One of the questions I get asked all the time is how do I make things run smoothly in my home. Having a large family means there is always a lot of moving pieces all the time. I mean, those pieces never stop.
As our family grew larger, one of the things I realized that I needed to do was create a system or order of operations for our everyday. I needed to build a machine and then let it do the work in the following areas:
- Kitchen
- Housework
- Shopping
- School
- To-Do Lists
- Schedule
- Me
- Budget
- Routines
This post is designed to give you a brief overview of each of the following areas. I plan to give detailed information and step by step instructions in future posts that will be coming really soon.
Building a machine takes some time to set up initially. I look at it as an investment and it pays off as you train everyone to follow the system you have created.
There will always be chaos because that is the definition of having kids around, but having a system in place diminishes the uncontrollable chaos. It makes our days as stress-free as possible.
Kitchen
Food… This is the love language of every one of my kiddos. They all love to eat good food.
I have the following goals when it comes to managing the kitchen in our home.
- Keep it simple and organized
- Keep it healthy while giving them choices
- Keep it clean and neat
- Keep it cheap
Keep it simple and organized
The kitchen is the central location of our home and can become unmanageable very quickly. I like to create simple meal and snack options that are organized and able to be maintained in the storage we have.
I menu plan all our meals so I can make sure we have what we need to make those meals. We eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, one snack and one treat per day.
Keep it healthy while giving them choices
Breakfast, lunch, and snacks are chosen from our menu board that is posted in our kitchen. I have divided the board into 4 categories: grain, protein, fruits & vegetables, and dairy categories.
Everyone has the choice of one from every category to build their meal in a balanced way by incorporating all the food groups. They choose one item from the snack options listed on our menu board.
This offers the kiddos the opportunity to build a meal they will enjoy. I have seven kiddos and there is no way I am going to be able to make everyone happy. This became quite frustrating to all of us and so I decided to build a “machine” or a system to make everything run a little simpler.
However, dinner is a meal that I plan and Rick or I prepare. We are not short-order cooks and we use this meal to train our children to be grateful and eat what is placed in front of them.
We have a simple rule in our home “no eat, no treat”. You don’t have to eat what’s on your plate but if you chose not too you will forfeit your treat. It’s not like we give them a big amount, they are given an appropriate nutritional serving. If they like it they can ask for more if wanted.
Our treats are very simple with options like a cookie bar or a brownie. Once a week, Bella bakes a sheet pan of cookies, cuts and wraps them individually. We freeze them so when we want to eat them we can just grab one and go.
Keep it clean and neat
It is important that we keep the kitchen clean and neat. After every meal, our kiddos are required to clean up their dishes by loading them in the dishwasher, putting away their cup and throwing their trash away.
The counters and the table are washed off after every meal. Our kiddos are required to eat at the table because this decreases the mess of crumbs being scattered through the house. Everyone pitching in and doing their part helps makes the load easier for Rick and me.
Keep it cheap
The grocery budget can quickly spiral out of control and become one of the most expensive lines in our large family budget. I balance between buying expensive processed foods and making things from scratch. There is a fine line between saving time and saving money.
One of the main reasons I menu plan is to save money. This way I am buying the ingredients I need while using what I already have.
Housework
The housework is an area that is a big challenge. I am one who likes to have a tidy house and I have a hard time concentrating on anything else if my house is a mess.
Spreading the housework amongst everyone
If I did all the daily cleaning all by myself then it would take me about an hour and a half per day. I realized early on that I’m raising a small army and I have a responsibility to teach them to work. Training them from a very young age has become an advantage.
We start chores at a very early age at our house. Our children are given age-appropriate chores to complete on a daily basis. Well, six days a week. On Sundays, we have a smaller list of the essential chore that needs to be done.
There are some chores I am not willing to give up because I like them done a certain way. Everything else is divided among the crew.
Daily Cleaning
We have a list of chores we do on a daily basis which are tasks we need to do every day. We have three boys who live in this house so it is imperative that the bathroom is cleaned every day.
I have found that it is so much easier to manage the cleanliness of our home by doing a little bit every day. It is much easier to maintain than doing a major overhaul whenever it is needed.
We have the advantage of having seven children. Our house is quick cleaned on a daily basis because each kiddo has about three chores to do every day. The chores were divided based on their age, difficulty and how long it takes to complete.
