According to the latest research, it takes 66 consecutive days to develop a habit. Do you want to be an organized mom within 66 days of starting? I can’t guarantee that your world will be in order, but if you follow these 10 habits every day for the next 66-days you will feel more in control of the “mom clutter” that is your life.
Habit 1 Family Command Center– Create a place for a family calendar and chore charts. Include a shopping list that your family can contribute to, as well as a box to collect school papers. Your family should check the command center every day for any upcoming events.
Habit # 2 Mom To Do Lists and Planner –Find the system that works best for you, from a cell to a binder. Maintain a master calendar for the family that contains all activities and commitments. Make shopping lists, lists of things to do, and lists of people to call. Keep everything in one place to simplify planning your week and errands.
Nightly Clean-up Habit #3:Each evening, do a 10-minute Kitchen sweep. Put dirty dishes into the dishwasher. Wipe down and clean the counters. Swiffer, or broom, the kitchen floor. Windex your appliance fronts and clean your sink.
Habit #4: The 5-minute house walk-through –Each evening, along with your kids, do a 5-minute walk through your home. Pick up all the items that don’t belong in their proper place and do a quick clean up.
Night Time Prep – Prepare for the following day by packing your lunches and school bags. Also, prepare any other items you may need the next morning, such as grocery lists, library books, returns from stores, etc. List the things you want to do tomorrow and lay out your clothes as well as your children’s. What can I do to avoid having to do this in the morning?
Habit No. 6 Chores, Chores and Chores: Get your children involved in household chores beyond cleaning their rooms. Train them to perform other household chores, from mopping floors to dusting. You need ideas to motivate your children to do chores. Click here to see my list of age-appropriate chores.
Habit No. 7 AM and PM Laundry Change – Each morning, place your first load of washing in the machine. Then switch it to the dryer at dinner. At least one load per day can help reduce the laundry piles.
Habit #8 Filing it, recycling it –Keep piles of paper under control with a desktop file system. Create easy-to-access files for bills to be paid and calls to make. Also, create folders for items that need to be taken care of such as tickets, invitations and field trip forms. Create files based on your needs. Recycle all of the papers that you no longer need.
Habit #9: Meal Time Planning– Make a list with your family’s top 20 or 25 favorite meals. This list can be used to create a monthly or weekly meal plan. Be sure to consider your family’s schedule when creating your plan so that you are aware of who will be at home and at what times.
Habit #10 Rotate It – Time It Create a daily schedule for cleaning the house, dividing it up into weekly tasks. As an example, Monday dusting, Tuesday floors and Wednesday bathrooms. Thursday deep cleaning of the kitchen. It will help you to break down the 6-8 hours per week that are required to maintain a clean house.
Add your daily habit to our 10 Daily Habits of an Organized Mom list. Please share your daily habits with us in the comments.