Introduction to the 'Home Master'

Mastering your household is no mean feat!! It is strange that it seemed far less difficult before children. Though, since falling pregnant with my first child that this has been a *huge* personal challenge. There are countless tales on forums and blogs out there of parents who try to fit the 'boring, old chores' in with school runs, play dates, medical appointments, employment (for those who can justify it after child care costs) as well as all the other commitments we take on as adults.

I am one of those people who tried everything!!

• I have read books - some better than others,
• I have made up a box with index cards,
• I have tried to out together a Control Journal and be a Fly Baby,
• I have joined forums where we post lists of things we need to do each day,
• I have heeded the wonderful advice of Skipper the Domestic Guru,
• I have created lists and charts

... and I have almost fallen over in exhaustion from those things without even looking at the housework.

Now don't get me wrong - lots of little tid-bits from these things work for me but the hardest part is that it is not really personalised to my home, my family or my needs. So, in the ned I decided that what I really needed was to put something together for myself that would guide my household management. I simply called it my 'Home Master'.

From there, I used all these other resources as either a guidepost during the week for household tasks that get forgotten or overlooked and then sought to deal with those things that I needed to add or remove from my Home Master to keep it purposeful.

So, I want to invite you all to join me by sharing the journey I took, starting in June 2007, to make a personalised Home Master. Please follow me along to make your own by dropping in on the site and following my posts through and commenting on what works for you and what doesn't.

Even better, by signing up and becoming a member you can contribute your handy hint, how-to's and recipes to help others on their way also. I am very supportive of collaborative work because it always pays to give something back to others.

I am a little excited about this journey you are taking with me because I know it is one that I needed to move on quickly to wrestle back control of my home and it won't take long for you to use the planning resources that we are giving you to do it for yourself too!

In each day of the journey you will have a main piece like this one. Also, below that piece you may have snapshots of other pages of this site to link to such as 'how to' content for household tasks and reflective pieces on state of mind, attitude and planning - all key ingredients to home mastery. Under each is a link to read more so that you can get the most out of this journey.

I hope that this process is an amazing blessing for you and I thank you for allowing me to be a part of it. So, as not to sidetracked, I'd love to have you start straight in on Day One!