Weekly Cleaning
Once a week, we do what I call a major cleaning day. This is the day that I mop the kitchen floor and bleach all the bathrooms. The kiddos have additional chores divided among them that are needed to be done weekly versus daily. Their chores include things like cleaning the basement and cleaning out the van.
Major cleaning day does tend to take a bit of extra time to complete. It is a great opportunity for us to complete any household projects as well.
Shopping
We grocery shop on a weekly basis. Every other week is a major haul while the opposite weeks are just for a quick stop for fresh produce and anything we might have forgotten.
We use the Cozi app and add things we need to the grocery list located on the app. We have found this to be the best way of keeping track so that we can get whatever we need.
Clothes shopping happens in the months of April and October during our season changes. We may need little things here and there but we have planned for those months to bear those expenses.
We find by organizing our shopping days, it saves us both time and money.
School
Honestly, keeping our homeschool organized is a priority. It is important I’m aware of where everyone is academically and what they are doing within their homeschool assignments. With seven children, it is very easy to miss something and I want to be sure I am providing them with the education they need and deserve.
Assignments
I assign all my children’s assignments for language arts, math, and handwriting on a monthly basis. They are given a list of assignments that are due on a specific date.
This provides them with direction so they can be working independently while we are offering assistance through tutoring as needed.
Binders
Every one of our kiddos has their own school binder. They keep their monthly assignment lists, assignments, reference materials, erasers and pencils in their binders. They can grab them and work virtually anywhere.
Time
Another essential ingredient in this recipe is organizing the time for them to complete their assignments and for me to teach them as a group. I have a goal of what I want to do on a weekly basis and so I must organize my time to allow for these to be completed.
Tracking
In the state of Missouri, we are required to track hours and assignments in order to homeschool. This process can quickly spin out of control if you don’t have a system in place from the beginning.
To-Do Lists
To-Do lists are very important to me otherwise I would be forgetting everything. This helps me to know what I need to get done on a weekly and then a daily basis.
Creating one
I have an app I use on my phone that I keep track of what I need to get done. When I am out and about and someone says they need me to do something, then I add it to my list on my phone so it can be worked into my schedule.
Rick has access to my to-do list but gratefully doesn’t add much to it. I give him access so he can see what I need to get done and if needed, add a task to it.
This app has the ability to do a re-occurring task which allows me to be able to repeat a reminder or a task on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis.
Managing it
I do my schedule every week on Sunday and so I set up my reoccurring tasks to appear on that day every week. When I sit down to organize my time for the week, I schedule and move the tasks to the day that I intend to get it done.
If there is something I need to do in the coming weeks, I add it to the Sunday before so I can make sure I have time for it. If something pops up on my to-do list that I did not plan for, then it probably won’t get done.
Schedule
Schedule… Yikes! The word alone makes a parent cringe. My schedule can be a nightmare because we have so many things we want and need to get done. I plan our schedule on a daily basis to keep the stress down as much as possible.
Large Family Calendar
We have nine people in this family and so we essentially have nine schedules to manage. Rick and I use the Cozi app to manage our large family calendar.
In the app, you can schedule appointments and indicate who will be attending those appointments. It will appear on the calendar with the appointment name and who needs to attend.
You can set recurring appointments so you don’t forget things like birthdays or anniversaries. It will send you a reminder when you want it to. They have several options like 12 hours, 1 day, 1 week, or two weeks in advance.
I love this app because Rick and I both have access to it and we can schedule appointments knowing what is ahead.
Combined Activities
Because we have so many children, we combine as many activities as we can. As they are getting older, their personalities are beginning to shine through. We want to cultivate their natural talents as much as we can without sacrificing our sanity and quality family time.
Activities can get out of control really fast and so we look for creative ways to get everyone what they need. One of those ways is a homeschool co-op.
Our homeschool co-op offers well-rounded electives for the children to be able to participate in. Our entire family attends together and so everyone is able to participate all at the same time.
This keeps our evenings free for our family quality time and other obligations.
Organize Your Time
As I said above, I organize our time every Sunday. I sit down with my iPad and do an hourly schedule for everyone in the family including me.
I have learned to adjust my expectations and be realistic with my plans. Using this method helps me to get everything I need to get done and to make sure that our family is getting enough rest, school time and free time.
Inform Everyone
I do a visual schedule every day. I post it in our kitchen and my children check it every morning. I have included what we are doing that day and the amount of time we have to complete the task we have scheduled.
