Now, as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:28-42)
I went on a "Smart Martha" retreat a few weeks ago now. It was very good for me to go. I felt very affirmed in choice of staying home and running the home. After recognizing just how much there is to do in order to "manage the home," the Tami Kiser (the leader) gave tips of how to organize and run things more efficiently so we can be "Martha" (as we must) but with a "Mary" heart. And the smarter we are able to be "Martha," the more time we have to explore being "Mary" (although, keeping a "Mary" heart while doing our "chores" is important, too).
I was waiting to post about this until I implemented all the ideas I brought home (or thought of myself while brainstorming with the other ladies there). I did do some things, but I realized that I cannot wait for myself any longer. I keep trying to do more, but if I don't post soon about this I am going to loose my enthusiasm for the topic and would most likely not bother posting at all!!
So bear with me, please - and possibly take this as an encouragement yourself - we do not have to wait until we can do everything and/or we do not have to wait until we can do it all perfectly to begin. Just dive in!
I put the tips from the retreat in blue. They are not really in any order - just as I remember them. There are more, these are just the ones that stuck with me.
This is an on-going task. Some days you are "on top" of the game and other days you are "behind," but you just have to keep going.
This is possibly the most important point I took with me (and still keep close). I need to remind myself daily that I MUST KEEP GOING!! I cannot just give up! Sometimes I take some time to "recover and rejuvenate" and all those other "r" words that mean getting me back in shape to begin again. I try to remember that I do not need to dwell on the past. I may not have had my house organized perfectly yesterday and thus it is still not perfect today, but I can still clean and think and pray and try do fix it as I go along. There is no "pause button" for life so we can get things "just right." We just have to work it in as we go.
One glass per day - aka parking spaces.
We still do a fresh milk glass at meals, but this is for water cups since the kids get their own drinks of water throughout the day.
OHIO - Only Handle It Once
When mail or other important papers come in (schedules, etc), put them exactly where they go, immediately. At least that is what she recommends. I personally am not all for this. I put my mail in a "mail basket" to get it out of the box quickly (and things that look like bills or items of interest - aka real hand-written letters and such- get opened immediately), but then I wait until the end of the week to go through it (which basically means opening and sorting into a "recycle now" pile and a "shred and then recycle" pile.). I am more of the mentality that the more times I pick something up and look at it, the more likely I am to A) memorize it or B) have it disappear into thin air (something I am often hoping my possessions will do - much like a completed line in Tetris :)
Chore Ideas (Chore charts, Numbered list of items to complete a specific task.)
This is also in the book A Mother's Rule of Life (which I highly recommend). For example, if you want the kids to clean the bathroom, have a list of things that you want done, ie:
1. Put away anything on counter that does not belong in bathroom
2. Clean counter with Lysol wipe or spray and rag
3. Clean toilet with wipe or spray and rag
4. Clean tub with wipe or spray and rag
5. Clean inside of toilet
6. Clean floor with rag
This way they know exactly what is expected.
For the little kids we are going to do pocket chore charts. (One of my stall-points for this post as I have not made them yet.) They are construction paper pockets and pictures for each chore. I have a
"chore list" for our family made up, but it is very simple right now. It basically works, but we do need to start "stepping it up" soon I think.
Laundry - Clothing is always in one of three places:
1) On you
2) In the dirty clothes hamper
3) Folded in your drawers or hanging in the closet
This is fairly self-explanatory I think.
Dishes - always have a dirty dishwasher, teach family where you want them to leave their dishes
Same with this. She also points out how having a meal menu is important, etc.
Clutter breeds clutter. (Having open spaces gives peace of mind.)
I love this phrase and repeat it to myself often. Clutter collects. You regularly have to just go through and clean it out. Hence the following topic:
Clean sweep - regular organizing and cleaning.
Go through an area (room, drawer, corner, etc) and take everything out. Then put it in one of four categories:
1) Put back
2) Put somewhere else.
3) Throw away.
4) Give away.
This leads into my own thoughts on toy organization ideas. She had some. I cannot really remember a lot of them now. But my kids are younger than hers, so her ideas were more for me to "grow into" anyhow. I did a "clean sweep" on the toy room. Well, first I went through and collected two big bins full of toys for "toy rotation." Then I collected a garbage bag full of "give away" items and another garbage bag full of "throw away." And an important point, I let myself throw away things that were seemingly perfectly fine - for example, a random plastic piece that went to something. The piece was in good condition, but I'm not even sure we still have the toy it went to and if we do, we obviously are not needing this piece to use it, so farewell!
A place for everything and everyone knows that place.
It is important not only to have a place to put things, but everyone in the family needs to know where that is so they can effectively help pick-up and find things when they need to.
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| For our "matchbox" (and imitation matchbox) cars. |
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| Somewhere I found these cool car stickers. I had to tape them on (with packing tape) so the kids would not pull them off. |
Notice I did not let the fact that I do not have fancy pictures and labels stop me. I have been MEANING to make fancy pictures and labels on the computer for all the following drawers and tubs. Finally, after a half a year of "trying" to do this, I have given up (for now) and gone with the tape and marker approach. It is not as effective for the little ones, but Rebekah can read the labels and she will do so and then tell the boys where things go. It works for us, for now. Some day I will get "better" labels, but for now, at least it is something so other people can know where things go!
Well, there you have it. I need to post this NOW and get on with my life as I have been dwelling on it too long. Perhaps later I will come back and "update." But here are the basics in a nutshell.
