Stay Organized

I am so happy you found me, Laura at Real Momma, and are on the path to becoming a better you, whether you want to stay organized or just find that balance in life I’m your biggest cheerleader.  As you follow me along on my journey to becoming more centered and finding that right balance in life I will be open and honest about what works and what doesn’t.   Changing roles in the family and becoming a work at home Mom was one of the hardest challenges in my life, I needed a whole new way to be organized and stay organized.

I am not an expert by any means but I do know a thing or two about juggling a business, family, marriage, household, and me.  I can only share with you what works for me and I can’t guarantee it will work for you but I can say if you’re lost and looking for help I know you’ve come to the right place!

The biggest challenge I meet on a daily basis is people not realizing I don’t just sit on the couch all day eating bon-bons and watching soap operas.  People don’t think of the work at home Mom as managing a household, business, and a family – talk about multi-tasking!  I had to find a way for it all to work and balance so I didn’t lose my sanity, unfortunately that means working in the wee hours of the morning or staying up after the kids go to bed.  Slowly we are finding a way to balance it all and settling into routines that make life a little easier.

The tools I have found useful in my crazy busy life are:

• A big calendar on the fridge with all of our schedules, we also use google calendar and sync with our phones and computers but it is nice to see it written and easy to view daily
• A weekly meal planner (I only plan dinners), I never feel stressed about meals anymore
• Planning my day the night before so I can evaluate how to use my time the best and reflecting on my day through journaling
• Celebrating in my accomplishments and not dwelling on the tasks I didn’t complete
• 5 minute tidy – doing a quick clean up before I go to bed, I found a clean house to wake up to puts you in a positive, productive mood first thing in the morning

My advice to you is to find what works for you!  Balance might be hard at first but with a little time and effort things do get better.  For me it has been a lot of trial and error to find the right balance and the perfect working conditions. I’ve learned that sleep can be caught up on and you’ll find a way to function and hold it all together even though you slowly feel like you’re going insane.  Been there. Done that.  You will survive.

Taking a time out for yourself is one of the best tools I’ve found to self-management.  Afterall taking care of yourself first is the most important thing because if you aren’t healthy and well there is no way you will be in the right frame of mind to deal with screaming children, make dinner, arrange a business meeting and do laundry.  Trust me multi-tasking and staying organized is harder than some people make it sound.  I’ve found a tool, one moment meditation, that only take a moment and you can do it anywhere from standing in line at the grocery store to sitting on your favorite chair and the kids running around you screaming.  For me it has become my pause button between action and reaction!

If you want to stay on top of things nowadays you need to use technology in your favor, so here are a few things you can start using today that will make your life a whole lot easier and help you stay organized:

1. Sign up for Google Calendar you can use this to keep your family calendar on and sync it with your mobile or smartphone calendar, iPad, computer calendar you name it you can do it!  Best part share it with other family members so you can all add events and appointments.
2. Meal planning!  This helps in so many ways you can get your grocery list made, do your prep ahead of time, and there will be no “what’s for dinner” nights.
3. Family huddles! This has changed our lives for the better, using the Me in A Tree program we are able to communicate openly and honestly and share almost everything with each other.
4. Routines – start your kids on morning routines and see how much easier your mornings get and you’ll have little or no fighting.  For yourself this will be huge get into a routine but don’t become a robot.
5. Start making a to-do list every night so you can dump your thoughts and know what you have going on the next day
6. Start using allrecipes.com or see my Cook’n review you’ll find some great ideas and you can save all your favourite recipes on the site so you can go back to them anytime!

I know I’ve given you a ton of tools and advice and right now you might be saying just how am I going to do this.  My advice is take one step at a time, pick the first thing you want to do to get organized and work on it.  Baby steps and celebrating in the little accomplishments is the way to stay motivated and keep working towards balance, organization, and being the best Mom you can be!

Feel free to contact me anytime!

You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

I like to share with you some of the fun things we do as a family or my own personal self-management worksheets that I believe will help you along the way so don’t forget to grab some of my FREE printables:

• Daily Journal
• Bucket Folding Instructions
• Annual Goal Setting Worksheet