Organizing Your Life, Home, Family and Spirit

Ask and answer the following questions for yourself-
1. What are my highest priorities to be accomplished while on this earth?

2. What do I spend the majority of my time doing?

3. Are the things that keep me busy taking me where I want to go?

4. In what areas of my life do I feel overwhelmed and CRAZY?

5. Can I let go of the things in my life that keep me from becoming who I want to become and who God needs me to be?

6. What “things” do I need to let go of? (Literal things, emotional or spiritual barriers, etc…)

7. Am I living my life in a simple and organized way?

8. Do I get sidetracked in my day to day activities? What sidetracks me?

9. What do I believe a woman of simplicity and organization looks like, feels like, and does?

10. Do I take time to be still and contemplate my role as a woman?

11. What changes can I make in my life to feel more organized and simplified I would…?

12. Think of a couple of women you are trying to emulate your life after. Who are they? What do they do that makes me want to become more organized and simplified?

Annie's Notes From The Evening --
Take these and make them your own.

Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God” (D&C 88:119).

Presentation by Shannon Kinghorn -- Organizing Yourself

Pray
Pray before you begin your daily activities. The Lord will guide and direct your paths each day if you pray for his guidance. Never underestimate the Lord’s hand in your day-to-day activities.
Plan
Plan your day, your week, your month.
Make a plan that is doable, flexible, and can work for you.
Use a notebook, binder, or planner. Write things down so you can cross them off and feel like you've accomplished things throughout your day. Write down even small things to help you feel accomplished. Plan a menu -- this can make all the difference in how your week goes. Plan easy things that make your life simple not complicated.
Prepare
Be prepared to make changes to your schedule and to your plan (i.e. things come up...kids get sick, neighbors need help, family members call etc...) Also HAPPY things come up too...(i.e. kids need extra hugs and playtime, hubby needs a few minutes, friends drop by). Be prepared to sacrifice the things you WANT to do with things you NEED to do. "One of the ways Satan lessons your effectiveness and weakens your spiritual strength is by encouraging you to spend large blocks of your time doing things that matter very little
Push Yourself
Push yourself to accomplish your goals. Don't get discouraged!!! The more goals you accomplish the more you will become the person you want to be and the person the Lord needs you to be.

Presentation by Gwyn Harris -- Organizing Your Home

3 Questions To Ask Yourself as you Organize Your Home

1. What MUST be done?
2. What SHOULD be done?
3. What would I LIKE to have done?

Things that can help in your day-to-day organizing and planning.
Prioritize
Pray to plan your time wisely
Have flexibility
Do the things that YOU FEEL that are BUGGING you the most (i.e. dusting, windows, fridge etc...)
Be Cheerful
Make a plan that works for YOU, YOUR family, and YOUR life. Your plan and strategy will not be the same as anyone else -- do what works for you!!!

Organizing Ideas (These are ideas from everyone -- I was writing fast so I hope I got most of the ideas)
Laundry
Organize your laundry into bins (i.e. jeans, colors, whites, socks, stained clothes etc...)
Do 1 load of laundry each day (try and make it a game to see if you can wash it and then get it back into the drawers before you go to bed)
Have a SATURDAY laundry day. Do all your laundry on Saturday, watch a movie, and fold the laundry as a family.
Don't fold your laundry, hang it up. Only fold towels and sheets.
Put a clothespin on the clothes with stains so when you go to do laundry you can quickly identify which items need treated.
Have a set day every week where you wash just your sheets and towels. Then you're not adding a bunch of extra laundry to your already crazy week.
Do all the laundry and have your kids fold it and put it into containers (each family member can have a small laundry basket or container) IMPORTANT -- Don't expect perfection in the folding.
Have little children fold wash rags, small towels, and sort socks. Help them put their own clothes away.
Kitchen
"The key to a tidy kitchen is to cut out the busyness." Have things right where you needs them. Spatulas, tongs, and wooden spoons should be next to the stove. Ovenmits should be near your stove as well.
Keep a scooper in your flour and sugar containers.
Keep like foods together (oils, lentils and beans, canned goods, cereals …)
Keep kids cups, plates and bowls etc… in a drawer or cupboard that your children can reach. They can help you set the table as well as unload and put away their dishes from the dishwasher *Note: make sure you don’t use breakable dishesJ
Keep your spices in uniform inexpensive containers from Winco or a container store. Buy spices from the Winco bins to keep your spices fresher. Label your spices and then Velcro your inexpensive containers to the inside of doors or drawers.
To keep your fridge smelling FRESH, take a cotton ball and soak it in mint extract. Place it in your fridge and it will stay smelling great for a couple of weeks to 1 month.
Clean your kitchen as you go.
Clean your kitchen before you eat.
The biggest frustration can be that it takes 1 hour to make a meal, 15 minutes to eat, and 1 hour to clean it up. Keep your meals simple and clean your kitchen up as soon as the meal is over.
Basic Organizing
Organizational containers: Use kids shoeboxes or other boxes (laminate them to make them stronger).
Try bins or boxes from the dollar store. Try using baskets of different sizes and shapes.
Use old chocolate containers from V-day (great for beads and jewelry). Silverware holders from the dollar store are AWESOME for organizing all sorts of knick knacks. Use foam board to make your own drawer separators. You can easily just cut and glue them together to make the size and shape that fits your needs. Paint cans from Home Depot work great to store nails and screws.
Kids Artwork -- Have a special book that your kids can put their artwork in. Try a chest. You can get wooden chests at Porters, Michaels or Roberts. Let your kids decoupage them, paint them, or glue random pieces of fabric overtop of them. Then let your kids put their special artwork and memorabilia in them. Try having a special drawer for all artwork, then sort it periodically and let the kids keep their favorite pieces. Put the pieces in a decorative box. ***If your kids have trouble throwing their artwork away, go through it at night and dispose of the "less valuable" pieces. Have one place in your house where you display artwork. This could be a special art board, the fridge, special artwork frames, or a corkboard.
Fabric – Organize your fabric in Rubbermaid containers, boxes, round decorative bins, or shelving. You can organize fabric by style, color, type or make. Have a special scrap box. Have a fabric swap with friends once a year. Use a peg board to organize thread.


