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Taking Time in Hand
Family management is a new niche in the home organizing industry. Web sites such as http:/
The National Association of Professional Organizers, formed in 1985, recently began to "certify" its members, who often list personal coaching among their skills.
  At her "command center," Phoebe Cole, 35, goes over the schedule with son Caleb, 3; daughter Carolina, 6 weeks; and husband Harry, 41. (Photos By Dayna Smith For The Washington Post)   
Have a family rule that whoever uses the last of a product (peanut butter, paper towels) adds to a running supply list. 
Take 10 minutes every Sunday night to look over the household schedule for the coming week. 
Avoid doing things when everyone else is doing them: Don't go to the bank at lunchtime. Don't buy groceries on weekends; lines are shorter and shelves are restocked on Tuesdays. 
As kids watch TV, have them fold clothes, brush the dog or organize their backpacks. 
Avoid arguments on weeknights, when time is short. 
Never run errands without a list of where you're going and what you need. SOURCE: Family Manager Inc.
 In Caleb Cole's room, the day's important events and activities are marked on a whiteboard. |
This fall, "Time Makeover," a 30-minute show, debuts on the Fine Living cable TV network. Experts will help people wring precious hours from busy schedules for things they really care about, such as parental "date nights" and regular family meals.
Chad Youngblood is general manager of the network, a corporate cousin of Home & Garden Television. He said the show's target audience is "time-starved Sarah": A 40-ish married professional woman with kids and "more money than time," who can afford paying extra to have the computer technician, hair cutter and car detailer come to her home.
"Time is the ultimate luxury item, and organization is what we crave. It's the only way to buy ourselves time," said Salzman of J. Walter Thompson.
She places part of the blame for the time crunch on overextended adults who overschedule their progeny. She also blames television.
"All these reality shows where the super-nanny comes in, all these domestic gods and goddesses come to your home and make you better. We have the super-athletic coach, the professional coach, 'What Not to Wear' on TV, and we've all become convinced someone else's life is better than our own, so we're driven to go buy whatever product or service" might improve it.
Cole, who charges $75 an hour for coaching, calls the family management notebook she devised "my second bible."
She writes Caleb's daily activities on a whiteboard in his room, downloads the family schedule onto her husband's computer and keeps monthly and yearly family calendars. She even has a 20-year-plan, which includes a third child.
Baby Kenneth or Baby Hannah is scheduled to arrive in 2010.
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