Top 3 Home Systems
Photo by Dane Deaner on Unsplash
I'm leaving my wonderful husband and six kids at home in a few weeks and flying to join my mom and siblings at a cottage by a lake for several days.
To ensure things go smoothly while I'm away, I am revisiting our home systems, and this practical blog post will share some of my thoughts and practices on meals, chores and the big one, laundry!
I link to resources and previous posts on these topics as well.
When home systems flow, they facilitate physical, mental and emotional space for the more soulful parts of living, like connecting and creating!
Here are my Top 3 Home Systems:
1. Meals
Feeding eight people is no joke, but it isn't overwhelming if we stay ahead of the hungry stomachs by:
Weekly mealing planning
Keeping an ongoing grocery list
Cooking and freezing key items for quick meal prep
Let's start with meal planning…
Our breakfasts and lunches do not need much guidance as the kids follow a rotation of breakfast options, and my older kids prepare lunch most days. They have learned to cook simple meals and gain confidence in the kitchen this way.
Dinner is usually my responsibility, though this can be delegated as needed.
My eleven-year-old son can BBQ and is very competent in the kitchen, as is my 13-year-old daughter, who especially enjoys baking us delicious treats!
My husband succeeds at pretty much anything he puts his hands to, so I know they will be just fine, but I want to make things as easy as possible for everyone while I am away.
Most weeks, I sit down on a Sunday afternoon and make a quick draft of our dinners for the week in my calendar.
This takes less than 5 minutes.
I have a meal ideas list you can download from my resources page or feel free to make your own to save on the mental drain each time.
Ongoing grocery list…
I add any gaps to my grocery list in preparation for my Monday night grocery haul.
Cooking and freezing!
I like to fry ground beef and onions to aid in easy meals and freeze this mix in Ziploc bags for tacos and other easy beef-based meals.
Having meat sauce (to put on pasta or build a lasagna), pulled pork, and marinated meats in the freezer makes it easy to whip up home-cooked meals, even on those extra busy days!
A new hack I'm excited about is freezing the cold, day-old rotisserie chickens or legs that Costco puts out in the mornings. These are nearly half the price of the hot items and can be used for chicken salads, buns, tacos, stew, soup or a host of other chicken-based meals!
With a list of dinner ideas, and a stocked pantry, fridge and freezer, my family will be just fine while I am away.
And who knows what yummy things my husband will decide to bake?
He has been known to make cinnamon buns and other great treats when I slip away for even a day!
If this is a system you would like to read more about, I shared SO many more tips in a previous blog post called “What’s for Dinner?—always have an answer with these 5 steps!”
2. Chores
Just because we have a half dozen kids doesn't mean our home needs to be in chaos.
I value an orderly living environment, as does my husband—though he would say he is a little more relaxed with this than me!
In fact, at this stage of family life, having a half dozen kids makes it really doable to keep up with chores as we have so many great helpers.
We do morning chores, thorough meal cleanups and pick up the home as we go about each day.
I am more lenient with our kids' rooms, school and play area downstairs, and our backyard than the other main living areas.
We make minor adjustments in chore delegation as the kids get older and the season changes.
We don't have a posted chore chart, as what we do each day has become a natural routine for us over the years.
Tasks like watering outdoor plants, cutting the grass or shovelling the snow are seasonal chores we add and delegate each season.
Last fall, I wrote a blog post called Family Chores that unpacks this system WAY more.
These pretty printables are available on my Resource Page, along with a list of responsibilities that can be delegated based on the ages of your children!
Because I will be away, the only chores I need to delegate are mine.
One of the chores I continue to manage (mostly because I find it satisfying) is laundry.
My 13-year-old will keep this system going daily while I am away, so I've been showing her my ways (because I'm not anal)!
3. Laundry
While Laundry is technically a chore, I'm separating it out as a system because it requires daily attention in this season of my family.
The main thing that has changed since I wrote about this system a few years ago is that I run a load daily (except on Sundays), as we've evolved to filling nearly full loads with a focus on towels and sheets midweek.
Seeding into our laundry system daily relieves the overwhelm!
Here is a quick peak into our system:
My six-year-old collects the laundry every morning.
I run a load and swap it out when I hear the notification (along with hang-drying some items).
I try to fold the load as soon as it is dry, as it is wonderful to touch the warm fabric, which keeps items from wrinkling! This usually takes less than 10 minutes and is a great time to listen to a podcast.
I have pullout basket drawers where I stack the folded items for each person as I go.
As the piles grow and the hanging items dry, the children pick up their “mail” in the morning to deliver to their rooms.
I put away household laundry and my husband’s and mine every day or two as well.
Other than ironing and selecting clothes for church each Friday morning, that’s it! (My husband irons his work shirts as needed).
I could write so much more about my favourite household system, but I would just be repeating the great tips in Easy Laundy, so check out that blog post if you want to get more tips on this system!
With our meal, chore and laundry systems flowing, I'm confident I'll return to a home that reflects the ease and gift of routine.
But more importantly, I know there will be good stories and memories to anticipate—like when my husband potty-trained a child while I was away for a night!
These three home systems are simply in place to give us more time and peace of mind to connect with the people that matter most!
If you want to read more about these systems, you may be interested in these blog posts:
Feel to browse my resource page for the printables that interest you!
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