Monday, June 13, 2011

Advice needed, please!

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?

4 comments:

  1. 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.

    As 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.

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  2. Well girl, this is how I deal:

    Organization - 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!

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  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.)

    Organized: 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. :)

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  4. 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!

    Appointments - 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.

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Thanks for sharing your thoughts!