Baby Makes Eight: Raising Six Kids - Part 2, organization edition

See Part 1 for the introduction to this series.

In Part 1 about raising six kids, I talked about finances. That’s only part of the battle. A lot of what makes raising so many kids difficult is the sheer logistics of it all. From soccer to choir to parent-teacher conferences to birthday parties … heck, just getting them ready in the morning is an exercise in logistical planning and execution.

My solution? Well, I don’t have simple answers, but I can share what has helped keep me and my wife sane.

Organizing and Scheduling Six Kids

The One Calendar that Unites them All. My wife and I used to have separate calendars, along with multiple school calendars, sports schedules, notices for school, and more. The side of our fridge was covered with these schedules, and it was a challenge to remember everything. Enter: Google Calendar. Now, we enter everything in one calendar. We do have separate sub-calendars for my work, my personal stuff, my wife’s stuff, the kids, and my training, but it’s all viewable on one calendar. Now, whenever we get a school calendar or sports schedule or notice for something at school, we quickly enter it into Gcal. Same thing with work appointments, meetings, classes, 5Ks and more. Now we can just look at the calendar, from work or home, and see what’s going on that day, or the next day.
Teach them to be self-sufficient. Sure, it’s easier and faster to shower them and dress them yourself than to watch them do the same tasks much more slowly and incompetently. But try that with six kids. You’ll go crazy. The answer is to teach them to do things themselves. It takes a little more time at first, but within a month, it will more than pay off. Now, our kids can not only shower and dress themselves (and pick out their own clothes) but feed themselves breakfast, clean their rooms, brush their teeth, comb their hair, get their stuff ready, wash their own dishes (well, not the youngest two, but the oldest four). The only thing I do in the morning is fix their lunches, and my wife irons their clothes. My oldest daughter, 13, can iron clothes too, and she has learned to help out with the babies and chores. They can all do chores too, like sweeping and mopping.
Plan sufficient lead time. We used to think an hour to get ready was enough. And after our two new babies were born, we became late for everything. Now, we give ourselves more than two hours. While we could probably get ready in an hour, now our preparation time is much more relaxed. And we’re more on time than before. Usually.
Make a weekly dinner menu. Yeah, this isn’t a new tip, but it’s very useful. We plan out the dinners for the week — and the kids can make suggestions — and go shopping with that menu in hand, and the ingredients listed out. It also makes things easier come dinner time — no decisions to make … just whip out the ingredients and cook it up.
Plan easy dinners. Anything that takes a lot of time to prepare is too much trouble. Spaghetti, chili, tacos, baked chicken (the healthy version of each) are some of our staples.
Pack your gear by the door. Having a checklist for soccer gear, or other similar events, is a good idea. And when you’re preparing for the upcoming day, start assembling all your stuff by the door, making sure you have everything, so that nothing is forgotten. Forgetting someone’s cleats and having to turn the car around to get them is a pain.
Pack a bag with extra clothes. We keep a small carry-on luggage packed with a couple of changes of clothes and underwear for each child stowed away in the car. If there’s an accident, or some of the kids want to spend the night with grandparents, that bag will be very handy.
Have a family meeting. I’ll post more about this later in the series, but it’s a good idea to have the whole family sit down once a week and talk about any issues that family members have. This communication is key to having a happy family.
Everyone should eat together. We can’t do this every day, but we try to sit down together and have dinner as a family. It’s a good time to talk about each person’s day.
Have an inbox, and clear it often. All papers, bills, letters, flyers, schedules, school papers and more go straight into our single inbox. The inbox should be cleared every day or every other day — just plow through it, one item at a time, making a decision, taking action, filing or trashing each item right away. Don’t put it off or stuff will pile up!
Teach the kids that everything has a place. Each thing in your home should have a “home”. Teach the kids where that home is, and get them in the habit of putting it in its home. They’ll never get perfect at it, but the more that everybody does this, the fewer things get lost. Also, clean as you go to keep the house fairly clean at all times.
Declutter often. Get rid of the junk in your closets, that clutter up the house, that clutters the garage. Have regular decluttering days. Teach them to give away toys and clothes to charity. It’s also a good idea to clear out old toys every time they get new ones on birthdays and especially Christmas.

Other parts of this series:

Part 1: Finances

Baby Makes Eight: Raising Six Kids - Part 2, organization edition

See Part 1 for the introduction to this series.

