Organizing your home!

PLEASE NOTE***** If you don't homeschool...you will find the workshops I attended applicable to your own family...if you have children, or own/rent a home, or are married or have stuff.  So that pretty much applies to everyone.****** 

 Last weekend I attended the Nebraska Christian Home Educators conference.  It was one of my favorite times of year.  I have the opportunity to listen to great speakers on all sorts of topics including homeschooling, parenting, organization....the list goes on.  I can get my hands on lots of different curriculum options from around the country...and actually see what I am hoping to teach my kiddos for next year.

Love. Love. Love this conference.  If you homeschool this is a must go to conference.

Over the next few weeks (as time allows) I am going to give you a little recap of the workshops that I attended.  There were so many too choose from.

Summary #1:

Photo from web

 Organizing your home for a learning lifestyle

 1 Corinthians 14:40  Let all things be done decently and in order.

This workshop was presented by Vicki Bentley.  She is a mother of 8 grown girls.  Foster mom of over 50.  She has written many books and has homeschooled since 1988.

I attended 3 of her workshops and they all provided some great tips on making life a little easier...especially for the homeschool family who typically have kids home most of the day.

A few things about stuff:

--Stuff breeds
--Useless stuff crowds the good stuff.
--Dust loves stuff.
--Stuff becomes invisible over time.
--Stuff does NOT make you happy.

Organization does NOT mean you have a immaculate clean house.

Organization means that you are functioning effectively.

There is not any best way to organize your house.

Being organized helps you beat stress and be in control over your day, to accomplish what God has in store for your day.

It's about time.  Less stuff= more time.

Ask yourself these key questions:

What is working and why?

What is not working?  Can you not find things easily?  I have no place to put...I can't ____ because of clutter.  The chaos makes me feel________?

Why do you want to organize your home?  To save money?  To save your marriage?

What is causing the problem? 
Technical errors-- like things that can be fixed?  Need more shelves, a new filing system, more totes, bookshelves?
or is it
external realities-- house is small, have to get rid of things we have too much of?
or is it
psychological obstacles-- I have to stay on top of this paper, spend time with the Lord, I can't expect so and so to do something....

Some tips to make home organization easier:

Go to each room and figure out what is the purpose of each room.
De-clutter small areas one at a time.
Throw it away, give it away, or put it away.
Buy storage bins
Clutter isn't the first problem...ask God to free you from bondage from things.
For school/office supplies-think outside the box.  Figure out what you can re-configure to make things work.
Don't put it down....put it away.
Store items closest to the point of use.
Delegate your housework.  You don't have to do it all by yourself...especially if you have kids!
At the beginning of the season flip all of your hangers one way.  When you wash and re-hang, hand them the other way.  At the end of the season, you can now see what clothes you haven't worn because the hanger isn't turned around...get rid of those!
Color code things for kids (for example Suzie has a green towel, Joe has a yellow towel etc...so you know who leaves things out).
Make a kid friendly kitchen so they can help.

Don't procrastinate:  Tackle big challenges while you are fresh!

 My thoughts on this workshop:

Some of the things she said hit home to me.  The stuff accumulates around here.  I am not going to lie....and it DRIVES.ME.CRAZY.  It stresses me out.   Gifts come in here like they are going out of style.   For me, memories of doing things are what the kids are going to remember, not playing with the millionth toy that they have received.  I have spent the past year organizing, pitching, and hopefully making our life a little easier around here.  I still have a lot of work, but she gave some great tips and thoughts on stuff!

 If you attended and would like to give a little recap of your favorite workshop...let me know I would be more than happy to post it for you.

I have have summarized the workshops I have attended over the past few years, so you can check out April 2011 & 2012 blog posts.