Jeni Learns to Manage Her Home

Okay.  I’ve been reading a lot of very practical books lately, and I’ve promised to write about them, so here goes.  The five most helpful books I’ve recently acquired, read, and/or implemented…

Managers of Their Homes—By Steve and Teri Maxwell.  Definitely the most helpful book on scheduling I’ve read.  Okay, probably the only one I’ve read.  I did okay flying by the seat of my pants for the first few children, having only a skeleton schedule and a few routines in place, but by #4, I was in need of more structure. See, I’m not the most naturally organized person in the world, and I needed things spelled out for me, and this book did it. 

Managers of Their Chores—by Steve and Teri Maxwell.  We had a good chore system in place, but this book has been helpful in getting us to the next level.  Like their other book, this one walks you step by step through the process.  You figure out and write down what chores need to be done to keep your house running smoothly, then figure out who should do them and when. The next step involves typing or writing each child’s chores in the order they should be done on cardstock.  Each chore is numbered, and each chore has the child’s name on it.  Then they are placed in an ID badge holder with a clip on it so the child can clip on their list of things to do each morning (or afternoon or evening), moving each card to the back when it is completed.  When all chores are completed, the child takes off the badge holder and puts it in a designated place so that mom can check the chores for completion. 

I’m still working on getting the weekly and monthly chores written down and divided up, but the daily chores are going much more smoothly, and the kids are remembering to do things that they were previously doing on a hit or miss basis, like comb hair, take vitamins, and brush teeth.  And the other good thing is there is never a question of what is acceptable—all details can be written on the card.  For instance, cleaning the bedroom is not complete unless all trash is off the floor, all clothes are hanging neatly in the closet, etc. 

As you can perceive, they do not offer quick solutions, and these books are not for everyone, so don’t run out and buy them on my recommendation.  But I digress.  I said top five books, and I have three more to go.

Speed Cleaning, by Jeff Campbell.  He owns a cleaning company in San Francisco, and his teams of three can clean an average home in 42 minutes.  a one-bedroom apartment takes them 18 minutes.  How they accomplish this is the subject of the book.  It is well written, too, which is a nice bonus.  I plan to arm myself properly and try it out.  I’ll let you know how it goes!

Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit, by Teri Maxwell.  I’m not even going to attempt to tell what this book did for me.  It was akin to an epiphany.  Four words only:  High goals, low expectations.  Wow.  Why had I never learned this before?

Keeping Our Children’s Hearts: Our Vital Priority.  Mark and I are reading this book together, and it has been a wonderful time of re-focusing our goals for our family.  We took a break from it for the last couple of weeks because of his grad school classes, but we will begin again soon.  It has provided us hours of discussion, even when we disagree with the book. 

And there they are.  Five books that have given hope to a disorganized, lazy mom—hope that she can organize her life and work, hope that she can overcome inertia and sin to become diligent and hard-working.

Other books I’ve purchased but not yet had time to read fully are Clutter Control, and Spring Cleaning by Jeff Campbell, and Managers of Their Schools by Steve and Teri Maxwell.