Managing your home and property can be very rewarding because it creates a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere for family and friends.
Every home is different. You may walk into one home that is so tidy and clean, that you wonder if anyone actually lives there. Then you realize that the children are grown and live away from home.
You may walk into another home and, by the toys scattered around the rooms, realize that a preschooler lives there.
Still, another home may just seem comfortable--some clutter here and there, but it seems to be a somewhat controlled mess.
Despite all the differences in our homes, we probably all share similar desires when it comes to overseeing the Home and Property department. We want to care for our belongings so we can enjoy them as much as possible and so they will last as long as possible.
A lot of how you handle this very big part of your Family Manager® job has to do with the uniqueness of your family--factors such as how many children you have, their ages, your pets (if any), your home's setting (urban, suburban, or rural), your outside employment, and your standards of cleanliness--and what you've decided in most important in life.
Yet no matter what your home is like, unless you have the luxury of a household staff, maintaining your home and caring for your belongings can take up huge chunks of time. I've found that a good way to cut back on the amount of time it takes to manage this department--cleaning, organizing, doing laundry, and the like--is to create standard operating procedures (SOPs), which are nothing more than routines that can be the building blocks of efficiency in your home, just as they are in companies.
When you have SOPs like always emptying the dishwasher before going to bed, changing bed linens on the first and fifteenth of the month, or giving your refrigerator a weekly quick clean the night before trash pickup, you won't waste time deciding when you're going to do what.
We want to create a comfortable, welcoming atmosphere for family and friends.
Deciding what you want to do and then establishing a smart routine to get the job done will help you follow through on tasks. Routines will also give your children a sense of security because they will know what's expected and what to expect. You'll find that they like not having to hunt for their soccer cleats because they have a designated place to take them off and store them after practice. They'll pick up their toys a little faster before bed because they know that when they finish, you'll snuggle and read a book to them in bed.
Launching time-saving routines at your house involves three simple steps.
First, you have to identify what you want to change. For example, let's say your dog is shedding so much that by the time you've finished vacuuming, you need to vacuum again.
This is starting to get old, so you go to the second step, which is figuring out what you want instead and determining the resources you have to work with. In this case, you'd like to see less dog hair on the floor--and see less of your vacuum cleaner, as well. As far as resources go, hmmmm... you've got a dog brush and a couple of able-bodied kids.
Okay, now you move to the third step and try a solution--and if it works, you can turn it into a routine. You decide to have your kids take turns giving the dog a good brushing outside every afternoon this week when they get home from school. They cooperate (or face the music) and voila! You're vacuuming less and your kids are learning responsibility. Even your dog is happy.
The key to success with any kind of new routine is that little word step A lot of moms get so behind and bogged down they want to change everything--now! They overdo, creating a list that covers every cleaning and maintenance task they can think of, and they end up overwhelmed. Remember, Rome and Microsoft weren't built in a day.
The point of SOPs is to make your family's life easier--not to create rigid rules that make a home seem more like boot camp. Some moms take housecleaning way too seriously, insisting that the bathroom floor be scrubbed on Tuesdays and the front stairs swept with a wet broom every second Thursday. They need to lighten up and remember that a reasonably clean, fun home is healthier than a squeaky-clean, tense one.
No matter what your current situation, you can make changes that will benefit everyone. But keep in mind that your mission is to enhance efficiency for you and your family--the people who live there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year--not for occasional guests, a nosy neighbor, or your mother-in-law. Having picture-perfect closets is not important. Knowing what you have and being able to find and retrieve things without a cherry picker is important.
No matter what your current situation, you can make changes that will benefit everyone.
The truth of the matter is, that there's not one right way to manage your Home and Property department. Besides, we all have to change our standards and methods at certain times because people and circumstances are constantly changing. Change is inevitable, but the basic goal remains the same: to run your home more efficiently--not run it, or yourself, into the ground. As you read the suggestions about managing your home, keep in mind that they're not intended to be tackled all at once. Your home-care priorities will fluctuate depending on your season of life. So while you want your home to operate smoothly, be sure to give yourself grace along the way.
Te Home and Property department encompasses a good deal of territory (literally), so the following articles cover a lot of ground. In them you'll learn valuable organization, storage, and de cluttering tips; discover energy-saving cleaning plans and shortcuts; learn how to reduce repair costs and extend the life of your home, car, and other possessions through proper maintenance; and find helpful ideas to use when it's time to redecorate, move, or create a family emergency plan.