized!
Thanks again,
Janelle

Agreeing with Michelle, this is exactly what I did! I read the books then thought about how we live our lives, the schedules I came up with really wasn't in the books. I used www.chartjungle.com at first and then customized it to my household.

Have fun with it, if you get stressed put it to the side for a day then go back to it.
Jessica

I can SO understand what you're going through! Though I don't consider myself a neat freak, I work best when things are organized and fairly clean/picked up regularly. I used to have a neat house BEFORE having children; but it's gotten harder with each child, and then even harder with homeschooling.

Also, after having some health issues a few years ago, I've learned to lower my expectations, so that I'm not always beating myself up about not keeping up as well as I'd like. My health concerns creep up on me if I don't take good care of myself, so I've learned to value my health and sanity above a spic and span house. That has been a process, though.

Here are a few practical things that have helped me:

I found that keeping the kitchen, living room, and school area (our most used areas) kept up helps alot, so those rooms have become priority. When I say "kept up", I mean picked up and tidy; real "cleaning" come less often than I'd like, but keeping it tidy helps a lot.

I try to keep the kitchen counters clean (except for one corner where papers/stuff always tend to gather!) For dishes, I rinse things and stack them in one side of the sink throughout the day. After dinner, my husband cleans up and gets everything into the dishwasher. My older 2 boys put clean dishes away in the mornings.

Another chore the boys do each morning is pick up any scattered toys (usually from my 3 yr. old!) and put them in his room. Bedrooms and our basement play area are not priority (out of sight, out of mind?!) They get cleaned up about twice a month, or if they really need it sooner.

In our main bathroom, I keep a washcloth on the towel bar that I use to quickly dry/wipe around the sink & faucet area a few times a day (when I'm already in there). It helps keep the counter/sink looking pretty good until I clean it on (most) Saturdays.

So, for what it's worth, those are a few of my quick tips for everyday stuff.

In the meantime, I also like to remind myself of a little plaque my friend has on her wall that says, "Sorry for the mess, but we live here!" Which is true - when you're homeschooling, lots of real living goes on in the house, and people are more important than clean stuff.

I do 3 things:
1. I make a weekly menu and grocery list (I use Menu Mailer and MasterCook Software tweaked to fit my family). I grocery shop one day a week and then I should never need to run to the store for anything.
2. Managers of their Chores (tweaked to fit my family) for a wonderfully workable chore system.
3. Managers of their Homes to put it all together with a wonderfully workable schedule which I can easily switch around to fit the week I am in. KWIM?
I need all of this because I am inherently disorganized and these things put it all together for me.
*I will say that I spent many hours setting this all up. But once it's done, it has been oh, so well worth the time.
Elizabeth
Menu Mailer: www.savingdinner.com
Managers of their chores/homes: www.titus2.com
MasterCook: www.valusoft.com

I, too, have applied a lot from Managers of Their Homes and Flylady.

I find that my children work best when we are all working together. Maybe not right in the same room but at a fixed time near one another. For example, my 10 year old is wiping down the counters and sweeping the floor in the children's bathroom while I am vacuuming the hall and bedrooms, and my 7 year old is using the handheld vacuum on the stairs. They all have set chores, so they know exactly what to move onto next. 10 year old...wipe down bathrooms, change sheets on bed, vacuum bedroom, vacuum living, dining room. 7 year old...vacuum stairs, vacuum bedroom, change sheets on bed with help from mom, act as a runner putting things away downstairs that belong up. 4 year old even has chores although not as many. She empties all trash cans into the kitchen trash, on occasion vacuums her room...We have two vacuums - one is a very light weight one with a removable handle so that it can become a handheld (like a dustbuster). Doesn't work as well, but things look nicer after and makes it possible for youngers to help. It is also battery powered so I don't have to worry about a cord.

I am always looking for ways to make cleaning easier. I love the Glass Plus brand wipes. You can pull one from the container, quickly wipe down your mirrors and even bathroom counters and things look pretty good.

My goal is then to do the deep cleaning on a regular basis using the flylady's idea of zones. One week focusing on kitchen, next on living rooms, etc. I haven't gotten there yet. We do the cleaning I mentioned above once a week on Friday mornings. I also have a laundry schedule where I do two loads a day Monday through Friday. I can't go to bed until they are folded or I'll get behind on tomorrows. The children all put their laundry away. Dishwasher gets run every night - girls empty it every morning so it's empty and available to load dishes during the day.

Hope this helps. Didn't mean to write a novel!

Couple other thoughts...

I have my nicer dishes up in an upper cupboard but our everyday dishes and cups are in a lower cupboard where my girls can easily access them. My 4 year old sets the table every meal while my 7 and 10 year olds do dishes (one clears, wipes table, and sweeps while the other loads). I still do the dishes that need to be done by hand.

My girls are not allowed to keep their rooms a mess. Even though it's their space, I don't see how that would help them to learn to keep their homes once they are on their own. Every night as part of their bedtime routine, they pick up for 15 minutes. We are also trying to work toward the idea when you get something out, you put it away when you are done with it.

I thrive on routines and so do my girls. If you tie something into a routine, it seems to get done. Then you can easily teach something new and add it right onto an existing routine. Getting to this point has taken some effort and has not happened overnight. Start small, add one thing that you might start doing regularly and when you get that down (spend some time training and working with them), add something else.

What great ideas, Ladies!
I wanted to put a plug in for one of my favorite sites, www.menus4moms.com. It's a bit like savingdinner.com (which I also like-specifically the ebooks for making freezer meal kits), but it's free.
Happy Organizing.
Beth

Lorrie Flem at TEACH magazine also has some good ebooks & CDs on scheduling and all aspects of homekeeping. Check out organizedhome.com also. Sometimes I just need new inspiration to see things in a different way. But my number one suggestion is to PRAY. My prayer journal is filled with requests about home management!

Blessings,
Charlotte
mom of 12, ages 1-25

Dear Janelle,
I HEAR YOU!!! We have 7; the youngest 4 are between 11 and 4, and I am attempting second year tapestry with 3 of them while the 4yo plays. I have spent years trying to organize the perfect home environment and I just adore schedules. Therefore, when my wonderful schedule is ignored, I am not happy or fun anymore. This has been a pattern, I'm afraid. But God has been GRACIOUS to me in this area recently and the book I'd like to recommend was a strong catalyst. Shopping For Time by Carolyn Mahaney. Google it or find it on the website for Sovereign Grace Ministries. It's a quick read but it will serve you in truth and you will relate to it immediately. Then promise you'll pass it on! There are so many of us out there with fabulous intentions and, well, all the not-so-fabulous other stuff. God bless you as you walk forward in His will for you each day!

OK.... I have 4 kids 2 to 8. One with special needs. My house is SO cluttered and I am overwhelmed. How do I even start to unclutter so I can even keep a clean house? It drives me crazy. It can be down right depressing. I do not have much extra time between schooling and all the therapy appointments for my son. HELP!