New years call for fresh starts. Getting organized, saving money, and spending time with family are just a few of the most popular New Year resolutions out there. Here are some family organization strategies to help you get started on these goals.
Meal Prep & Planning
Keeping your family fed and nourished is one of the most time-consuming tasks associated with household maintenance. More often than not, the greatest obstacle is simply deciding what to cook. How much time have you got on your hands? What are the ingredients at your disposal? Can you turn those leftovers into school lunches for tomorrow?
Consider mitigating this uncertainty by creating a “guide” to your weekly meal rotation. Take the following example as inspiration:
- Mondays: chicken
- Tuesdays: tacos
- Wednesdays: take-out
- Thursday: pasta
- Fridays: fish
- Saturdays: vegetarian
- Sundays: creative, family-involved meal
Of course, a schedule like this would not preclude spontaneity or creativity, and you may find yourself adjusting it here and there while figuring out what works best for your family. Consider, however, how much easier grocery shopping on a Saturday morning would be if you knew you needed to stock up on beef fajita strips for Tuesday’s dinner and tomato paste for Thursday’s.
If this method works for you, you may also want to create ongoing lists of meal ideas for each day of the week, helping you vary your daily protein sources and simplifying the stress of healthy eating. For example:
Fish Fridays:
- Pan-seared salmon
- Clam chowder
- Baked white fish and vegetables
- Cajun shrimp and rice
- Home-made fish sticks
- Seafood soup
With time, you’ll determine which dishes are most convenient, popular, and cost-effective for your family. And don’t forget: meats like ground beef and stew chunks can be cooked well in advance and frozen until needed. Mince your herbs, cook your sauces, and clean/chop your vegetables up front as well. Feel free to (safely) involve your children in the process!
Decluttering and Dedicated Spaces
When it comes to staying organized, your primary goal is to make your life as easy and enjoyable as possible at its most stressful moments. Tackling a particularly messy kitchen drawer? Ask yourself where each item “belongs”; i.e., where in the house would you most likely need to use this tool, and can you store it away with similar objects for future convenience?
If you find the “spring cleaning” process particularly daunting, work for 2-3 hours every weekend on a specific “zone” in your home. Once again, don’t forget to involve your family members! The more they help in the initial stages, the more invested they’ll feel in maintaining neatness and order down the line.
Similarly, consider dedicating spaces in your household to specific items and tasks: a spot for backpacks to be unloaded, an area to store collective-use school supplies, file cabinets to organize notes, homework, and textbooks, etc.
Involving Your Children
Involving children in household maintenance can teach them valuable lessons about healthy independent living – not to mention make life easier for parents! Display a physical calendar in the kitchen, for instance, to remind your son that Mondays and Wednesdays are his turn to tackle the dishes, while your daughter’s are Tuesdays and Thursdays (the whole family can get involved on Fridays!). Encourage your kids to contribute to the calendar as well, keeping them accountable for their daily tasks. If your son won’t be home on time on a particular Tuesday to take out the trash, seeing his name on the family calendar will prompt him to make sure he checks in with a sibling/parent who can complete that task on his behalf.
Daily Chores/Routine
Other helpful habits include:
- Setting up reminders via your notes app, post-it notes, daily planners, and physical calendars!
- Develop the “Five-minute rule”: if a task can be completed in 5 minutes or less, do it now.
- Take time off when needed! Rest and recuperation are a vital part of healthy living. Taking breaks for yourself will teach your children that it is possible to strike a healthy balance between household management and self-care. Again, as long as everyone communicates effectively, a slight deviation from the daily schedule won’t hurt anyone.
- Wake up before your kids! Try giving yourself one or two hours every morning of quiet time before parental duties kick in. Whether you choose to spend that time on household tasks or on a personal/creative outlet is up to you.
Making Technology Your Friend
Don’t forget that technology can (and should) make your life easier. Consider grocery shopping online as a means of facilitating portion and budgetary control since you will not be tempted by unnecessary items surrounding your groceries on supermarket shelves.
Keep track of sales online and stock up on essentials – like toilet paper, shampoo, and bananas – during deals!
Use a spreadsheet to keep track of finances. A quick YouTube search for “Google Sheets / Excel for finances” will teach you the basic skills needed to make budgeting easy and convenient.
Overwhelmed by your inbox? Create email folders to sort through incoming messages into “urgent”, “work”, “social”, “kids’ sports”, and more!
Think your child could use more organizational and time-management support? The Enrichery offers Academic Coaching and Executive Functioning sessions for students of all ages throughout the year. For more information, submit a request to contact us at https://theenrichery.com/contact-us-submission/!
