The Cobbler’s Children

cobblerschildren There is an old adage that says, ‘The Cobbler’s children have no shoes.” I often get asked a question along those lines that goes something like this, ‘So is YOUR home a sanctuary of order or is it like the cobbler’s children?’ Here is my response. It is not like the cobbler’s children nor is it a sanctuary of order. I practice what I teach my client’s first at home. I will often try out new systems for organizing here at home before deciding if they will work elsewhere and I practice what I preach.
Like many of you I lead a very busy life. My first priority is my family and home, my second is my business. But I am also involved on the board of the local swim club, the drop off location for two CSA’s, and keep both a family blog and a local food blog. Each day is spent balancing these activities without misprioritizing them.The stuff in my home is organized to allow for as many of my family members to participate in the home upkeep as possible, I declutter regularly moving out the stuff we are not using, too small children’s clothes and broken toys. There are several things which make it possible to stay on top.

  1. I follow productivity principles like those found in David Allen‘s book Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free ProductivityGetting Things Done. I do not ‘multi-task’ and I attempt to be fully present with each activity at any given moment.
  2. Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance – You can make the best organized home in the world but it will be right back to it’s original state in less time than it takes to say, ‘Container Store’ if you do not have a plan to maintain your systems. FlyLady.com and MotivatedMoms.com can take the guess work out of this are great reference material.
  3. Call in reinforcements. Your time is valuable as is your sanity. When mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, gardening, handyman tasks, washing the car or any other home activity is not fitting into your schedule, let it go. There are many qualified individuals or even just neighborhood kids that can lend a hand so that you can focus on activities that are truly important.

With my hectic household, at any given moment you could walk into my home and think that the Tazmania Devil was just here. However, my home is never more than about 30 minutes – an hour away from being clean and neat, my children are mostly happy, my family is fed and life is good.

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