Tips for keeping up with everything

[noobiechickenlady]

It's for overwhelmed, organizing-challenged folks like you (And ME!) that Flylady started her mission. Another vote for her. She's a life changer.
And do you have a slow cooker aka crockpot? Those reeeeally help with getting dinner ready in a timely manner.

 

[BeccaOH]

http://flylady.net/

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's the best, honest.

I've been to her site a couple times. But it just seems cluttered - oddly enough! Where does one start?

 

[Boogity]

How old are those 5 kids?

 

[Our7Wonders]

How old are those 5 kids?

That was my next question as well.

I've tried flylady - and I've employed some of her tips, but I can't make her system work well for me.

I don't work outside the home, but I run a business from our home that requires a significant amount of my time several days a week. I also homeschool the kids. And I have seven of them, all at home still (from 16 down to 3). We live in a fairly small home too, so clutter can become overwhelming very fast if given the chance.

We have delegated all the *main* jobs. We try to keep it fair according to age, but if it's not exactly even they know better than to complain about it.

In the morning I feed and milk the goats and get bottles ready for the bottle fed babies. Usually my two girls (9 and 6) do the bottle feeding. My 13 yo son opens the main coop and feeds/waters the chickens. My 11 yo son does the same for the young pullets that are in a chicken tractor in our yard. While I filter the milk and clean the equipment by 9yo daughter makes breakfast (takes her about 10 minutes) which is usually a hot cereal (oatmeal or millet) that's she's soaked the day before in a little buttermilk.

My 11yo feeds and waters the dogs.

Currently my 16 yo is in charge of making lunch. That'll get passed along to a younger sibling in a few months as he'll be starting college full time in the fall.

It's my job to figure out a dinner plan and do any prep work associated with it (soaking the day before, or taking meat out of the freezer to thaw the night before, etc.) I may be the one to cook dinner, or it may be my oldest DS or DH that handle that, depending on how busy I am.

We do at least one load of laundry a day, sometimes two and we all just make sure we're glancing at the laundry every now and then to make sure it's under control. I randomly assign a child to fold the loads as we take them from the dryer.

Everyone has an assigned dish day. It's their day to hand wash any dishes that need washing and to reload the dishwasher - though each person is *supposed* to reload their own dishes as they finish using them. Whoever washes is the person to dry dishes in the drainer the following day (so they rotate along). My 6yo daughter unloads the dishes and puts them away each morning.

Those are the actual assigned duties. The rest I'd like to be more organized with and assign on a rotating basis but I'm not there yet. We stop what we're doing several times a day to do a quick tidy on the main areas of the house. This may or may not include a quick vac. over the living room. Things like dusting, windows, etc are not done as often as they should - with nine people it could use it every couple days - I'm lucky if we do it every couple weeks, it's usually a mad dash to do those kinds of *extras* just before company comes.

Bigger outside jobs, like lawn mowing, weed pulling, barn mucking, coop cleaning - those are usually reserved for the weekends or when we happen to have a less busy day during the week.

So, depending on the ages of your kids that are still at home, here's some thoughts:

Have them help with the chicken chores. Do they go to school? There should be time for the daily chicken care before school, it only takes us about 5 min. or so of actual work.

Have them do their own laundry - including folding and putting away. If necessary assign every one in the family their own laundry day.

If you have a dishwasher make sure someone unloads it first thing in the morning so that it's empty for the days use. Train EVERYONE (adults included!) to load their dishes as they use them. (That's a huge one there!) And then run it after dinner or just before you go to bed.

A meal plan is a MUST. It takes all the thought processes out of it. If you can plan a month, great! I stive to, but rarely can I plan that far ahead. I mean, I could, I just don't. So I plan a week at a time. And always stop and take at least 10-15 minutes to plan the next days meals, that way if something needs to come out of the freezer or get soaking I'm sure to do it. We eat horribly if I wait until 4:00pm to figure it out. When you stock whole grains and cook everything from scratch I have to plan - you just can't whip up something in 20 minutes. It's really not alot of extra hard work, it just requires advance prepping.

Organize your paperwork type stuff as best you can. Like bills - get a good system down for filing and paying your bills. When new stuff comes in the mail file it right away, don't let it pile up.

If I think of anymore I'll add to the list. Hope it's helpful!

 

[sheaviance1]

Great tips! The youngest does help daily. He has had a ton of homework lately so he has had fewer chores to do. His school has seen a drop in grades with the school year winding down and kids getting lazy, so they are laying it on thick with the homework. The oldest living at home is 19. He helps when I specifically tell him to get something done.