Dinner is written on the schedule so everyone can know what we are having. I would be asked by every child at least twice if I didn’t do this. I like to eliminate at least fourteen questions from my day. Ha!
I do not post our monthly calendar because it is so fluid. Sometimes things are canceled or moved around. If our kiddos had known about it, they would have been very disappointed. So there are a lot of “surprises” at our house.
Me
I have to take time for myself. Somewhere in all the hats that I wear, I must have one for me. I think parenting can cause you to lose who you are especially with a large family. I am Kaycee and I have a large family but my large family is not my identity.
Balanced Work Home Life
Ok, so I have started this blog and I’m sure you can tell it is a lot of work. I have gone from being a stay at home mom to a working mom on a part-time basis.
I love it but it is an adjustment. Rick and I work together to have a balance between our work and home life. I am learning to compartmentalize my time even more as we go along.
Quiet Time
One of the things I schedule into my days is a quiet time. This is about an hour or so of time the kiddos are in their rooms. They are watching a DVD or reading a book. They may be finishing up some school work depending on what they need to do.
I use this time to lay down for just a few minutes or to get my to-do list done. Sometimes I make phone calls during this time because it’s quiet.
Quality Time
Quality time with my husband is on the list for me too. I need to be able to connect with him because our marriage is very important. I have a couple of friends who are very important to me and invest in my life and so I need to make time for them too.
Making time for those who are important to me helps me wear the “me” hat because after I am done, I feel better about myself. I can be more focused and creative because I have taken a brain break.
Budget
We try to make our large family budget as simple as we can. Rick and I are both naturally pretty thrifty spenders and that has worked to our advantage as our family grew.
Planning
The number one way we manage our budget is by planning where we are going to spend our money before we spend it. Every part of our lives from groceries, clothing to holiday spending is planned before we spend the first dime.
Our major expenses are always discussed and prayed about before we dive in. We are always planning ahead so that we can reduce needless expenses like eating out.
Spending
When we are ready to spend, we do the research to see where the best place to buy it. Even saving money on simple things like groceries adds up to be a significant amount in our monthly budget.
Because we buy so many things in bulk, shaving off a few cents can save us a significant amount.
Managing
Since we have been married, we have used budget software to manage our money. This is a great accountability tool that helps control your spending.
Every month I determine approximately how much we can plan to spend in each category including our regular monthly bills. When we spend money, I enter it in charging the amounts to the categories we spent the money from.
I plan to update this every week so we can make educated and informed decisions. This way I know when I need to reign it in or move money around to compensate for expenses.
Routines
We have routines we follow every day to ensure that everybody gets their needs met and everything gets done. The machine that I spoke about at the beginning of this article has to be maintained and a routine is a way to do it.
Morning
The morning routine starts out with the kiddos doing their chores and eating breakfast. I have found that my most creative time for writing this blog is in the morning. So Sam leads our mornings and makes sure everyone is getting up and ready to go for the day. They run off of my posted schedule and their morning to-do list which includes things like chores and personal hygiene.
I have found that I need to have some time to connect with my kiddos in the morning or everyone is just an emotional mess. If I can spend some time with them our day, in general, goes a lot smoother.
Keeping that in mind, I plan to do our group school time and bible study in the mornings. This gives me some face time with my children and I think that advantageous for everyone.
Afternoon
Our afternoon routine consists of lunch and some quiet time. After quiet time they have some time for reading and outside play if the weather cooperates. Sam has a couple of subjects he teaches so these are scheduled in the afternoon time.
If we have appointments, I try to schedule them in the afternoon so we have our morning to get our schoolwork done.
The kiddos favorite time of the day comes in the afternoon when they get their free time. Free time includes time for them to do whatever they would like to do and their electronic devices are available.
Evening
Our evening routine includes eating dinner and cleaning up our mess. If it is still light outside, we send the kiddos out to burn off some energy before bed. Otherwise, we have a couple of television shows we enjoy watching as a family and so we will cuddle up on the couch and watch them together.
Our bedtime routine is very simple for us. I always tell my kiddos that I am done at 8:00 because that’s when my grace runs out. Ha! By this time of night I am done and ready for some time to decompress.
We do the usual brushing of the teeth and getting ready for bed. I tuck everyone in and say goodnight. They are allowed to watch a DVD in their rooms until the lights out time. Our lights out time vary from night to night because it depends on what we have going on the next day.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for our Step-by-Step guides on how to start these home management systems in your own home. It’s time to build a machine!
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