Lessons in Organization with Ellen Flaherty

Yesterday Leo and I attended a talk at a friend's house on organization. The woman who gave the talk, Ellen Flaherty, is a military wife who was used to moving so frequently that she developed some organizational skills worth sharing with us ladies.  I heard that when the talk is at her home, she ends it by letting everyone walk around and look in any drawer in her house! I decided to outline some key points from the talk:

• As wives and mothers, it is our responsibility to create a serene atmosphere in our homes for our husbands and our children; in our chaotic world, it is important for our homes to be a refuge - a place where our husbands can return from a long day of work to relax. 

• As a homemaker, our attitude is what sets the tone of the house - when mama's happy, everyone is happy.

• We are not to do for our children what our children can do for themselves - such as pick up toys, put clothes in a hamper, etc. even if we can do it faster ourselves (this of course depends on the age of our children).

• If we bring something into our home, we should take something out of our home.

• Part of exercising our Christian charity is donating things to others which we no longer need.  Mrs. Flaherty said that the average American family only uses 10-20% of items in their homes.  We have tons of things that we don't use which other families could really use.  (Mrs. Flaherty noted that when we donate items, such as clothing, we should only donate things that we would wear/use ourselves.  For example, donating a ripped T-Shirt is not an act of charity, whereas donating a blouse in good condition that no longer fits us would be a charitable act).

• Decluttering our homes makes finding things and cleaning much easier.

• Every item in our home must have a place.  

• As homemakers, we not only set the tone of our household by our attitudes, but we also act as examples for our children.  As parents, we have a duty to teach our daughters the art of homemaking, and we have a duty to our sons to teach them how to grow up to be helpful husbands.

• The art of homemaking can be something which brings us joy if we view housework as an act of charity which blesses our family.

• Every homemaker should own a copy of Home Comforts, which according to Mrs. Flaherty, is the homemaker's Bible!

Rebecca here: I would by no means consider myself an organizational expert, but I was thinking that I'd share some tips which we implement in our household which we've found to be useful. I would be curious to hear all of your tips too, so please feel free to leave them in the comments section!  Most of what I have learned has been from Flylady and from my own mother who is one of the most organized women I know!

• I plan our dinner menu every week which makes grocery shopping much easier.  The One Armed Cook is one of my favorite cookbooks.

• As a new mom, I've found Kelly's daily missions off of Flylady's website to be very useful. While I might not have time to clean every room in the house on a given day, I can always find 15 minutes! I find that doing these 15 minutes missions everyday really helps my self-esteem.

• I have organized my wardrobe so that only clothes that are seasonally appropriate and clothes which I can actually fit in are in my closet.  I have one chest in the basement for clothes which I simply can't part and my summer clothes (since it's winter now), and I have one chest filled with my materinity clothes.  That's it.  

• I have 3 small bins of baby clothes in the basement, each of them labeled - 0-3 mos, 3-6 mos, and 6-9 mos.  Leo is currently wearing 9-12 month clothing.  When he outgrows them, these clothes will go in a bin labeled 9-12 months.  

• I do at least 1 load of laundry daily.

• Every morning, before I do anything else, I hop in the shower, get dressed (usually in a cotton shirt and a cotton skirt), and put on light make-up.  This I learned from the Flylady.  This has helped me tremendously.

• We try to have a place for everything, but we're still working on this.

• I take a bubble bath every night.

• The goal is progress, not perfection.  Housework should make us feel good about ourselves, not lousy.

What I struggle with most is trying to create an organized home that is still welcoming and child friendly.  My mother has mastered this art.  I couldn't resist posting the picture below, because I want to make it clear that this is not what I want to become!  

So let's hear from you now!  Please post your tips in the comments section directly below!