How To Be More Organised

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For some people, being organized is a challenge anyway, throw kids into the mix and before you know it, you end up with total carnage.

But being organised doesn’t have to be hard work. This post will show you 5 simple steps that will take you from being a chaotic stressed mum to a mum who’s got it all under control. From becoming the master of school mornings to getting the food shopping done with money to spare, these 5 simple steps have got you covered!

This post may contain affiliate links. See my full disclosure here for more info.

Before you start implementing any of these steps you need to offer yourself ACCEPTANCE of where you are if you want to move forward.

There’s nothing to be gained from beating yourself about the chaos in your home because being a mum is tough at the best of the times. You are going to get it done and you’re going to get it done the easy way with these lazy mum approved methods that you can start today.

1. Start A Journal

Getting a journal will allow you to write down exactly what you need to do and when. Getting some sort of logical, strategic plan to begin attacking the mess is going to help you stay focused on the tasks at hand and the best way you can achieve this is with a bullet journal.

A bullet journal is a tool where you can allow your creativity to run wild with the added benefit of actually sorting out all your crap (instead of creating more crap) at the same time…chore sorting had never been so fun.

And let’s face facts here… who doesn’t love an excuse to shop for a new notebook?

Ted Baker do some gorgeous notebooks! However, if you simply cannot wait (even for next day delivery) then Tk Maxx is a first stop shop for beautiful notebooks. Home Bargains and The Works also have gorgeous notebooks at slightly more economical prices.

I have this beautiful Ted Baker notebook which is brilliant because you have complete control over the pages, but if you feel you aren’t ready for that much creative freedom just yet, you can purchase bullet journals like this one with the pages already done, you just fill in the gaps with your life, plans and goals the way you want it.

Use your bullet journal to write down all your upcoming engagements, appointments and things that you need to get done in the long and short-term. Having this information written down will be a huge weight off your mind and you will be able to relax knowing that your life is in control and you’re not going to forget something.

Obviously exploring Pinterest for some really inspiring bullet journal ideas is a GREAT idea…check out my own bullet journal board here as a starting point.

Yes, the main goal of the bullet journal is to get organized, but no one said anything about not using it to feel good and have a bit of fun…in fact that’s pretty much the best part of the bullet journal and the better you feel about you, the better things will be for you.

So get creative and have fun getting organized and setting your goals for this week and the rest of the year.

 

2. The Cleaning Schedule

We all know that our mood is directly relational to the state of our homes…..

Messy House = Everything is SHIT bad & You Should Probably Steer Well Clear

Clean House = Life is AMAZZZINGGGG

 

When your own home makes you gag, you know its bad. There’s a lingering smell coming from the bin and you prepare food on plates because you daren’t place food on your kitchen worktop.

It’s at this point you realize the cleaning fairies aren’t real and you are actually going to have to take some action.

You’ve been doing odd jobs here and there but you’ve skipped a whole lot more because well, you couldn’t be bothered and had more fun either creating pretty things or just laying on the sofa.

In record time, the jobs you did manage to do are masterfully undone by the kids and you’re left wondering two things…

  1. why you even bothered in the first place?
  2. where are the kid’s hiding the army of other kids…because there is NO WAY your kids alone could have created THAT MUCH mess within 5 minutes!

You find yourself back at square one, tired, grumpy and overwhelmed! You can see the mess but you don’t know where to start or have the motivation to do it.

As bad as this sounds, it really isn’t going to be as hard as you think to sort it all out.

Getting your chores into a workable schedule is a must if you’re going to keep on top of it all.

Although this sounds boring, sticking to a schedule will not only allow you to get the chores done, but you will also feel a real sense of achievement every day and free up tons of time while you’re at it.

The first thing to do is to sit down and write a list of all the chores you are responsible for and then break this list down into daily, weekly or monthly tasks.

For example, making the beds and sweeping the kitchen floor would be daily tasks, washing the bed sheets would be a weekly task and dusting down the porch or cleaning out the car would be a monthly task.

After you have the list of chores into their daily, weekly and monthly categories you can decide what day suits each job. For example, you could have washing Wednesdays and Toilet Tuesdays (simply because they start with the same letter) As crappy as this sounds this is actually quite an effective way to remember what you are supposed to be doing on that day, without having to look at your schedule.

It doesn’t matter where you write this list, your bullet journal would be a great place but if you haven’t got one yet then just writing it up on a piece of paper is fine.

No matter where you have your schedule, just keep it handy and easily accessible in the beginning. Eventually, you will find that the schedule becomes routine and you won’t have to keep referring back to it every second.

Once you’ve got your schedule drawn up you can do the jobs you have listed for that day and no more. After one full week of following your schedule, you will find that the jobs won’t take you half as long as they did the first week and everything is finally coming together!

