what are your best household organization tips??

i know we're all so busy and its so hard to keep up with everything around the house... what are some things that help you out with that? how do you stay organized?

Re: what are your best household organization tips??

I always make sure I sort and open the mail EVERYDAY! You dont realize how fast the junk mail will pile up.

I also get rid of all the junk mail immediatly.

I put my bills to be paid in a hanging file on the wall and when the bills are paid, I file the statements right away.

Re: what are your best household organization tips??

to answer my own question...
i do a little cleaning every day so that i don't get stuck doing the whole house on saturdays. i'll spend a half hour one night dusting, the next night a half hour swiffering the floors, the next night a half hour doing the bathroom... i never feel like doing it after work, but its worth it to not have to spend 2 hours at a time on a week cleaning

i make meals ahead and freeze them for nights i don't feel like cooking. yesterday i made about 30 stuffed shells, and a chicken chili in the crockpot... so right there is about 5 or 6 meals all waiting for me in the freezer for nights i'm tired after work.. only took me maybe an hour to make them...


i only go grocery shopping once a week- every sunday morning, DH and i talk about what we want to eat that week, and figure out what we need to buy to make it... then we go buy it. it cuts down on the " i don't know what to have for dinner tonight, lets just go out to eat"

Re: what are your best household organization tips??

Re: what are your best household organization tips??

Message edited 1/28/2008 8:58:47 AM.

Re: what are your best household organization tips??

This thread is awesome, its from a while back.
home tips

Re: what are your best household organization tips??

I am disorganized by nature so I find that making lists works for me.

I divide chores mon-sun and write what I need to do each day:
ex.Mon-clean all bathrooms &change sheets
Tues-clean kitch cabinets&vacuum all rooms

I write a menu for the entire week and shop on sunday for everything i need.

I keep a calendar & write everything I need to do,birthdays,appts & hang it where I can see it every day.

As soon as I wake up in the morning, I trhow a load of laundry in the wash & make my bed.
At night I set up my coffee pot&take out my kids clothes for the next day, make lunches for them etc.
(thats all I can think of for now!)

Re: what are your best household organization tips??

I bought one of those 3 drawer rolling things from Walmart to keep in the hall closet. I seperated our hats, gloves and scarves into the drawers. It saves so much time in the morning from me having to rummage through the pile on the floor for a matching pair of gloves

Re: what are your best household organization tips??

flylady.net has a lot of great tips that I use. I don't totally follow everything she says, but there are a lot of good ideas there. One that I like is using a timer-set it for 5 minutes per room and just do what you can to clean up. It doesn't seem like a hard task that way and you'd be surprised how much you can get done. I have to start doing this again! Also, find the "hot spot" in your house-the place that tends to collect junk and clutter and set your timer to work at it. She also suggests a "27 Fling Boogie" where you take a trash bag and go around your house finding 27 things to throw away. It's really not that hard!

Re: what are your best household organization tips??

Re: what are your best household organization tips??

Re: what are your best household organization tips??

I forgot about flylady! I think I couldn't get past the part about putting your shoes on first thing in the morning. But there are many good ideas there.

My first rule of daily organization is the empty the dishwasher first thing in the morning. We run it at night and if I don't do it first thing in the AM, it all goes downhill from there. Seriously! I have 3 snall kids so they eat all their meals at home which adds up to lots of dishes. My sink gets filled quickly, the kitchen becomes messier and it throws off my whole sense of orderliness.

I've also simplified our bedding so it's easy to make the bed. I have never been a person who was a daily bed maker but I got a really nice oversized aqua colored down comforter and I don't fight with duvet covers or trying to cover 3 edges of the king sized bed with a king size comforter (I find most are too short and it always feels messy)

I am finally learning how much the visual clutter adds to my mental clutter.