WEBVTT - Big family organization hacks

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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<v Speaker 1>Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's tip is about some organizing strategies you can borrow

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<v Speaker 1>from larger families. No matter the size of your household,

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<v Speaker 1>these strategies can help you keep chaos at bay. Like

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<v Speaker 1>many people in this era of declining birth rates, I'm

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<v Speaker 1>somewhat fascinated by larger families. Reality TV is full of them,

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<v Speaker 1>and though these families aren't always functional in the larger sense,

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<v Speaker 1>they do tend to hone systems for day to day functionality.

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<v Speaker 1>Over the years, and as my own family has grown,

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<v Speaker 1>I've become a student of these systems. Today's episode talks

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<v Speaker 1>about a few that I found most helpful. Paradoxically, one

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<v Speaker 1>of the best big family hacks is to own less stuff.

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<v Speaker 1>As the volume of family members increases, everybody's stuff gets

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<v Speaker 1>added to the pile. With two people that could be fine,

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<v Speaker 1>with seven, you've got trouble. So you learn to be

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<v Speaker 1>careful about what comes in, always asking if something can

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<v Speaker 1>be borrowed or repurposed before buying something new. It's also

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<v Speaker 1>smart to build in regular times for purging things that

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<v Speaker 1>are no longer serving a purpose. The start of each

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<v Speaker 1>new season is great for this, and since a lot

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<v Speaker 1>of charities will pick things up from your door, there's

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<v Speaker 1>really no reason not to. Another key point, objects need

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<v Speaker 1>a home. If you find a spoon somewhere in your house,

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<v Speaker 1>well you know where that goes. But many other things

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<v Speaker 1>are more nebulous. They shouldn't be. Larger households solve this

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<v Speaker 1>issue by giving every family member a bin or box

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<v Speaker 1>or other such spot where items that will be needed

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<v Speaker 1>can go. We keep our family binds in the mudroom.

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<v Speaker 1>Kid mitten's library, books and things like that can all

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<v Speaker 1>be placed in these bins so people can find them

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<v Speaker 1>on the way out the door. If an item is

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<v Speaker 1>found elsewhere in the house, it can be put in

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<v Speaker 1>the bin, and people will know that that is the

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<v Speaker 1>first place to look. If someone starts hollering where is

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<v Speaker 1>my X, the first response will always be, did you

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<v Speaker 1>check your bin? A set of car keys must always

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<v Speaker 1>be in a designated little basket. Coats, shoes, umbrellas, and

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<v Speaker 1>backpacks all go in the mud room too. Homework is

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<v Speaker 1>either actively being done or is in the backpack. Shoes

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<v Speaker 1>found elsewhere are immediately returned to the mud room, there

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<v Speaker 1>are no other places these things can be. This gets

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<v Speaker 1>particularly important in winter, though I was quite intrigued to

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<v Speaker 1>hear the approach from one family with eight kids. They

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<v Speaker 1>moved to Florida precisely so they wouldn't have to worry

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<v Speaker 1>about coats and hats and mittens. Time spent hunting for

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<v Speaker 1>lost items is just wasted time, and while that might

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<v Speaker 1>not be a huge deal with two family members, it's

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<v Speaker 1>a deal killer with six. So the systems become tighter,

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<v Speaker 1>which is probably a good thing in general. Another hack

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<v Speaker 1>I have come to appreciate always have a backup meal.

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<v Speaker 1>Some people like meal planning and others don't, but even

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<v Speaker 1>people who like to plan encounter this reality. With more

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<v Speaker 1>family members, more things can go wrong. You don't make

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<v Speaker 1>it home in time to get the oven gooing before

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<v Speaker 1>everyone is starving. If that's the case, it helps to

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<v Speaker 1>always have say, eggs, fruit and pancake mix in the house,

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<v Speaker 1>so you can have breakfast for dinner, or tortillas, cheese,

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<v Speaker 1>shredded chicken, and frozen veggies for casey d a nite.

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<v Speaker 1>In big families, laundry becomes its own special torture. One

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<v Speaker 1>hack we learned early on was to give each of

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<v Speaker 1>our boys their own kind of sock and their own

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<v Speaker 1>kind of underwear. Yes, they may all be white athletic socks,

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<v Speaker 1>but the brand name might be in a different color,

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<v Speaker 1>or the toe is slightly different. This way, anyone can

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<v Speaker 1>tell at a glance whose stuff is who's. I recently

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<v Speaker 1>simplified my life this way by purging my old running

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<v Speaker 1>socks and buying ten pairs that match. Now all my

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<v Speaker 1>socks match, and so I don't need to think about

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<v Speaker 1>pairing them. With bigger families, dishes can pile up two.

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<v Speaker 1>Some of this is inevitable we run the dishwasher every

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<v Speaker 1>day and often more frequently, but things like water cups

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<v Speaker 1>can be reused. A number of bigger families have one

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<v Speaker 1>color for each child, so a green cup can be

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<v Speaker 1>refilled without worrying about washing it for whoever always uses green.

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<v Speaker 1>When we have lots of house guests, we've learned to

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<v Speaker 1>buy sturdy, disposable cups and then write people's names in

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<v Speaker 1>sharpie on there. Saves us from all kinds of waste

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<v Speaker 1>and bother But as I've interviewed larger families over the years,

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<v Speaker 1>I've learned that one of the most important hacks is mindset.

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<v Speaker 1>If you have one or two kids, you might be

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<v Speaker 1>able to help intensely with homework or do all the

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<v Speaker 1>laundry and snack fetching, drive long distances to many activities.

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<v Speaker 1>With five kids or six kids or more, this becomes

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<v Speaker 1>a lot less feasible, so people lean on their kids

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<v Speaker 1>to learn to do more for themselves. The good news

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<v Speaker 1>is that most people rise to the occasion. But you

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<v Speaker 1>don't need to be housing a small army to encourage this.

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<v Speaker 1>If you've been doing everyone's laundry in your household and

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<v Speaker 1>everyone else is over the age of ten, just start

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<v Speaker 1>doing your own. When people start complaining, offer a quick tutorial,

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<v Speaker 1>and then continue about your business. When people ask what's

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<v Speaker 1>for dinner, say that's a good question, ask what they'd

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<v Speaker 1>like to make. Teenage children can manage their own schedules

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<v Speaker 1>within the parameters that they need to ask you for

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<v Speaker 1>rides with say one day's notice or else figure out

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<v Speaker 1>a carpool. And as for homework, well, you already did

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<v Speaker 1>seventh grade. You're done with it. You will answer specific,

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<v Speaker 1>well thought through questions, but beyond that it is not

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<v Speaker 1>your problem. All this is easier said than done, of course,

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<v Speaker 1>but worth doing. Because while an organizational hat can save

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<v Speaker 1>a little bit of time, getting something completely off your

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<v Speaker 1>plate saves a ton of time again and again and again.

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<v Speaker 1>In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and

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<v Speaker 1>here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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<v Speaker 1>I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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<v Speaker 1>your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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<v Speaker 1>me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod.

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<v Speaker 1>That's b E the number four then breakfast p o D.

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<v Speaker 1>You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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<v Speaker 1>podcast at iHeartMedia dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled

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<v Speaker 1>out with all the letters. Thanks so much, should I

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<v Speaker 1>look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a

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<v Speaker 1>production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my

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<v Speaker 1>heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.