Home Organization Tips

Like I said, I had a plan. It was a valiant plan, a great plan, one I was sure would usher me into the holiday season with tranquility, pleasure and ease. And it did. Sort of. I planned my menu two weeks before the holiday just like I promised I would. I did the grocery shopping ten full days before my big family dinner. And boy, was I sure glad that I did! Everything seemed to be going perfectly, until my daughter got a fever. And not just any fever- a persistent, unrelenting fever that refused to abate for 8 full days. I couldn’t work, I couldn’t cook, I couldn’t even sleep- all I could do was tend to a cranky three year-old who just couldn’t get better.
And then, not quite out of the blue, I got a fever too. And suddenly, Tzofia and I were in bed together, moaning and groaning, coughing and sneezing- and doing everything EXCEPT cooking or cleaning for the dinner party. I thought about canceling. After all, who would want to come to a germ-infested house anyway? With 6 days to go and no hope in site, would I feel better in time? Would my kids feel better and allow me to finish my work?
I waited, and waited, and avoided inquiries from anxious family members eager to find out if they’d be left high and dry. Five days before the party, I was feeling better- and so was Tzofia. Phew- we could keep our scheduled plans. I hadn’t lost too much time, because I already had the food and the menu, and all I had to do was create it. But there were a few valuable lessons that I learned from this harrowing (and miserable) experience that I will undoubtedly take with me for the rest of my life. You should learn them now as well- after all, it’s easier to learn from the suffering of others than to pass through the fire yourselves in the name of learning….

Lesson 1- Think like a Boy Scout- always be prepared for an emergency. Having a fully-stocked refrigerator not only saved my family when Mommy was out of commission, but it allowed me to spring right into action as soon as I was able to get out of bed. After a prolonged illness, I had days of ‘real’ work to make up, in addition to numerous loads of laundry and other household chores that had been long neglected. A stocked pantry and refrigerator meant that I could return straight to the kitchen without having to run straight to the store for staples. Moreover, having my supplies for the party already on hand gave me one less thing to worry about during the difficult readjustment to a hectic life outside of bed.

Lesson 2- Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Especially in the winter months when a flu or cold can sneak up on you at any inopportune time, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Fortunately for me, I had divvied up the menu and the tasks three weeks before the scheduled party date, so my relatives already knew what to do before I really needed their help. And although I would have loved to do everything myself, I was so relieved to know that I didn’t have the entire burden on my shoulders, and that I wasn’t bothering my relatives at short notice by shrugging off tasks that I would have done if I was fully-functioning.

Lesson 3- Try to make an extra effort to keep your house clean and tidy on a regular basis. It’s no secret that cleaning and straightening up your house for a big influx of guests takes significant effort and energy. But after letting the house ‘’lie fallow” for a few days, I can honestly tell you that it’s doubly, triply, maybe even ten-fold harder to clean up a seriously dirty house than one that is kept in a generally respectable fashion. After having a house in which dust-bunnies had time to gather up, I have new appreciation for my frequent efforts to sweep and dust. And after spending an hour cleaning up children’s toys that they didn’t put away when I wasn’t around to make them, I can say for certain that staying on top of the mess may be annoying on a regular basis, but it’s significantly less pleasant when you must cut a chunk of time out of your busy day to straighten things up.

During my time in bed, my grandmother thoughtfully suggested that we move the party to a restaurant to take some of the stress off my back. I resisted- thanks to a helpful husband, a supportive family, and a bit of grace from G-d, I was able to pull things off. And I’m really glad that I was able to keep things under control. Because as Dorothy says in the Wizard of Oz, ‘’there’s no place like home.” Especially when it comes to holiday family parties.

Posted on January 21st, 2007 by Sari
Filed under: Household Management