[PODCAST 242]: Take a Trip Through Our Favorite Home Systems!

Learn | Do | Become

I didn’t grow up with home systems. It was more like “leave everything in a pile and pull from that pile as necessary.” If you’ve been living like that and you want to make a change, today’s podcast will hopefully give you some ideas you can customize!

1. Private vs. Common Areas

Common areas are kept clear–shoes are in one spot, jackets belong in the front closet or garage, backpacks are on a bench, and there are 3 landing spots that the family knows to use. (I used to have 1 drawer per child, but this system has evolved over time as children have moved out and have become responsible for their own papers and items.)

I don’t micromanage private rooms, but I do work with each child to do quarterly decluttering and cleaning.

2. Dishes

We have a little clean/dirty magnet (linked below!) that goes on the dishwasher and can be switched to indicate whether or not the dishwasher needs to be unloaded.

Everyone loads the dishwasher when the magnet indicates that the dishes are dirty. Nothing goes in the sink or on the counter when the dishwasher is ready to be loaded. Dishes do not get left around the house or in the dining room–everyone is responsible for their own and pitches in to help with the meal prep dishes.

When the dishwasher is clean, we all unload the dishes together. We created various systems around unloading the dishwasher based on who was living at home.

3. Laundry

There are hampers or simple laundry baskets in each room and clothes go right in the basket instead of on the floor or on the furniture in the room. These hampers are usually separated into light and dark colored clothing for easy sorting on laundry day.

On Thursdays, Eric washes and folds the laundry. When our children were young, they helped sort and bring the clothes downstairs on laundry day. As they got older, they did their own laundry on assigned laundry days.

We have a separate basket in our closet for items that need to be hand washed. We wash these monthly or on an “as needed” basis when the basket is full.

4. Trash

We keep our main trash and recycle bins in the garage, and there are individual bins in each room of the house. On Saturdays, we gather the trash from around the house and take it to the main bin.

On Tuesday nights (the day before trash day), we take the bins to the curb. We have a calendar reminder set for our family so that we don’t forget and need to rush to take the trash out in the morning.

We recycle as we go, and our family has a document from our city posted near the recycling bin to show what items can be recycled and what items do not belong in the bin. We have a little box right outside the door to the house for glass items that are recycled separately. Eric takes this box of glass items to the recycling center once it is full.

5. Groceries

We keep a magnetic writing pad on the side of our fridge. When someone opens up the last bottle of sauce, for example, they need to write on the list “____ sauce” so that it will be included in the next grocery shopping trip.

I do a weekly shopping trip and generally rotate between 3 local stores depending on the household needs. Before each grocery trip, we take everything out of the fridge and make sure that it is clean and prepared for incoming food. This weekly fridge clean-out only takes 10 minutes or less.

Once the groceries have been brought home, the whole family puts the items away together. We take one or two trips in from the car and everyone knows exactly where to put fridge, pantry, and freezer items.

Items that are purchased in bulk are stored in the pantry or the deep freezer. We write the purchase date on the item before putting it into the storage area. This helps us to use the oldest items first.

6. Blankets and Toys

We have a basket (or neat pile) of blankets in the main living room and in our upstairs family room. Each person knows to refold the blanket and put it back in its original spot when they are done using it.

When it comes to board games and toys, these are organized by type and our family organizes these together so we know where things are located. For example, the train tracks set is in one basket so that it doesn’t get mixed in with other toys. In the board game cupboard, games for little children are on one shelf, and more complex games with small pieces are up high.

Hope this helps! I’d love to hear some of your favorite home systems in the comments.

Related Links!

Dishwasher Magnet

Home Cleaning Resources

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