Hi friends, I need advice. Badly! Some of it is baby-related and some of it is not. I'll split up the categories in different posts that I'll put up later, because I am lacking in just about every part of my life. Please, please, please, give me what you've got, even if it's not much.
Organization - How do you stay organized?
How do you keep your paperwork, bills, legal documents, etc. organized? My desk is constantly getting cluttered, things get put aside for "later", etc. I TRY to sort out and throw away junk mail before it gets on my desk, and I also try to pay bills really quickly, but there's always more stuff than that. So how to you keep your paperwork organized?
How do you keep your appointments - do you have a day-runner, a desk calendar, a smart phone?
What about chores? I am always forgetting things, like cleaning the pool, finishing the laundry, sweeping, dusting, etc. It seems like there are endless chores and I can never catch up. We're having someone clean every other week, which helps, but there's still a ton to do in the meantime, and I feel like I'm always behind. Do you have some way to make sure everything gets done, and in a reasonable amount of time?
I am not the best person with organisation or keeping things in line. But a calendar and mini diary always in my bag/at the pc where I sit most are essential.
ReplyDeleteAs for chores, you're a mother! If you don't get things done it's not the end of the world - you can always catch up another day. If things are getting out of control though, set yourself a room a day. For Example Mondays-Bathroom, Tuesdays - Main Bedroom, Wednesdays - Kids Room, Thursdays - Kitchen Friday-Any smaller rooms. Make a chart and cross things off if it helps! Do a deep clean of all the things you want to do on those days and you only need to do them once a week. It's amazing what you can get done in an hour or so when kids are on naps. Thats what works for me and a quick clean up followed by a hoover every day in the living room as the children go to bed keeps it looking ready for the next day.
Hope thats been of some help.
Well girl, this is how I deal:
ReplyDeleteOrganization - every day I deal with the crap that comes in. Shred it, put it in a pile to file, write and mail the bill immediately. Then we have a rubber tote full of binders that I have built over time. Tax, Household, Investment & Retirement, Kid, and Dog Binders. Anything I don't need to access ever but need to keep goes in the full size envelopes like House Closing Papers etc. One portfolio filled with all vital identification docs - easy to grab in case of fire.
Appointments: IPHONE....<3 <3 <3
Chores: I've had to break up things I use to knock out all at once. I now clean the house in spurts. I have things I do every morning while E plays. I'm in the process of making a list that I can work through weekly, monthly and semi-annually. I'm working through the list as I have time. If I miss a day, so be it! But, breaking it down into a manageable time frame is making it so much easier.
<3!
Let me first say that I used to be pretty well organized, and then I had a baby, and it mostly fell to crap. So take all of this with a grain of salt. (or, like me, a rim of salt. and a margarita.)
ReplyDeleteOrganized: it helps that my husband is a fan of organization too. We have a file box on our desk and put all bills in it as they arrive, then put them in individual files once they're paid. Otherwise, I am ruthless about mail. Sort it as it comes in each day and recycle everything that is not going to be read asap, or that is junk mail. I used to keep magazines for about a year, but now I have one basket to keep them in and when that fills up, I recycle them and start over.
Appointments: smart phone (iphone). I miss crossing things off a paper list, but the convenience of the phone outweighs that.
Chores: we have someone cleaning every 2 weeks also, which saves me. On the intervening Mondays I do a quick pick-up during naptime (or several naptimes, as they tend to be short). I'm a fan of routine, so I do certain things every week on the same day: change sheets on Mondays, vacuum on Tuesdays, wash towels on Thursdays, make a meal list and grocery shop also on Mondays. I love the meal list: it saves me lots of time and keeps us eating healthier. It sounds like more work, but I find it to be way less complicated than trying to decide what to eat at about 3pm when all I want to do is consume chocolate.
Good luck! Don't be hard on yourself - life with baby (and babies, especially!) is hard and no doubt our more-organized lives will gradually come back. Only to be interrupted by other things, like school and sports and teenagers, but whatever. :)
Organized - I pay all of my bills online. Most of them automatically come out of our account. I just have to go in and enter the few that change every month...love it!
ReplyDeleteAppointments - I can't say enough about a phone where you can manage your schedule. I sync mine with my outlook calendar, but I also type things in as I am going. It's strange but my To-Do list is put on my calendar like an appointment so it reminds me that it's there.
Chores - ha!! I am terrible at this! I try to do these things after Drake is in bed and a little bit each night. If I don't, it simply doesn't get done.