Monday, July 26, 2010

Organization in a Family of 21

Can you believe that Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar just celebrated their 26th anniversary? 26 years, 19 kids, and one busy household! Through thick and thin, the Duggars have stuck together. How have they kept their sanity over the years? Let's find out! And if you're as disorganized as I am, you might want to take some notes.

With 19 kids, how on Earth do the Duggars stay organized?

Their secret is a little thing they call "jurisdictions" (aka "chores"). Everyone is assigned a specific area of the house to clean and maintain. They work in teams so one person does not have to juggle dinner and 12 loads of laundry on their own. 
"Everything is scheduled," explains Michelle Duggar. "It's written out on a chart. It's in columns, and it's all color-coded." The younger Duggars wear "chore packs," little lists that pin to their clothes and tell them what to do next. Handy, right? The inspiration came from Titus2's Managers of their Homes and Managers of their Chores. 

5 comments:

  1. I want to warn that the site of the Duggars is a new picture with the whole family and the Josie.Uma very nice photo, just like they take every year.
    It would be nice to put that picture in the blog entry ... Thanks .. ♥

    Camila R.

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  2. Those seem like ways they keep the house tidy, not organized.

    We stay organized by having a place for everything and working to keep everything in it's place.

    As far as chores, I LOVED the Maxwell's book altho I couldn't make the chore packs work. Kids would lose cards and I'd have to check every card in their pack to see if they had done it all.
    We have a single chore chart for each child (laminated) and they hang around their neck during chore time. They use a overhead marker to mark off their chores as they finish them. Then in each "zone", I have a card listing all the requirement for that area, i.e. the steps to cleaning the bathroom or kitchen.
    I have a modified MOTH schedule. I couldn't handle having a different column for each child (visually overwhelming). It works better if I just know what we should all be doing at a given time, instead of each indiv child.

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  3. I saw the photo but it was so small that I couldn't see anyone to clearly see them. Would be nice if it was enlarged :) I'm sure everyone looks great and would love to see Josie's double chin :P

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  4. Does Jim Bob or Michelle do household chores or do children do all chores?

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  5. This is one of the cutest things I've read as it just not only helps to keep the house organized but also teaches the values to your kids

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