5 Steps to a More Organized Life Starts in the Kitchen | Family Economics

By Erin

The kitchen is the hub of the household. It is the central command and the captain’s deck on the ship. At least that’s how I like to think of it in our house!

There are many important activities that take place in the kitchen. So much of what I do as a mother involves preparing breakfast, packing lunches, making snacks, baking goodies, cooking dinner and making sure the “to-do” list and family calendar is updated—day in and day out.

I believe that life feels organized when the kitchen is organized and there are a number of practical things you can do for an organized kitchen.  Here are few tips to get your kitchen in order and create a less hectic routine for you:

1.    Family schedule. Have the family schedule with all activities for each member front and center on the refrigerator. Creating visuals like color coding and making flags on important dates could help everyone keep track of their own schedules. Mom Agenda has great “paper planners” to help keep your family schedules organized.

2.    Meal plan. Have your meal plan displayed for your entire family to see. It might help reduce the amount of whining or complaining from your family if you let everyone have a say in what goes onto the meal plan each week.

3.    Daily schedule. Sketch out a rough daily schedule that will help keep you focused on the different tasks that need to be managed each day. You can download free schedule template forms from Buttoned Up to help organize your schedule.

4.    Lunch packing planner. Print out a lunch packing planner with available meal options and have your children fill out their preferences. Having a list of everything you need for preparing lunches and gathering your children’s input will help you bring a little variety to lunch each day and ensure your children are actually eating what you are packing for them.

5.    Kitchen Tasks. Make a short list of several tasks you will need to get done in the kitchen each week, whether it’s cooking a whole chicken, baking banana bread or making a double batch of cookies and freezing to serve for later. Having your tasks in front of you each day helps you become more aware of everything that needs to be done and the timeframe you’d likely need to do it.

Creating different planners each week for you and your family’s tasks and requests can help eliminate some of the day in and day out frustrations that can arise from meal planning and attending events.

What kitchen and life organization tactics have you found to be successful for your family?