"Organizing your Day"

Organizing your day can help you to get more done and feel less stressed.

Through changing a few little things you can become a lot more productive and will feel lots calmer in the process.

Lets start again by going to 'organize central' with that lovely cup of tea or coffee. (If you don't have time to do that, immediately implement some of the changes suggested below to organize your day better and free up some me-time!)

When is it the most hectic?

What always stresses you?

What do you dread?

The first step in organizing your day is knowing what does not work.


Next, think about what is important to you.

Write down all the areas or activities that are most important to you, this can be anything from spending time with your partner or family to gardening or reading or baking or...

Keep that list somewhere close by. You could even make it look beautiful and hang it up where you can see it regularly.

It is a wonderful reminder of what is really important to you and can help you keep things in perspective.

This list is a bit like a beacon, keeping you on track and preventing you from (to steal a phrase) 'sweating the small stuff'.

Now sprinkle dates throughout your week (and write them in your calendar!), dedicated times to do the things you most treasure.

And stick with it! It will make you feel so good.


But lets get back to organizing your day:

The easiest way to get better organized is to build good habits.

Lets start in the evening:

• Before you go to bed, walk through the house and pick up everything that's lying around. You can also do that together with the kids before they go to bed. Make a game out of it. In five to ten minutes your home will look a lot nicer already.


• Next get your kids to put out the clothes they want to wear the next day. Or, if they are still small, do it for them. And while your at it, put out your own clothes too!


• Find out if they need to bring anything special to school and put it with their school bag. Also put out whatever you need, either to take to work or to take along when you drop the kids.


• While you do that, check that your keys are at the dedicated place.


• Now make the lunch boxes and set the table for breakfast (or ask your kids to do that).


• Once the kids are in bed, sit down (this time maybe with a glass of wine?) and plan the next day. Organizing your day in the evening will help you to stay focused on what is important. Write down everything you have or want to do the next day. Group it in categories, phonecalls, errands, bill paying, work. Do that no matter if you work at home or go out to work. Then decide on the three most important tasks.Those will not necessarily be the most urgent, but the ones that move you towards where you want to go the most.

• Do those three most important things first! You could even get up an hour earlier then normal and do them while everbody else is still asleep. This way, you start your day with having already accomplished the things that matter most to you!


• A wonderful thing for busy mums is a meal plan, I will soon write an article about that. A meal plan can make shopping, preparation time and 'what's for dinner' panic a lot easier. Organizing your day works best when you have organized the family meals first.


• Build little breaks into your day, times where you do something you really enjoy. Be it a walk around the block, a phone call to your friend, some web surfing, reading, or just putting your feet up for a bit. It works wonders against getting stressed out!


• Limit interruptions, especially if you work from home. Put the answering machine on, only check and answer emails at dedicated times (for example when your bio-rhythm is down and you need a bit of a break) and learn to say 'no'! Use the list of things that are important to you as a guideline to decide when to commit and when to withdraw.


• Work together with others! Share driving kids to school or activities with neighbours and friends' parents. Offer to cook enough for two families twice a week and have the other mum cook for you twice weekly too.


• Only put 10 items on your daily to-do list. Once you are through with them, take some me-time! If you don't manage all ten write whatever is left to do on tomorrow's list (but again don't write more then ten in total on it).


• Compile Organizing Checklists to simplify things you have to do regularly


• And, last but not least, involve your family in the housework! If everybody does a little bit you will get a lot done without becoming stressed out. Find chore charts here (about to come) to get you going.

If this is difficult for you to do, maybe it is time to let go of the reigns a bit, concentrate on other things define you apart from being a home maker and learn again how to have fun!

A relaxed, happy mom means a relaxed, happy family and home!

"What do You do to Organize your Day?"

Have you found a way to make life easier on a daily basis? Share it with us!

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