Too often today’s moms find themselves buried under piles of school papers, bills and late notices, not to mention mounds of dirty laundry and undo stress. In order to make their busy lives work, modern moms are finding that they need to run the home much like they would a business.

With a blended family of six kids, ages 17 down to 3, Susan Fidler, of North Aurora found herself so overwhelmed with family matters that she knew she needed someone to sort it all out and restore peace to her home life. That’s when she turned to Nicole Swanson, a certified family manager coach who performs family make-over segments like the ones you see on television.

Swanson was trained by Kathy Peel, who has written 18 books and has been the guest expert for shows like Oprah, and works through Peel’s Family Manger Coach Network. Peel teaches that if you run your home like a business – and become the family’s manager – the profit will be immeasurable.

Get your family involved and your success rate will more than double. Peel divides the family manager’s responsibility into seven departments as follows:

1. Home and Property:
● This will be your biggest undertaking. You will need to give everything in your home its own home.
● Systematically go through each room. Ask yourself, ‘What do I do here? Are the supplies I need housed here?’ Swanson says that if things are stored in a room in which they are used you will be more efficient. This means having duplicates of often-used items such as scissors, pens, paper, etc.
● Shop now so later you won’t have to. Ever have to run out to the store at 9:30 at night to get a poster board? Swanson says to designate an area to act as the family store and stock it well during back-to-school sales – extra glue, crayons, poster board, etc.

2. Food:
● Experts say that family meals keep families strong. Providing healthy tasty meals is part of a family manager’s job.
● Pre-plan meals, at least five to six a week. If you use your sales ad to help, your budget will thank you. If you see an item on sale that you use regularly – stock up.
● Keep an ongoing grocery list posted so all family members can add to it. If you really want to save time, shop the same store every week. Ask the front desk if they have a map of the stores, many do. Lay out your grocery list the same as the map. Skip aisles that don’t contain items on your list.

3. Time and Scheduling:
● Keeping track is not half the battle, it is the whole battle. Have one family calendar with everyone’s schedules on it. Electronic calendars that offer email reminders are great for the very busy or the very forgetful.
● Keep a family binder. In it, keep all regularly used phone numbers, activity and sports information, take out menus…have a section for anything that you will have to refer back to.
● Establish a control center, a place that houses all the information you need to run your family efficiently.
● Go through mail and school papers next to the garbage can. Toss junk mail or old papers right away.
● Use small blocks of time to accomplish big tasks. Swanson says you can’t believe the power of 10 – 10 minutes that is. “You can do a lot in 10 minutes, fold clothes, straighten… if you do it in small chunks, it won’t add up to a big job.”

4. Financial:
● Bills, bills, bills. Know your finances. Know what you have coming in and going out. Make sure your spouse knows. Make a budget together and vow to stick to it – even if that perfect something is on sale this month.
● Be honest with your children. If you can’t afford to buy something, tell them. The more they understand the less they will try to get you to buy.
● Find a system that works for you – computer programs like Quicken can help. Banking and paying bills online can be a time saver. If you prefer snail mail, stock up on stamps and use a “mail by date” instead of a “due date” in your system.

5. Family Members and Friends:
● Always remember relationships are the most important things in life. Set aside time for each other and honor those commitments like you would any other on your calendar.

6. Special Events:
● Limit special events to keep them special says Swanson.
● Opt to only celebrate milestone birthdays with big parties. Make other birthdays special with small traditions such as a special kind of cake only baked on that day or maybe the birthday boy or girl gets to choose what is for dinner.
● Traditions are everything. Keep a special events binder that has all those tried and true tips and recipes you need to keep those traditions alive.

7. Personal Management:
● Carve out a little bit of time each day to do something because you want to, not because you have to. Read, watch a feel-good movie, go to the gym - the choice is yours.
● Setting up systems take time, but if you figure you spend at least 2 minutes every day trying to locate something – you could easily save 12 hours a year if you only knew exactly where to find it.