CJ and Family

Large Family Logistics, that is.

My husband blessed me with this book by Kim Brenneman for Christmas and by God's grace, the principles within (put into practice!) have absolutely transformed our home for the better.

:::

Overwhelmed. Swamped. Exhausted. Frustrated. Discouraged.

Those are just a few of the very accurate words describing my feelings about my household management pre-Christmas. With three little ones and other outside responsiblities, I was just simply and utterly overwhelmed. We were getting by, but every day ended with more to be done than hours left to do it in, even though we were constantly busy. Not a fun place to be.

I was immediately intrigued by the title of my gift, although I was a little skeptical when I read that the lady who wrote it had nine children. I'm not even close to those leagues. However, her preface hooked me.

Many years ago, I was the mother of one small baby boy in a little rental house. My husband and I were committed to having me stay at home to raise our little boy. I remember being embarrassed because of the dust, laundry piled up, and dirty dishes, and I scrambled to make something for supper just minutes before my hard-working husband came home. Why couldn't I handle the basics? My shortcomings as a homemaker frustrated me.

Okay. She did understand. She wasn't superhuman. She had been where I was now and had obviously found some light at the end of the tunnel.

So I dug in. And as I got into it, I couldn't read it fast enough. It felt as though I had a wonderful mentor sitting beside me just gently, kindly, and patiently explaining what I could do to help my home run more smoothly. There's so much more in there, but the basic concept that has so dramatically impacted our home is that "old-fashioned" concept of assigning a certain set of tasks to each day.

So, now ...

Monday is "office day"
Tuesday is "town day"
Wednesday is "kitchen day"
Thursday is "cleaning day"
Friday is "laundry day"
Saturday is "gardening day"

And for those who are interested, what follows is a (rather long) detailed look at how this is working in practice in our home. I share it with the prayer that it will be a blessing and inspiration for those who have been feeling overwhelmed. There's hope. :o) If you're not feeling overwhelmed, wonderful! Feel free to stop reading now. :o)

So, what does each day entail for me? If you read the book, you'll see that I'm not doing everything she mentions for particular days, because they're not all necessary for our family, but I'm doing other related tasks that are necessary. Your days would obviously be unique for your family's needs. I also assigned the days differently from what she did based on what works best for our family (and my energy levels).

Office Day

During the kids' Quiet Time (about 1 hour) and after they go to bed at night, I spend MUCH time at my desk as I ...

enter receipts, pay bills, file paperwork
plan my weekly menu and grocery list
prepare for Missions for Kids
clip, sort, and pull coupons
clear the email inbox
research/place online orders

Office Day is by far my busyest, longest day. However, it's been great! I'm actually keeping up with the finances and filing and everything else. She explains in detail how to keep your desk clean and organized and it really works! I have four folders in my credenza: Action, Pending, File, and Coupons. As mail and paperwork comes in throughout the week, I open it, toss the junk, and then slide non-junk into one of those folders. It takes me two seconds to do that, but it keeps my desk (and the counters) clean and tidy. When Office Day comes, it's super simple to open my "Action" folder which includes bills to pay, receipts to enter, appointments to note, etc. and just plow through them. The "Pending" folder is for non-urgent items that need my attention. "Filing" is self-explanatory, but it's much simpler to do that all at one time rather than (not) doing it throughout the week and just piling it around. I added Coupons, because, well, I coupon and I needed a place to put them throughout the week so that I could handle them all at once. When Office Day is done, those folders are empty again. A very nice feeling.

One other note on filing ... we greatly simplified that for ourselves a few months ago when I got rid of all of the separate folders for various and sundry utilities and every other category under the sun. For our bills, receipts, paystubs, etc. I now have just four folders: Quarter 1: January-March, Quarter 2: April-June, Quarter 3, and Quarter 4. 95% of my paperwork now goes into one folder which makes filing MUCH easier and faster. Haven't completely decided yet what I'm going to do when the year rolls around. If I don't feel comfortable tossing everything, I may just buy a large manilla folder and store it for a year or so in a box downstairs. If I haven't needed it after a year, I don't think I'm going to need it again.