I will definitely check out flylady. I've heard of that website before.

I think part of my problem, and I hate to admit this, is that my daughter moved out. She was the only other female in the house. She has always been a tremendous help to me. When we got started, we worked together very well and got a lot accomplished. We could start cleaning house, and in a very short time, we were finished. My boys and I don't work very well together. My hubby and I make a great team though, so the weekend work gets done with efficiency and we have time to spare for some fun in the evenings. Maybe, I'm just out of sorts with all the changes we have had in the household lately. Hmm...

Well, back to it. I took the day off today to specifically help me to get caught up. I hate this feeling of being overwhelmed. I just finished my quickie lunch, and jumped on here while I was eating.

 

[miss_thenorth]

http://flylady.net/

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's the best, honest.

I've been to her site a couple times. But it just seems cluttered - oddly enough! Where does one start?

http://flylady.net/pages/begin_babysteps.asp

And sign up for her emails, but gt them in digest form. She does send out alot, nd I think there are two different formats she sends out--one with the bare minimum, and one with a whole bunch of emails from subscribers.
So start witht eh baby steps.

 

[FarmerChick]

You were me.

I worked full time and hubby did 12 hr shift job and hard on your feet job also. We farmed for a living also. 400 chickens, 125 hogs, cattle, 120 boer goats, hay sales, produce sales, field corn, etc. 3 to 4 days at farmer markets every week. Sat always. Hubby would take vacation days if his rotation fell on sat. to hit the market

we didn't have a minute.

Then I got preggo at age 42. I got to quit work. with a kid and full time farm it wore me down big time. Nicole was turning about 5 and I said shut down the farm. killing hubby and me and no time to live.

question 1--can you quit work? if you can, do it!!

question 2--re-evaluate how you want to live. I decided the 'nice" income from the farm was not worth our destroying our health, bodies and minds. we were overwhelmed, tired, and plain exhausted.

then I decluttered the house. I sold, goodwill, gave away, darn near all the crap in the house. My house is minimal and fresh and open and all counters have 0 clutter. I can clean so fast it is scary lol

when I quit work I went into save money mode. I save at least 1/2 my salary I brought home just by being frugal. I had time to be frugal then!


life changes. follow the lead. It was hard for Tony to shut down the farm, but the improvements and free time in our lives WAS so worth it. I love my life now and the freedom I enjoy.

Tony is happier with his job not killing him, his 4 days off are his.


so if you can quit, think about it truly.

if you can't quit, declutter the home and don't make lots of plans for anything...any free time has to be kept as free time any way you can do it.

ugh I feel your pain truly, I was in your spot. It is hard!

 

[Bubblingbrooks]

removing all the clutter and prepping a day in advance for everything helps tons. For example, I try to have everything I need for Sunday, done the day before.
Shopping and cooking once per month is a huge help as well.

 

[framing fowl]

I can identify with being overwhelmed. I'm working two full time jobs right now, have 9 -10 wk old chicks, cook meals, grocery shop, and garden. DH does a lot to help out around the house.

The only thing keeping me sane is to have everything scheduled down to the 15 minutes increments for me. I've found that if I miss something and try to make it up, it makes me crazy. I skip it and keep moving forward. No other way to deal right now.

I started with work and commute. Then I blocked out my mornings backward from that. Found out what time I needed to wake up. Subtracted 8 hours and that is when I am in bed with lights out no exceptions.

Then I figured out what time I got home after commuting and took that amount of time to lights out and divided that up. It is divided up into grocery shopping, chiropractor, food prep, dinner, animal chores, gardening chores, exercise, personal time, etc. Each night of the week has a separate theme as well as the daily items.

I have a full day on Sundays where I work that I am like a house mother so I have lots of free time. I schedule out my menus and my week. I have learned to shop in bulk and menu plan. It cuts down on time at the grocery. I try to do multiple food preps at once and one big day of cooking on Saturday. Lots of freeze and reheat at our house right now but it's better than eating out or store bought.

The biggest thing for me is jealously guarding my schedule, creating personal time, creating couple time, and exercising.

You might want to look at your list and figure out if you want to continue doing everything that you do or if you would like to drop something in order to add something else. Would you get more bang for your buck with goats than chickens? Would you leave hunting and fishing for the other members in your family to spend more time in the garden?

 

[country freedom]

http://flylady.net/

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She's the best, honest.

I've been to her site a couple times. But it just seems cluttered - oddly enough! Where does one start?

Your kitchen sink!
Only your kitchen sink!