Author: Alethea Awuku

One of the struggles that I’ve had, is making my home work for my family, and putting systems in place that help me stay focused with daily tasks, remind me of our why, and help me to work efficiently without the fluster. I am big on ease. I want my life to not only look like it is run smoothly, but feel it too. In order to achieve this, I realised that I had to put some things in place that would work for ME, and help me to be encouraged as I juggle the many moving parts that make up our household. So let’s dive into 5 things that I do, and would love to implement to make my home run with intent and purpose.

First things first…

It is really easy to pattern our wants and needs after another family or our closest friends who seem to have their lives figured out. While great for motivation and inspiration, I am learning that it is crucial to know where God is taking me and my family, and to be sensitive to the season that we are in. I think on things like what type of personalities live under my roof and how can I best cater to them? What do I need to watch out for that is unique to my family and the legacy that we are trying to build? What are the strengths in my children that I want to nurture, and how can I encourage growth in the weak areas? How can I keep my marriage feeling fresh? How can I keep myself feeling fresh in the busyness and chaos of it all?

I’d start by asking yourself some of these questions, because the answers will reveal the parts that will make up the unique blueprint of your family, and this can be built out from. Straightaway, it gives us work to do in forming a framework, and putting systems in place to help support our family’s overall goals and dreams! This makes me feel excited!

Creating an efficiently run home involves a combination of organisation, consistent communication, and consistent use of smart management.

By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established

Proverbs 24:3

There’s a practical side to it such as decluttering and physical organisation to help keep your house tidy and organised, and there is also a functional aspect which is the scheduling, spiritual input, sensitivity, planning and reviewing.

So let’s start!

Hold regular family meetings to write down and talk about your big why.

When Stan and I were courting we sat down and wrote out our dreams for the family that we desired to build. It was such an exciting time- not knowing what the future would look like but partnering together and with God to cast a vision for a life that would bear good fruit and bring fulfillment to us as a couple. We wrote down big ideals and let our hearts reach for them before they were even made manifest in the flesh, and this gave us a common focus. We are 8 years in now, and have reviewed, edited and added new things to our vision as our family has expanded and we are living the reality of it all.

When we decided to walk down the home education path (after our second son was born), I naturally didn’t know where to start. A wise older woman told me to remember that my family and I are part of a bigger plan that God has and that our home is a base for success. So with that in mind, Stan and I wrote out our new family mission statement which included who we are as a family, what we desire to do and be, where we want to go, how we hope to get there, the principles that govern our household and why we wanted to pursue certain paths. We needed a space where we could dream and plan out how we were going to create incredible moments with our tribe and the statement did just that.

This document that you work on (and keep updating) is such an impactful declaration that helps to shape and give a visual of how you want to live out your days. It clarifies direction, purpose, focus, values, beliefs, identity and motivation. It’s a great way to hold us accountable and remind us of the good and the big in the difficult moments and seasons. For me, it has helped me to be efficient in running my household because if it isn’t in or near our plans, we don’t need to spend time or energy on it! I feel immense gratitude and appreciation when I visualise this plan that God has permitted us to create. We share some of these points with the boys as our desire is to have the whole family on board with the vision and moving as one. Eventually, as they grow older, I look forward to hearing and adding their input into the mission statement. What a privilege!

Plan out your meals.

Another big very practical area that can really make me feel stuck, but is so important to running my home efficiently. If I don’t have an idea of what everyone in my house is eating for the week, it creates overwhelm for me as the questions and requests of “so what’s for lunch today?” roll in. It also takes up more time for me. You may be great at thinking on the spot, and enjoy the spontaneity- I am not one of those women! I need to have a rough idea of what I have in my fridge and when I am going to cook it so it reduces stress and helps me to move with ease and good timing on our busy days of sports, swimming, church, and social events.