Town Day

I do my grocery shopping and run any other errands. (Brief side note - being an Amazon Mom has greatly simplified my life though--I can buy diapers and almost any other non-grocery item I need through there, get free 2-day shipping, and do it from the convenience of my computer while my children sleep!)

Wow. This has also been a wonderful change for our family. I used to try to plan my menu and prepare my grocery list and pull my coupons AND go grocery shopping all on the same day. So, during Quiet Time, I was frantically trying to get ready, and IF I was ready around 4:00 when they got up from Quiet Time, we'd try to scramble out and get groceries before Daddy got home and then get back with a car load of groceries, exhausted mommy and little people, and dinner to prepare and the rest of the evening to do baths and clean up the fall out. Not fun. And if I wasn't ready (usually the case), they'd be bopping around rather unsupervised after Quiet Time while I was still trying to finish up, I'd scramble to get something for dinner, and then scarf my meal when Chris got home from work and leave him to do baths while I ran out to get groceries and come home, exhausted at the end of the day, still having lunches to prepare, groceries to put away, etc. at 9:00 or later.

Now? My list and coupons are ready to before I go to bed on Monday. Tuesday, I pick Hannah up right after school and she and I hit Publix with coupons during my lunch hour. Then we go pick up Peter and Matthew and we go to Aldi and make any other necessary stops with them. It's still a lot of work, but it's so much easier and less stressful! We come home, unload groceries, I stuff cold stuff in the freezer, feed Matthew while Hannah and Peter play a bit, and then they all go down for Quiet Time while I put away groceries, prepare lunches and dinner, etc. After Quiet Time, we do baths before dinner and Chris comes home to clean house, clean kids, dinner, and a relaxing evening. Nice. Very nice. What an incredible difference.

And ... for what it's worth, grocery shopping with three little ones is going much better now that Hannah (5) is pushing the cart with Matthew (9 months) while Peter (3) holds Mommy's hand and helps put groceries in the cart. Everybody who needs one has an important job to do that keeps them focused on the task at hand. :o)

Kitchen Day

On Kitchen Day, I ...

take care of any meat I purchased on Tuesday (freezing chicken in individual portions, browning ground turkey/beef and bag freezing it in 3/4 lb. portions, etc.)
make cookies to use for lunches for the upcoming week
do "lunch train" (i.e. bag up carrots, cookies, and chips for 20 lunches in the upcoming week)
make appropriate preparations for any guests we may be enjoying on Friday evening (baking bread, making the lasagna to be refrigerated, etc.)
prepare dinner and lunches for Thursday

My Kitchen Day is Wednesday because it allows me to take care of my meat the very next day after buying it. I have in the past had to throw away meat because I didn't get it taken care of in time. :o( NOT good stewardship.

And what is the BIGGEST blessing of having a "kitchen day"? I'm not trying to make cookies and do lunch train on Saturday!!!! It seemed as if that could consume most of my Saturday!

Cleaning Day

wash towels and bathroom rugs
wash sheets/remake beds
mop the floors
general pick up throughout the house
Deep Clean one area (rotating through Dining Room, Kitchen, Living Room, Bathroom, and Bedrooms--each one gets deep cleaned once every five weeks) Wow. THAT wasn't happening before. Deep clean? Umm ... yeah. Nice thought. Maybe next year?

Laundry Day

empty the hamper (by washing, drying, folding, and putting away everything that was in it) ;o)
iron/mend clothes for 30 minutes
choose the kids' outfits for the upcoming week

A note on the kids' outfits ... this is my own idea, but it's been working wonderfully! A lot of organization books tell you to choose your outfit the night before. That's nice for adults, but I kept forgetting to do it for the kids and so we'd have the early morning scramble of trying to pick something and the occasional "discussion" when parent's choice conflicted with child's choice. NOW ... the kids help me choose five outfits for the upcoming week on Friday. (Remember--all of the clothes are clean, so we actually have more than five clean outfits to choose from!) We hang them up in the closet with a pipecleaner ring around each hanger or set of hangers (pant/shirt, skirt/sweater/shirt, etc.) Come morning, there's no thinking involved, just grab a set and go. Very helpful. And I don't have to remember to do it before bedtime! AND ... I'm guaranteed that Peter will have a clean pair of pants to wear to school every day. That's good. Very good.

