Day 1: The Best Way to Organize Your Life

It seems like you are always running late and can’t find the car keys.

The piles around the house are becoming large enough to be fire hazards.

At the end of the day you wonder what you really accomplished.

“Stop the world; I want to get off!” is your inner cry.

I have experienced all of these in my life — some days I still do. If you are a homeschool mom, I know you can relate. Sometimes life seems to be galloping out of control, and we feel like we have too many plates to keep spinning.

As homeschool moms, we do have special challenges. Homeschooling can take up so much time that it seems like we can never really do a good job at the biggies (cooking and cleaning and laundry), much less spend time doing what we WANT to do. Then there's the fact that since the kids are home practically 24/7, “cluttered” is the NORMAL state of the house. And also, we feel like we have no emotional margin in our lives because we are ALWAYS “on duty.”

Well, I can’t promise a cure all, but I can offer some help.

Often all that is needed when we are feeling overwhelmed is a little organization. Or maybe a lot, lol. Either way, I am here to present a plethora of ideas to bring more order and peace to every homeschool mom’s life.

The truth is that small changes in how we do things or how we store them can reap big benefits in our own sanity. Organization doesn’t have to be complicated — in fact, it shouldn’t be. It should be practical and easy to implement; otherwise, instead of saving work, it will cause more. And it will be impossible to maintain.

I’m the queen of “practical and easy to implement,” y’all. I just don’t. do. complicated — in any area of my life. I’d rather be reading, or watching a movie with the kids — or writing my blog. :-)

So these organization tips are all simple and doable. I’ve used them in my own life with great success. I don’t claim to be perfectly organized at any given point in time — life's too short for that! — but when I need to, I can bring one or more of these strategies back out to apply in a new area of my life or re-apply where I’ve been neglectful.

And speaking of doable — these tips are for you to pick and choose the ones which will work for you. You may not want to try all of them. If you read about one and don’t think it will help you, then skip over it and come back for a new one the next day. You’re sure to find several that WILL bring calm to your life if you implement them.

Did I mention that these are for ALL of a homeschool mom’s life? There is LOTSA info out there about organizing our homeschool — these tips are not that. Some are very well applied to the homeschool arena, but in general they are about our homes, our time, our money, our stuff — because organization there is what will make us more peaceful and productive as women, and being more peaceful and productive as women means we will do better at homeschooling, as well.

This is NOT a “challenge,” where you have to do something to organize your life each day, and by the end of the month you’ll be all completely put together and life will be perfect. This is more like a catalog. Many of these strategies you will want to use right away; others you may plan for later or not do at all. Some may take weeks to fully accomplish. Others you might put aside for now and then realize later that they are exactly what you need. It’s a smorgasbord, y’all!! :-)

Are you wondering if I have a tip for today? Yes, I do; in fact, I've been alluding to it all along: The best way to organize your life is to stay away from complicated. If it has to be multi-color coded or covered in labels or you need to buy some kind of special equipment to make it happen, then just fuhgetaboutit. When you see an organization idea on Pinterest that isn't easily (and cheaply) executed — no matter how good it looks — just pass it by.

Practical, doable, simple. Those are the organization hacks that will be most effective and most easily maintained over time. And that's what I'll be bringing you.

I’ll present one more tip to organize your life each day for the rest of the month. (Don't worry; they will be more in depth than this one, lol. This is just the introduction to the series, after all. :-) ) Come back to the blog every day, or put your email in the box below to receive the new tip in your email every morning.

Let’s calm some chaos this month! Or at least be able to find the car keys. :-)

Welcome to 31 Days of Practical Organizing Tips for a Homeschool Mom's Life!
Every day there is a new organization hack to help calm the chaos.
Find the landing page with links to all 31 days here: 31 Days of Organizing Tips.