How to avoid complete chaos by starting with the basics; Getting Organized!

There is no doubt about it – a well functioning Dynamic Family Home is a well organized one. With the family members of all ages coming and going there’s bound to be a lot of stuff floating around! In order to avoid caving in to the forces of chaos you should start with the basics. Getting organized!

The first step in getting organized is to go through all of your stuff, putting it into different categories (for example; clothes & shoes could be one such category, furniture could be another). Then you should go through all your things making sure you only keep what you really need or want to hold on to. Next you systematize the stuff you want to keep so that each item gets a designated spot (a peg, drawer, shelf, basket, corner or a room). The last and probably most important step is to maintain the systems you’ve created!

1. Categorize

Although the possessions of a Dynamic Family will vary a great deal with factors like climate, culture and economy, I believe these four main categories will be sufficient for most: clothes & shoes, gear & tools, inventory and furniture. This is how our stuff falls into these categories and where we keep it:

Clothes & shoes

Clothes & shoes is a big issue for a Dynamic Family – at least for one like ours, living in the Northern Hemisphere! We have truckloads of clothes and shoes that are either active or passive, clean, half clean or dirty, in or off season, too big or too small, etc.

We have multiple systems for active clothes that are:
- clean - they are supposed to be kept in their designated closets and chests of drawers, but truthfully it usually takes a while before they get there after washing
- half clean – we have designated drawers in the bathroom and baskets in the hall
- dirty – they are kept in a basket by the bathroom and suitable laundry baskets in the laundry room
- there is also the in season (or I should say winter) jackets, pants, rainwear, wool clothing, mittens, etc. that are normally kept in the entrance area on pegs, shelves, drawers or baskets (or on the floor… this is sooo much easier during summer!)

Picture to the left: system for half clean clothes, each child have one drawer
Picture to the right: passive clothes are stored in boxes in basement

There is a lot of passive clothes as well that are:
- off season – that are kept in airtight storage boxes from IKEA
- too big or too small – kids outgrow their clothes rapidly and we keep these clothes in airtight storage boxes from IKEA for the next one in line, sorted by size and gender
- linens and towels – are kept in a linen closet when they aren’t in use
- clothes for special occasions – I have a national dress that I only use once a year, for instance – that are kept in a closet (in which the kids play hide and seek…)

The shoes are either in or off season.
- the off season shoes (also skiing shoes and skates) are stored in big boxes in the basement.
- the in season shoes is a bit of a problem for us right now because our entrance area is about the size of shoebox (pardon the pun), but I’m working on it, so stay tuned! We will soon have our shoes in a designated closet in the new entrance area (sneak-peak preview of the house plan for the ground floor here).

Gear & tools

An active Dynamic Family will have quite a lot of sports gear, camping gear and tools which is in use weekly or once or twice a year.

- sports gear – for skiing, skating, swimming, mountain walking, etc are kept in storage boxes in the basement or in the garage (with the sledges & skies, etc).
- camping gear – sleeping bags and mattresses are kept in the basement and the tents are in the garage.
- tools – are mostly kept in the storage rooms in the basement.
- other household gear – like lightbulbs, batteries, rarely used kitchen utensils, passive toys, etc are kept in boxes or on shelves in the basement.

Inventory

- cutlery – for preparing and eating food is naturally kept in the kitchen.
- books & magazines – are kept in bookshelves and baskets.
- papers - that we need to hold on to are kept in boxes in our home office.
- pictures – we actually don’t have a good solution on this yet (after living here for three years its about time to do something about it, so I’m jotting it down on my to-do-list!)
- accessories – we’re trying to keep it at a minimum and only keep things that mean something to us (like our protective house dragon who has been sitting on top of this cupboard since we moved in here, looking out for us)

Picture to the left: boxes for important papers in the home office
Picture to the right: our very own house dragon

Furniture

- we have furniture for sitting & sleeping (sofas, chairs, tables, beds)
- and furniture for storage (shelves, cupboards, chests, etc.)