To kick-start your cleaning schedule, I have created a complete 10-page guide that will allow you to create a cleaning schedule that works for you! Grab your copy below

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3. The Daily Schedule

So now you know what to do to get on top of those endless chores the rest of the day can be sorted from here. If you are a natural procrastinator, you will need to schedule your cleaning schedule (as weird as that sounds) and your day to ensure you are getting everything done, when it should be done and not leaving it all til 5 minutes before you go to bed.

Again making another schedule sounds like a chore in itself but once you begin following your daily schedule you will have more free time than you ever had before so it will be a total pay-off…not only this but this free time you gain won’t be clouded with the guilt factor of what you ‘should‘ be doing so you are free to actually enjoy your time.

To begin figuring out your daily schedule, start with the things that you cannot change such as school run times, dinner and bedtime. Then build in the rest of your schedule around these things. It’s a great idea to fill in your main cleaning chore for the morning so you don’t have it hanging over you all day like a bad smell.

Remember to include the things that you want to do as well, such as spending quality time with the kids (pah!), working out, meditating, reading a book or getting totally sloshed.

Eventually, the schedule will become a natural routine for you and the need to refer back to it will become less and less frequent.

In the beginning, keep your schedule in your journal or stick it on the fridge so you can easily refer to it.

 

4. Organise Food Shopping

 

Venturing out daily for supplies is not only hard work and inconvenient, it is also a horrifyingly expensive way to shop…and not to mention you have to fight the temptation to buy a whole chocolate cake for yourself every day!!!

Cooking, for most mums, is a chore in itself…but to make it worse, if you don’t plan ahead you have the painstakingly tedious task of thinking about what you want to cook for dinner EVERY DAY and because you haven’t planned ahead you are left with only quick options.

When trying to cut down on costs and budget for the month, food shopping can be the only place where families find they can good savings through better choices.

It’s been said over a million times that impulse buys and shopping when you’re hungry are never going to help you achieve a sensible, cost-effective shopping list so either stuff your face with a sandwich and coffee before you go or do the sensible thing and stuff your face with a sandwich and a coffee while you order it online!

Shopping online is the way forward….you can add whatever you like to your basket and go through it at the end removing unnecessary items if your shopping is over budget.

Sitting down once a week to plan out a thorough shopping list and meal plan is going to save you a lot of time and a lot of money.  If you have the storage space, ordering food for the month can be an even better way to save money but can be slightly more painful to plan.

Another benefit to having an organised food shopping system is that you will easily be able to make packed lunches on a daily basis which will save you LOADSA money if you have to pay for school meals…If you don’t have to pay for school meal…lucky you…no one likes making sandwiches at 7 am!

 

5. Organise School Mornings

 

 

School mornings are tough! You could be the most organised parent in the world but there will still be unexpected challenges that crop up just as you’re going out the door such as…..

  • Someone needs a poo (always)
  • Someone has hidden the car keys
  • Someone is wearing the wrong clothes
  • Someone has developed stains all over their uniform
  • Someone has decided it’s suddenly P.E day
  • Someone doesn’t want to go to school
  • Someone has just found the letter that says its non-uniform day
  • Someone has lost their shoes
  • Someone has just developed the Bubonic plague as they walked to the car
  • Someone’s pockets are bulging with forbidden items, shanks and toys
  • Someone tells you they have a school trip today that they forgot to tell you about/give you the letter for
  • The car is totally frozen/broken

When you finally get home after dropping the kids off your home looks like a thousand savage dogs have ravaged it. How the hell you got the kids to school in one piece is a miracle and now you’re sat on the sofa still watching kids TV and wondering if it’s too early to crack open a bottle.

It doesn’t have to be this bad…there are ways you can pull school mornings together to get your kids to school on time with smiling faces.

Getting ready the night before is going to help to ease the stress of the morning and you can factor this in within your daily schedule too.

Getting the kids to take some responsibility and help out is key to getting to school on time. If your children are aged 5 upwards they are quite capable of mostly getting ready themselves. To help them, you can create a simple chart that lists the things each child needs to achieve that morning to be ready on time. If they achieve their daily goal, you could give them a reward.

Your children will enjoy the challenge and reward and get a huge sense of self-satisfaction for their achievement.

If your kids are mixed ages then ask the older ones to help to get the little ones ready by putting on their shoes & coat for you. Everyone will be helping each other to make sure you leave the house on time.

You will be encouraging your children to develop their independence and sense of responsibility. They will begin to understand the time and how they can achieve a task within a deadline. Most importantly, you have just become super-organized & freed up time to have an extra five mins in bed and all by doing less! TOTAL WIN!

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So there it is, 5 simple steps you can implement today to become a super organized mum! Let me know in the comments below how you get on & why not subscribe to my mailing list for more great tips straight to your Inbox?

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