My solution? Well, I don’t have simple answers, but I can share what has helped keep me and my wife sane.

Organizing and Scheduling Six Kids

The One Calendar that Unites them All. My wife and I used to have separate calendars, along with multiple school calendars, sports schedules, notices for school, and more. The side of our fridge was covered with these schedules, and it was a challenge to remember everything. Enter: Google Calendar. Now, we enter everything in one calendar. We do have separate sub-calendars for my work, my personal stuff, my wife’s stuff, the kids, and my training, but it’s all viewable on one calendar. Now, whenever we get a school calendar or sports schedule or notice for something at school, we quickly enter it into Gcal. Same thing with work appointments, meetings, classes, 5Ks and more. Now we can just look at the calendar, from work or home, and see what’s going on that day, or the next day.
Teach them to be self-sufficient. Sure, it’s easier and faster to shower them and dress them yourself than to watch them do the same tasks much more slowly and incompetently. But try that with six kids. You’ll go crazy. The answer is to teach them to do things themselves. It takes a little more time at first, but within a month, it will more than pay off. Now, our kids can not only shower and dress themselves (and pick out their own clothes) but feed themselves breakfast, clean their rooms, brush their teeth, comb their hair, get their stuff ready, wash their own dishes (well, not the youngest two, but the oldest four). The only thing I do in the morning is fix their lunches, and my wife irons their clothes. My oldest daughter, 13, can iron clothes too, and she has learned to help out with the babies and chores. They can all do chores too, like sweeping and mopping.
Plan sufficient lead time. We used to think an hour to get ready was enough. And after our two new babies were born, we became late for everything. Now, we give ourselves more than two hours. While we could probably get ready in an hour, now our preparation time is much more relaxed. And we’re more on time than before. Usually.
Make a weekly dinner menu. Yeah, this isn’t a new tip, but it’s very useful. We plan out the dinners for the week — and the kids can make suggestions — and go shopping with that menu in hand, and the ingredients listed out. It also makes things easier come dinner time — no decisions to make … just whip out the ingredients and cook it up.
Plan easy dinners. Anything that takes a lot of time to prepare is too much trouble. Spaghetti, chili, tacos, baked chicken (the healthy version of each) are some of our staples.
Pack your gear by the door. Having a checklist for soccer gear, or other similar events, is a good idea. And when you’re preparing for the upcoming day, start assembling all your stuff by the door, making sure you have everything, so that nothing is forgotten. Forgetting someone’s cleats and having to turn the car around to get them is a pain.
Pack a bag with extra clothes. We keep a small carry-on luggage packed with a couple of changes of clothes and underwear for each child stowed away in the car. If there’s an accident, or some of the kids want to spend the night with grandparents, that bag will be very handy.
Have a family meeting. I’ll post more about this later in the series, but it’s a good idea to have the whole family sit down once a week and talk about any issues that family members have. This communication is key to having a happy family.
Everyone should eat together. We can’t do this every day, but we try to sit down together and have dinner as a family. It’s a good time to talk about each person’s day.
Have an inbox, and clear it often. All papers, bills, letters, flyers, schedules, school papers and more go straight into our single inbox. The inbox should be cleared every day or every other day — just plow through it, one item at a time, making a decision, taking action, filing or trashing each item right away. Don’t put it off or stuff will pile up!
Teach the kids that everything has a place. Each thing in your home should have a “home”. Teach the kids where that home is, and get them in the habit of putting it in its home. They’ll never get perfect at it, but the more that everybody does this, the fewer things get lost. Also, clean as you go to keep the house fairly clean at all times.
Declutter often. Get rid of the junk in your closets, that clutter up the house, that clutters the garage. Have regular decluttering days. Teach them to give away toys and clothes to charity. It’s also a good idea to clear out old toys every time they get new ones on birthdays and especially Christmas.

Other parts of this series:

Part 1: Finances

Posted on 30 January 2007 in Parenting, Productivity & Organization, Simplicity |
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Comments (15)

Anonymous Says:

January 31st, 2007, 12:49 pm

thanks for the great post. and good luck with all those kids! :)

Art Pablo Says:

January 31st, 2007, 19:44 pm

very useful stuff. i only have four kids, but it’s good to hear your story. it sounds like you’re doing a great job, btw.

