Organising with Young Children

As you'll see from the following posts, organising my house is going to be a long process. As we only moved in here 4 months ago you wouldn't think it should be, but boxes weren't unpacked, things were shoved in cupboards and alas, you have my house.

So I'm going to start with this, especially to parents of young children.The most important thing is to focus not on what you HAVEN'T done, but what you HAVE. You haven't put that load of washing on? I bet you did some dishes. You haven't done some dishes? I bet your child has been fed. So your child was fed on crisps an hour after lunch time. Are they still alive? Give yourself a pat on the back. The best thing my husband said to me when he went back to work was that if he gets home and baby is alive, that's my job done for the day. Some days are like that, so the next day you do better. And don't beat yourself for what has gone before.

I often find that my house is all or nothing. I like everything to be very tidy with everything in it's place, but if it gets bad (like when I'm working or it's the weekend), I find it hard to start again. Remember the little and often rule. It takes less than 5 minutes to put a load of washing on. Make that your only task for the day outside of childcare; you'll feel great that you've accomplished what you set out to do.