Organization - Sawyer,MI

L.,

I too am a VERY busy mom. I keep my organization with a planner. I LIVE by my planner. I just got an electronic pocket PC which I love. I also post a calendar by my computer and by the phone in the kitchen. Everyone knows where mom is and what is going on. As far as the house chores, Sunday's are my cleaning day, but I do laundry throughout the week. Even if it's one load here, one load there. My kids have learned that they have had to pick up after themselves. (Including my husband).

I have to two kids who are younger and a husband :. I know how things can get forgotten and misplaced. What I have done is I put a HUGE dry erase calendar on the front of my fridge and I write everything on it. That way everyone in the house knows whats going on and when. For the bills we have put one of those bill organizers on the kitchen counter. It has a slot for each day of the month. As soon as we get the bills we put them in there on their due date. It also has drawers for things like stamps and enevoples. Its great and it has helped us alot. Good Luck!

L.,
I am a MK consultant as well. I have a 8 year old who is involved with soccer, football, baseball this year. My husband is a truck driver and owns his own business. Anyway I am crazy busy as well and I tell you without my little black calendar I would be lost. I put everything in this calendar book including my MK sales, and mileage driving. Every Sunday double check my next week calendar and I put all my sales and mileage on the monthly tax envelop. As for the bills I open the mail everyday, throw out the junk and put the bills in the bill tray. On Sunday I go through the bill tray to check the status. Well I hope this helps and good luck.

Hi L.,
The planner is a great idea and the colored highlighters is wonderful. I also have a dry erase calendar in the kitchen. I use different colors on it and put all of my families events on it including mine and my husbands. My husband and I both work full time and are in school so along with my son and his sport and school activities we are gone nearly every night of the week and most weekends. Having it out in the open really helps our family, I can see if my husband is going to be busy on that day and if not he can help with the running while I get dinner and housework done. My son also helps with the chores and has been helping since he's been young. You'll be surprise how much they can do and how much the little things help. Good Luck!

Hi L.,

I had the same problems, still working through them (even my own Mary Kay business). I worked at being organized, or so I thought, but nothing seemed to work. Then I found www.flylady.net and my world changed one babystep at a time. It's free and she's incredible. She has helped me organize my house, my bills, my schedule, even my kids with www.housefairy.org (she helps teach kids how to clean their own space). Good luck. I'm sure you'll love the site.

L.

I am a single mother of a 3 year old and a 9 month old. I work up to 40 ours a week and take 3 college classes. The way that I keep my sanity is every Sunday night I make a list. To make sure that everything gets done for the week, I would write Monday and everything that needs to be done (shopping, homework, babysitting, ect.), then I continue with Tuesday and so on. I take the list every where with me (usually in my purse) that way I can cross offf the things I have done or add anything that happens to pop into my head during the middle of the day. Hope this helps. I know it's definitely been a life saver for me.

get yourself a bag for your bills and everytime a bill comes in the mail put it in there, for your dates you forget, pick up one of those organizers that fit in your purse that has a calender or get a peg board to hang up in your house and hang a calender there and any pieces of paper with stuff to do on it

IF it's at all possible, have your bills automatically deducted from you checking account. That way, you don't have to worry about it. So if you miss place them, forget about them it's covered. That and a planner. Good luck

That is sooo me! You sound so busy! I have learned that I have to carry my calendar with me at all times. I have a spiral bound one from barnes and noble with beautiful pictures of ireland and lot of room for info. I force myself to look at it in the am, mid day and pm and update whenever I get new info. Of couse I don't always and it always comes back to get me, but we can't be perfect! Good luck, you got lots of good advise I am going to use some myself!!

I'd die without my planner to clear my thoughts and put things in order~ but I also clean my house in "shifts" for example as I'm cooking I wipe down the counters and put away dishes as I dirty them so that after dinner I don't have a big mess to tackle. As I play with the kids on the floor I pick up the toys that they aren't using at the time. That way when Saturday roles around I only need to do laundry, vacuum, and wipe down the bathrooms..It takes a while to get into the habit, but once you are there, it's a happy place to be :) good luck!!! ( Your kids are old enough to do chores too)

First thing is first...you need a calendar/planner to help keep you organized. I live by my planner. As far as housework goes, set time aside each day (in your calendar/planner) to work on it. "One thing at a time," that's my favorite motto.

Get a calendar!! I have a blackberry and I love it. I goes off 15 to 30 minutes before apts and reminds me to pay the daycare bill, ect. It syncs up with Outlook so I can invite my husband and he can invite me to apts when I need him to pick up from daycare or vice versa.

Also, I made a list of all our bills and the online passwords etc. So i know which are automatically paid and I can remember to write them done and know when to pay everything else. It really helps.

I also plan out all meals on the weekend and do the shopping for the week only.

Throwing a load or two of laundry in during the week is also a big help.

Finally, if you can afford it, get a cleaning lady. I love mine and it gives me more time with my family.

I am a Mary Kay consultant as well, and I LOVE flylady.net!! SHe is a previous consultant and understands about what they call "side-tracked home executives". Check out the website at www.flylady.net and you will see the different tools to organize and even clean your home - they also include ways to make meals ahead of time so you are more organized and get a healthy meal on the table instead of fast food.

Tells about time management, managing the house, etc....Mary Kay has a lot of great tools as well - weekly plan sheet, 6 most important, etc....let me know if you would like to see some of them - I would love to share! They saved my life!

L.

Hi L.,

The planner is a great idea. I take mine one step further. Each person in the house gets a different color highlighter and I highlight all of the appointments according to who they are for. This helps me keep better track and see who is doing what at a glance. As far as chores, your kids are getting old enough to help out. I had my son start doing his own laundry at 8 years old and it took a big chunk out of my chore time. Plus I figure someday I will have a daughter-in-law who loves me for teaching my son how to pitch in. I have always told my son that if I had to work and also run him all over the countryside for sports that he needed to help out too. He also puts away dishes and cleans the bathrooms once in a while for me too. Don't get me wrong....I am not a super organized person. I was releived to read what you wrote and see that there are others out there struggling with time management also. Since my second child came along I haven't known which way is up. These are just a couple of things that do work for me.