Anonymous Says:

January 31st, 2007, 21:23 pm

Nice job. Can’t wait to see more on this series. How many parts are you planning?

Leo Says:

January 31st, 2007, 23:00 pm

Thanks … I think I’ll be doing 4-6 articles in this series. It seems to be getting a good response, and there’s a lot I’d like to share.

Anonymous Says:

February 10th, 2007, 2:23 am

Excellent Tips! Thanks for sharing. I have three children and things are just starting to heat up.

Leo Says:

February 10th, 2007, 4:04 am

Thanks … I hope I’ve helped. Congrats on the three kids! Be sure to check out the 100 ways to have fun with your kids for free or cheap article (link on the side).

Monica Ricci Says:

June 3rd, 2007, 17:26 pm

This is a post I could have written myself but you saved me the trouble! :) It’s so excellent, I think I’ll blog about it and send a trackback.

~Monica

Megan Spears Says:

June 5th, 2007, 10:45 am

Wow.. Thanks Monica for pointing me here! As a mom with two boys (2 and 4), a business owner, Organizer and CEO of my household… I can say You Go LEO! I agree 100% with what you have said here… and we do quite a few of these already… eating dinner together makes the whole day better!

I look forward to watching this series grow! Thanks Leo… and kudos to you and your wife… six kids… amazing!

Katie Says:

July 23rd, 2007, 20:05 pm

Hi Leo,
First thankyou for your fantastic tips and advice! I have 5 kids and man do I need the advice on organisation, my home is so much of a disaster sometimes we barely get a chance to do fun things together. I want to make the effort to have things more organised so we can enjoy family fun days.
I would really love a sample routine for raising so many kids…, just to see how others organise their time.
Keep up the posts they are so useful for so many people.
Regards Katie

Laura Says:

February 17th, 2008, 13:15 pm

I wanted to say that I admire your courage! I love your blog, please keep writing. It is so inspiring. Especially the financial tips! Good luck with your kids! It would be my pleasure to donate to your blog and know that that money goes to your wonderful kids than some rich publisher. So much better than a magazine filled with advertisements!

Laura Says:

February 17th, 2008, 13:15 pm

How can I donate?

Stephanie Says:

February 18th, 2008, 15:42 pm

I’m so glad to find your site! I’m expecting kid number two, and have decided to stay home days (no more wondering what is happening at daycare!) and work part time nights. We’ll have less money coming in, but the savings in daycare and wardrobe costs (for me) will be well worth it!

You’ve got great tips that really make sense, and you’ve given me hope that we CAN do this.

Thank you so much!

Libby Majewski Says:

June 13th, 2008, 21:57 pm

I just found your blog and already emailed the link to my husband. We are expecting our 4th baby in the fall and are feeling a bit (a lot!) overwhelmed. We moved into a new house in January and still need to hang pictures and put away some stuff like books, etc. So, the idea of getting ready for the baby is scary when there’s so much to do just with work, laundry, kids’ activities, etc!
I loved the suggestions - we try to do them already but this is a great reminder and helps prioritize.

Kay Says:

November 9th, 2008, 2:43 am

Hi Leo,
I’m from Canberra, Australia and now a devoted reader of your excellent website. I LOVED this article and have now become a true follower of your philosophy. Our house is decluttered and so easy to clean! I have three kids (5, 3 and 0yrs) and wow are your tips great! MORE … MORE …!!! You are obviously ahead of me in terms of raising a family. Please can you expand on simple dinner tips. I am hopeless at cooking.. Oh, one tip I have is to always carry around a first-aid kit. Doesn’t have to be one the size of an ambulance officer, but just a small one. Helps a LOT with the kids etc.

Jen N. Says:

November 10th, 2008, 15:00 pm

Hi there. I somehow came across this article today and I found it very helpful. As a SAHM to 5, the oldest with Autism and homeschooling and all of that rolled up into one… I need all the help I can get! Our house is currently on the market (we want to purchase some land in the country and build a house) and being here all day every day with all of them makes for a messy house. I also suffer from rheumatoid arthritis which is really kicking my butt (excuse the expression) and that makes it even tougher on me to get everything done. Realtors call for a viewing of the house and I run around like mad trying to clean up.

I’m hoping to de-clutter and pack some things today and later tonight after my husband gets home and can help me.

Thanks for the post! =)