Presentation by Christie Lameroux -- Organizing Your Family

4 Basic Steps to Having an Organized Family

1. Have Family Prayers
2. Have Family Scripture Study
3. Have Family Home Evening
4. Have lots of Fun

If you do these four steps, your family will be better organized and happier.

Chores with Your Kids – REMEMBER YOU ARE TRAINING THEM
With chores, remember we are teaching and training our children. The Lord sent you to be their parent so remember to teach them how you want them to do things. Be specific and help them see the value in their work and efforts. Help your children understand your expectations. Be clear and specific. Don’t forget that chores for your kids will change as their ages change.

Chores & Chore Charts
Chore charts come in a variety of styles, and range from children receiving stars to allowance.
Make sure your chore charts teaches your children, provides service to your family, and accomplishes family goals.
Try giving “kid bucks,” tokens, allowance or providing something for your children when they’ve accomplished a set amount of chores (Ask Lisa Bell for more details).
Christie’s parents took them to Disneyland after the whole family had read the Book of Mormon
By giving your children allowance, you can teach them to manage their finances as well as to pay their tithing.
Take pictures of your kids doing their chores, then hang the pictures on the chore chart to help remind your little ones of their chores.
Chores don’t have to include money or prizes. Teaching children the value of work is very important.
Have a chore chart that includes names of the children, the chores, and details of the chores. Give each child a jar with their name on it. Once the child has completed their chores have them put a rock in the jar. When the jar is full, give the kids an allowance (the amount will be dependent on their age). Also give kids opportunities to earn extra money by providing other jobs they can do.
Have a GREAT AMERICAN FLOOR WASH (Thanks Carissa Lewis for the idea). Put on patriotic music and then give the kids scrubbies, mops, rags etc…and let them wash the floor to the music. Kids love it.
Have chores that teach your children to SERVE others. Have an FHE on service and help your kids serve neighbors, friends, and extended family.
When you ask your children to do a chore say, “The family needs this done.”



Presentation by Alesha Smuin -- Organizing Your Spirit


Your Spirit Needs Exercise
Take time to exercise your spirit and give it the nourishment it needs. We make sure that the physical body is taken care of by giving it food, water, exercise or any other thing it may require. Doesn’t our spirit deserve the same kind of care? Are you exercising your spirit?
Rely Upon the Holy Ghost
Say your prayers daily. Don’t forget. Ask for the guidance of the Spirit so you can accomplish all that you need and want to. The Holy Ghost will strengthen you to do the things you think are impossible.
Seek to Have Spiritual Experiences Every Day
These can be as simple as having listening for the whisperings of the Holy Ghost, listening to uplifting music, reading our scriptures etc…

Good Reads: The Art of Homemaking (Ask Hannah Hepworth or Lisa Bell about this great book)
Good Read: Simplicity – Carolyn Rasmus
Fascinating Womanhood
Web sites: Flylady.com