When it comes to keeping your home, work at organization for real people. Do not try to follow all the magazine tips that work for families that are nothing like yours. Also, keep in mind, there is no secret to being organized, you just have to work it.
There are always articles, television stories, and radio programs all about organization and secret tips for getting organized. I am not ashamed to admit that I have checked out my fair share of them and I have walked away discouraged. When I look at the before pictures in magazines or on television shows, I wish my after shots would look that good!
I want some organizing tips for a woman like me, a work-at-home wife and mom with four active kids. I have never found any tips that would work for my household, so in the spirit of necessity being the mother of invention, I have created my own organizing plan for work-at-home mothers.
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The first thing you must do is get realistic about the situation. If you have a small house and lots of people, things are going to look crowded because they are. Suck it up and keep moving. If you have the obligation and responsibility of a spouse and children, you may have to work around their schedules rather than picking your own if you want to be organized.
If this is the case, suck it up and move on. Reality may mean you work your business after putting one set of kids on the school bus and before another set gets off the school bus. My big secret for getting organized is: get real and start working with the life you have, not the life you want to have.
Let me sum it all up. Here are a few of the things I learned that work:
- admit that perfect is not necessary, good is good enough
- stop caring what the neighbors’ houses look like, and take care of your own
- make realistic work hours that fit your actual home
- get the whole family involved in keeping things organized
- put things away as you go along, not later
- make cleaning up a daily routine and get the whole family involved by making it fun – a 30 second tidy up period
These are ideas that work for me, a real work-at-home wife and mom with four kids. The question for you on this fantastic day is what are your real-world organizing tips?
Excellent advice especially about getting realistic about your situation. Involving kids and making cleaning fun is an excellent approach. Since my husband and I live in an apartment and space is limited, I try to reduce clutter by donating clothes I have not worn in 6 months and trinkets I do not care that much about.
It is a hard pill to swallow!
This is great advice. I’ve been trying to discover the secret to being organized, and the biggest lesson I learned is if you have a lot of stuff, if you don’t want a cluttered house, you have to get rid of some stuff! It’s a tough pill to swallow, but it’s the truth. You just can’t keep everything!
Thanks for stopping by! I stopped by your blog also and will be back for your Motivation Monday. I think our readers would enjoy each other.
So glad I saw this posted on Twitter. Thank you for the reminder to work with what I have, not what I’d like to have.
Signing up to read more!
BTW – your post is perfect for my Motivation Monday links where we focus on helping each other get better in whatever we’re working on.