A really BIG whiteboard with the recurring task on it by day of the week helps. Reminders on your cell phone also.

I use some things to trigger others ... the electric bill comes and I change furnace filters.

Trash day means I empty every wastebasket in the house the night before and set them out.

A timer on a neck cord might help for the laundry.

And an adult partner.

Your comment and suggestions are really helpful for my research!

Automate what you can. Get a programable thermostat. Put the fireplace and outside lights and maybe some inside lights on timers. Install a garage door opener/closer--much easier to remember to push a button then to go back and close the garage door. And you can do that without getting out of the car and before the kids are out of their car seats.

Put all your scheduling information in one place--paper calendar, whiteboard, smart phone--it really doesn't matter what the format is. What is important is that it is easy to use and you will remember to look at it several times a day.

Make a list of daily chores. Check the mail, wash the dishes, make the bed, run a load of laundry. Then work on these, one at a time, to make doing them a habit. Research has shown that it takes 3-4 weeks for a new habit to become ingrained. So until they all become habits, make a daily checklist and check them off.

Same with weekly things, like taking out the trash. Make a list.

At one point, I had a list I printed out weekly. It had the days of the week, and the things I needed to do that day. Some things were every day--make the bed, do the dishes, etc. Some things were once a week--trash, laundry day, grocery shopping, etc. I put that on my fridge door and crossed things off as I did them.

There have to be some things that you manage to do right most of the time. Look at those and figure out why/how you get them right. Then use that information to help you work on the other things you need to do.

I have 4 under 5! Well, oldest is five. For bills, when I get the mail, I sit down thena nd there and pay/take care of everything. Anything my DH needs to be aware of is put into a pile for him. I have a WRITTEN master calendar. I still use a paper one so I can see the whole month at a time, and easily flip/compare months- I have not found an online source for this. Back to mail, everything else is thrown, marked on the calendar, or filed (bill/receipts). Things like trash I put on the calendar until it's memorized in a new place. Chores are eliminated as much as possible (dishes are done when cleared from the table- if they don't get stacked, you can't get behind; towels hung or put in laundry as appropriate, etc). Chores I keep on a generic calendar page which note weekly (which day I will do them) and monthly, with yearly or 2x a year chores in a list on the bottom or back of the page. You can slip it in a page protector, and use erasable marker if you need to mark off items for visual clarity.

Really, please accept my sincere apologies if you feel offended, but I have to wonder just how is this all too over whelming ?

Maybe the answer that you are seeking is not so much a question of the physical management of chores, rather, the answer may be a readjustment to the reality that the duties of house keeping should not be overwhelming for someone who is at home. This depends on if you are directing your question towards those who have to balance both career and family, or those who can devote full time to it.

Is a life like yours really that hectic and scattered that you might need a list of everyday mundane chores? Many, many, many women, wives, mothers manage quite well in the face of greater obligations and cares. You did not list career as one of those chores, so I would assume that you do not work. Even with school, your life should not be that complicated.

Maybe there needs to be a question of rather or not these things are really problems that need a solution, or a spread sheet. I don't know what your field of study is, but you might find more to write about from a different aspect of home and family, such as distribution of labor in the family where both adults work, or the difficulty of raising a family, cooking, cleaning and doing laundry in the four or five hours between commuting home after work and going to bed. Now, there is a gal who needs the help. Management, calendars, spread sheets aside, what she needs is a stay at home wife!

My grandmother raised a passel of kids, peas, pigs and cows on a farm. She managed quite well. My mother raised a family on a shoe string, and I was a stay at home mom and raised my two, kept house, a garden and did quite well. Management was never an operative word. It was just called "keeping house" and "raising kids". You did what you had to do. The difference between myself and this younger generation of women with careers is that keeping the home fires burning WAS my career. That is a whole lot of difference.

One thing for your research is the idea that, in todays world, many children have to learn independence and responsibility early in life. The irony of it is the fact that is the way life was back innna' day, in times passed. Then, there came a short time, starting around mid century, when children were being raised by suburban moms in the new suburbs and most of these children had few responsibilities. Today it is going back to the idea that everyone in the family has a role to play in the management of the family life and home. The problem is that mom, who is the embodiment of the spreadsheet/calendar/chores list has left the home and is at work earning a living.

We have yet to come to terms with working moms. Our society does yet accomodate them well.