Household Management

Household Management:

In order to reorganize your life to a more frugal lifestyle, one must relearn the old household management skills of yesteryear. What is household management, or what does it have to do with living a frugal life - everything. The management of your home, its inventory, and your budget is critical to your success.

Allow me a few moments to give you a history lesson on the term "Household Management," because it is not a new phrase; it has been around for centuries.  The term has evolved over the centuries, dating back to the middle-ages. While many modern women will balk at the term believing the term is demeaning or insulting to the working women of the 21st century - I for one, hold it in high regard. Why would a modern woman hold the term in high regard, because the women of the medieval times were a powerhouse super-woman in their own right. They were highly organized, skilled and competent females who controlled a vast "inner keep" of a castle, large estate, or local village. They were responsible for feeding, housing and maintaining hundreds of people under her charge - to include whole families, children and workers who depended on her management skills. Those management skills required her to know at any given moment how much cured meats, dry goods, wool, and animal hides were stored for the coming cold winter months. Those items were to sustain and feed the hundreds within her charge. Today, we have food stores to obtain such items, but back in the day, it was the lady of the keep who had to do her  shopping from the land surrounding the fort, or keep, she was in charge of each day. They had to ensure that every aspect of an animal was used for food, clothing, shoes, and blankets for survival through the hard winters. They were responsible for accurately maintaining both materials and human resources to maintain the extended family until the next harvest.  They also had to know and understand apothecary treatments to heal the sick and wounded. That kind of woman is not only a female to be held up as super-woman, but also as a champion of maintaining the whole village.

Much like those women back in the old days, you the modern working woman, must maintain the household the same way - keeping track of everything from food, supplies, meats, and the like to ensure you can feed everyone within your private castle throughout the cold winter months.   Therefore, we will go into a few things to think about in order to help you create your own "Household Management" system. We want you to be a success without feeling demeaned or disrespected in these modern times.

The best way we can suggest for you to get organized is to create your mobile command center either on your computer, tablet or even in a three-ring binder. Your mobile command center will help you keep track of schedules, inventory, menu plans, as well as things to do lists.  For those who use the electronic version of this concept, be sure to download "Documents-to-go" to ensure you can view and edit accordingly on your mobile device. For all others, consider this the old fashioned way of doing things - hardcopy manual type of organization.

Start out with a three-ring binder with dividers. Before buying anything in the store, sit down with a piece of paper and list what you'll need - three hole punch, paper, dividers, but how many dividers and what size binder?  Binders come in various sizes, from 1/2 inch to 6 inches. We recommend that you decide how many dividers you will need: calendar, menus, things to do, budget, inventory list, household chores listing, if you have children then include one for school responsibilities such as carpool, PTA bake sale, games schedule, etc. What about a divider for yard sale inventory items. You can always include any major parties you're planning for special occasions, etc. Are you getting the idea? It depends on your personal life and household. With that said, the major items we will discuss in this series are listed in the first sentence of what dividers you'll need. All others can be in a stationary binder which is smaller, and kept at home for other family members to update or utilize. You can also create a house binder to hold those repair services, appliance manuals, service contracts for HVAC, or things that you'll go looking for but can't remember where you put them kind of things; like the pet tracking information, i.e. chip in your dog or cat, vaccination schedule, etc.

Once you've put your household management book together, now is the time to start filling it according to your dividers. Remember that after you get organized, that's when the real hard work begins, maintaining that "Household Management" system.  No need to fear, you will begin to love it and maintain it with pride, as your ancestor's once did long ago.

Next: Shop at Home First: Menu Planning & Discount Cards