Home Systems That Keep My Family and Home Organized

Setting up systems and methods for my home was a necessity after becoming a mom of three boys and nannying two extra kiddos. Our house was loud and chaotic and needed a TON of organization and structure. I set up everything from sleep training to a morning schedule, chores and a meal plan, and a lot of things in between. But, some of the most important home systems I set up were ones that didn’t require daily effort. They worked for me without having to put hardly any work into them.

Home Systems I Can’t Live Without

Our Family Calendar

Our family calendar was actually my husbands idea. Between nannying and sports practices, Playdates and dinners, our calendar is busy and full most of the time. Neither of us are very techy people and have never shared a Google Calendar or anything like that. We kept running into the problem of not knowing what was going on or over booking ourselves. When we re-did our kitchen (and by we I mean he, because I am not good at that and that’s what he does for a living, thank the Lord!) we had a big blank wall on the outside of our new bathroom right next to our mud room.

He had the idea of making this wall a giant calendar and so was born our family calendar. This takes me about 20 minutes to set up at the beginning of the month and serves us all month long. I love to doodle and draw so it’s almost therapeutic for me to create the calendar every month. Our boys have learned how to tell the days of the week and know what is happening and what to expect by the calendar. My hubby also sees it on his way out the door every day which let’s him know the plan throughout the week and keeps us on the same page.

I encourage you to make some form of a family calendar for your family. It’s amazing how much mental space you free up having all your things written out in one place hat can’t get lost and keepseveryone in the loop of the family plans.

Our Bill Organizer

I don’t know about your family, but there always so many papers in our house. Finding a way to store them without constantly having to run down to the filing cabinet (ours is in the basement) has been a gamechanger. We have a small wallhanging (pictured below) that keeps the bills off the counter and also not lost or paid late.

All bills paid go in the bottom. All bills that need to be paid get pinned to the board. We also have whiteboard on ours where I keep a running list of household items that need done. I will try to link one HERE that is similar to ours. We’ve had ours for years and love it!

Our Family Clock

This clock has literally changed my life. My kids are just now barely getting to the age where they can tell time and know what the concept of time means. I feel like all day everyday they would be asking me when they could be done with school or they could have a snack or watch a show. I came up with a color coded pie system on a simple analog clock with dry erase markers.

I drew a color coded pie shape to cover each time and a key to explain what was expected during that time. Example: I drew a green pie shape from 7:30-8:30 for them to wake up and eat. An orange slice from 8:30-9 for morning chores. A red slice from 9-11 for school and so on and so forth. They learned that when the fat, short hand was inside that colored pie that’s what we were to be doing at that time and when it was night time and got back to the green pie shape, it was time for bed.

This system has worked so well at our ages 3,5, and 7 and has made the clock the one that keeps them accountable, not me.

Our Whole “Get Out the Door System”

I wrote a whole blog post about this and I will link it HERE if you want to read more in depth about this, but the gist is the way I store our coats, shoes, and socks so we can get out the door quickly and efficiently. I hung command hooks on the window right by our back door at kid level. This way they can grab and go.

I have a shoe organizer and each kid has their own section that holds all of their shoes. Under the shoe cabinet we have an organizer with three compartments. One for each kids’ socks. Here is where the magic happens; each kid has their own color of sock and every single sock is the same. No matching, no wondering who’s socks are who’s, no running up to their rooms to get socks when we are running out the door. It’s a game changer. Try it!

Labels in Our Fridge

Fridges very easily can become chaotic and things can get shoved to the back and forgotten about until there is a weird smell coming from somewhere. I decided two things to help with this: first, I only order the groceries we need for that week (maybe a few extra canned goods.) This way we aren’t wasting food and having it go bad. You can read about how I meal plan easily every week HERE!

I also label and use smaller containers and a lazy susan to help keep things organized in the fridge. You can buy cheap bins at the dollar store and set up organization systems for your fridge that don’t cost you an arm and a leg!

Labeling Our Laundry Baskets

Just like I labeled our fridge, I also labeled our laundry baskets. This saves me so much time not having to seperate things because my hubby and kids can help out when they throw their dirty laundry in. It also matches up with our laundry schedule (which you can read HERE and get a FREE printable) so on the day I do certain loads I just grab that basket and do that load.

Our “Family Control Center

We have our family daily schedule, list of chores, cleaning schedule, etc all hung up in our kitchen. This is kind of like the “brain” of our family. Having these hung up in a central space helps everyone know what to do, what we are all doing when, how to help out and more!

Why Having Family Systems Are So Important

Having family systems in place make the day to day so much easier. It takes out the guesswork and brings the mental load way down. I hope maybe some of my systems have inspired you. Copy some of mine or come up with your own! Setting up organization systems that are sustainable and serve your family well are priceless! If you want help making systems and building methods I have a whole post here to help you make some that fit and serve your family!