Having a weekly meal plan helps me to incorporate a variety of foods and flavours into our diet. This helps prevent monotony and we look forward to certain days where we will really enjoy! Our favourites are traditional Ghanaian food such as beans stew and plantain, jollof rice with meat or chicken and yam and stew. The boys aren’t too keen on their vegetables (ha!) but when I plan their meals, I remind myself to add one or two greens so they can get used to seeing them! A meal plan also helps me to prepare for and create additional special moments on certain days if I want to because I have left room in my brain for this- rather than filling it with stress and overwhelm. For example on Fridays, we’ll usually have chips night, and because this has become a little tradition, I add on salads, vary the protein option or add salad options if I want to for that week.

Make grocery lists.

Tagging on from the previous point, making a grocery list is a very important aspect of keeping your financial goals and budgeting in check, and knowing exactly what you need to purchase before you enter the supermarket. I can’t tell you the amount of times I’ve gone into the supermarket without a list and just wandered up and down the aisles picking up random things that don’t seem too expensive. When I get to the till, I start sweating and doing the hard work of eliminating items as they are being scanned into my bag. It has all been a little chaotic a few times, and I have now learned my lesson! It’s all too easy to get distracted and double your shopping bill this way so I have learned to be more mindful and ask myself questions as I walk around.

Our goal here is to enhance our shopping experience (actually enjoy it), beat overwhelm and to work efficiently. If we know what we need to buy for the week because it is on a grocery list, we can also reduce food waste, use up all of our ingredients at home before repurchasing and prevent impulse purchases that we later regret. Checking my cupboards before I leave my house is such a useful exercise and I have removed items from my grocery list that day because already had them available in our house!

Don’t forget to delegate.

Remember, this is our home. We are working hard to make it run smoothly and to be enjoyable for all of the people living in it. When it comes to the area of delegation I used to find it a challenge asking my husband and my sons to help with anything because I thought that it was the womanly ideal to do it all by myself- until burnout and overwhelm told me something else. I came to a realisation that even though in our household it is my overall responsibility and privilege to manage the household, rather than over loading myself, I had to create management systems that would make it possible to run the house well, work efficiently and with ease, and also enjoy the work.

Delegation is a natural must according to the needs of our house and how my husband and I choose to run it. One of our family goals, is to work as a team to keep our home environment clean and comfortable and in order to achieve this, we all have to work together in our areas. We want to normalise hard work and daily responsibilities so the boys all have small tasks that they complete each day with our help such as sweeping the floors, tidying up their toys, putting their books away and making their beds everyday.

Roles and responsibilities gives the family a shared ideal, contributes to a more efficient, harmonious household, and encourages teamwork. We don’t issue rewards when tasks are complete because our perspective is that this is a very natural part of life and we should have pride in wanting to keep our environment well. We do recognise and express gratitude for each person’s efforts when a task is completed well as this encourages a culture of appreciation and mutual respect for each person’s contribution to the overall family goal. Most of the time the boys are enthusiastic to complete their tasks when we encourage and remind them that in doing so they are keeping their space nice and neat.

Create shortcuts/hacks and reminders.

This is an area that I want to implement more in my home. We have what we call a command centre in our kitchen- which is essentially big white board that I use to detail the boys weekly schedule (sports, learning and routines), and jot down reminders and scripture for the day or week. Displaying important information, schedules, and to-do lists gives easy access and a snapshot to all family members to see what our week looks like and it is helpful to keep things moving during the week. 

When it comes to hacks, I want to get better at this! Living with multiple children can make it hard to feel like the house is clean and organised most of the time- It just won’t be if your children are at home with you full time so in this area I currently implement the 2 minute reset rule.

Usually at midway point in the day, we’ll have a quick reset and tidy up of toys, shoes, the kitchen and the boys play area to prevent these tasks building up into huge mountains by the end of the day when I am feeling really tired.

I hope you have enjoyed reading some of the tips on how to keep an efficient home, and maybe you’ll find one or two of the points helpful. Comment below and let me know what systems you put into place to help you run your home efficiently!