Gardening Day

It's outside stuff--gardening, raking, cleaning the vehicles, etc. and I LOVE being able to actually help with this now!!! By organizing the rest of the week, I'm no longer having to use Saturday to "catch up" and I can help Chris outside with whatever project he wants to work on! I love it!!!

Daily Stuff

I'm also trying to throw in just one load of laundry every day before I leave for work. That way when I get home after lunch, I can throw it in the dryer and have it folded and put away before Chris gets home from work. For our family of five, one load a day plus laundry day on Friday keeps us pretty well caught up.

I've also taught Hannah how to do a daily clean in the bathroom (wipe counters, shake rugs, sweep floor, empty trash). She's doing a fantastic job. She has a list with each item she needs to do, and the last item is to "Come get a hug from Mommy for doing a great job cleaning the bathroom!" She loves that last item and I do, too! 1. It reminds me to truly thank her for her help. 2. It reminds me to come and inspect and praise the work she's done. 3. I get a GIANT hug from my little girl who's growing all too fast!

And then we do an "afternoon pickup" around 4:30, regardless of what day it is. That involves sweeping, straightening the porch, picking up toys, setting the table, cleaning the counters, making dinner, making lunches ... basically getting ready to welcome Daddy home with a tidy house and dinner ready to put on the table (or least well under way ...)

In Conclusion ...

I'm still learning a lot, but with the Lord's help, I am learning. Honestly, the first week went so well, I thought it must be a fluke. But weeks 2, 3, and now 4 have gone just as well! Not every day is perfect, but if I'm diligent and work hard in the afternoon (i.e. turn off the computer so I'm not distracted by FB and email!), I'm generally able to have things pretty well wrapped up by the time Chris gets home about 6:00. After dinner we've been enjoying playing a game or something with the kids, then it's Bible time and bed time for them at 8:00, and then Chris and I have an hour plus of "free time" (except for Office Day). Yes. Free time. Time to enjoy together or to work on digital scrapbooking or to update the blog or to read a book or to go to bed early without feeling as though you're sleeping under a mountain of undone work!

So anyway. That's what Large Family Logistics has done for our family. I very highly recommend it for anyone managing a home--whether you have 1, 2, 3, or 11!

And, FWIW, I was really suprised when last Wednesday a blog I read regularly posted about this same book that had already impacted us so dramatically! Raising Olives is actually hosting a give-away of the book and you can go here to enter by Jan. 27.

A balloon is fun.

Lots of fun.

Especially since Mommy lets us "play ball" in the house with balloons when "playing ball" with any other type of ball in the house is most definitely frowned upon.

However ...

A balloon is even more fun when it's combined with a paddle.

A safe paddle (i.e. safe to furniture, walls, pets, and people).

A safe paddle made with some glue, tape, a popsicle stick, a piece of cardboard from an empty pasta or cereal box, and a scrap of construction paper.

I made the paddles on the spur of the moment last week as a replacement for Hannah's popsicle puppet that Peter wanted to use for a paddle. And then I was privileged to prepare dinner while two children kept themselves noisily and happily occupied for more than half an hour. They had a blast playing, and I had a blast watching them and listening to the ruckus. (And I didn't mind demonstrating that I was quite able to keep a balloon in the air for an extended period of time using just my paddle ... a mommy has to be good at something athletically related!)

Just one word of caution, however, should you pursue this wholesome activity for your own crew ...

It's very noisy. Fun, happy noise, but noise nonetheless. And it tends toward rowdyness. SO ... plan a wind down time before daddy gets home from work. He'll thank you for it. ;o) What's not so bad when you're in the middle of it and are simply encouraged your kids are having fun and keeping busy is a might overwhelming coming in on it cold after a long day at work.

Not that I'd know about any of this from personal experience ... ;o)