Let's face it - when attempting to organize your home you will be more successful if you have all household members involved. Because this is such an important household project, they may need to be finessed a bit and you may have to muster up an extra dose of patience and understanding because they may not feel the urgency that you do about their home.
So how do we get them on board? Try these tips:
Family Meeting: Hold a family meeting so you can explain and answer questions about your upcoming project. You'll want to emphasize why you'll need all hands on deck to make your plan successful. Avoid being guilty of starting a project and getting upset because of a lack of support from our families - our families can only help us if they know what we need. Skip the dictator approach and get their input and suggestions because they are more likely to help if they know their input has been taken seriously.
Emphasize Rewards: Everyone likes a reward so be sure to offer them to your family! Rewards can be a favorite meal, a family outing, a pamper appointment for mom, fishing or golfing. The possibilities are endless but make sure they are appropriate to everyone's age group and the personality of your family unit.
Please Keep It Fun: Organizing can be fun so make sure your family sees it that way. I've heard about using timers and I'll be darn if they didn't work - on me! As soon as I knew that timer was running, I was suddenly motivated to finish quickly and experienced a huge burst of energy.
So try timers and see how fast and fun everyone makes it. I also think setting a timer breaks the projects into smaller chores in everyone's mind because we'll think in segments of 15 minutes or so rather than thinking a project has no end. You will probably find that the younger members of your family will work best with a timer.