2. Simplify

When it comes to getting organized you could generally say that simpler is better. If the system is easy to understand and simple to use you might expect the children to get the hang of it as well.

When working on simplifying your inventory list you should keep these criteria for keeping something in mind:
- usability – does the item in question serve a specific purpose, and does it fulfill its purpose in a way that is satisfactory?
- affectionate value – is the item dear to you because of its history with you and/or your family?
- economical value – is the item valuable? (you could sell it on e-bay an make a nice sum if this is its only value)
- aesthetics – do you find the item pleasing to the senses?

In regards to furniture there is a great advantage to keeping it simple. A piece of furniture will occupy valuable floor space, so be critical to what you allow into your home.
- use/ keep/ buy furniture that fits your inventory list & family structure only
- prioritize quality ahead of quantity when it comes to furniture
- don’t overfurnish!

Most importantly – get rid of the rest!
- things that do not carry functional & estethical & affectional & economical value.
- furniture that doesn’t fit your inventory list & family structure.
- give to charity or sell it if it is in pretty good shape, or chuck it if it’s not.

3. Systematize

Making a system for all of your things is all about finding the right spot for everything. Every item, piece of furniture, picture, piece of cutlery, or whatever it is should have it’s designated spot. A picture or piece of furniture, is quite easy because once you find out where you want to put it, it usually stays there, but then there’s all the snapshots taken over the years, the kids artwork (you might not want all of it displayed at the same time) etc. For things you and your family use every day the challenge is to find the right system for it; one which makes it easy for everyone to put things back in its place after it has been used. It is a good idea to choose a designated spot for an item as close to where it is normally used as possible.

When making a system or buying items suitable for storage; be sure to consider how often an object is in use:

- daily use (drawers, shelves, pegs, baskets)
- weekly (drawers, shelves, baskets)
- monthly ( baskets, boxes, cupboards)
- quarterly (storage boxes or cupboards)
- yearly (storage boxes or storage rooms)

The things you use once or twice a year can be stored away in some corner in the basement.

In my opinion you shouldn’t have a longer perspective than one year – which means that the baby gear goes out after your last one has grown out of it! Pass it on to someone who needs it now. You shouldn’t keep it just in case some day there might be grandchildren. Let’s face it – we have no influence over what our children choose to do with their lives once they leave the nest – and that’s how it should be. They might emigrate to another part of the world, marry someone of the same sex and/or swear never to have children, or have plenty of kids and live next door to you. Although most of us hope for the last alternative, the point is we never know and it’s no good planning our lives around some dream. So live in the present and get rid of the gear and clothes as the children grow out of it. Except if you have some family heirloom you wish to pass on to your own children when the time is right because it holds affectionate value to you.

4. Maintain

In my experience maintaining the systems you’ve created will pose the biggest challenge of them all. This is an area where I’m very far from an expert, but I’m working on it and hope that someday my family and I will be half good at maintaining our home.

Here are some pointers that I try to live by and that might help you along:

- keep flat surfaces empty and clean
- put everything in it’s right place
- put things away right away
- don’t let it get to messy before you deal with it
- if possible and necessary – get some help
- most importantly – get the whole family to contribute!

Good routines is essential for success on this last step, or so I believe.

When working on getting your house and family better organized it is important not to lose focus of whats most important – the people you care about. Finding ways to solve these challenges together is the ideal way to go, but you might find that your ambitions are quite different, or maybe the methods you try don’t work for everybody. I believe it is important to be tolerant and flexible. If some strategy isn’t working for you as a family, try something new. Of course you should also avoid switching to a completely new strategy every week.

Getting organized will take some time and a lot of patience. The best way to go about it is to work on all four of these steps simultaneously, take babysteps, and never give up! Before you know it your house will run smoothly like clockwork, with everybody chipping in.

I’ll let you know when we get there. Race you?