Simplifying - My Notebook
So I've been working on organizing and cleaning and simplifying for two weeks now and I feel like I've really made some progress.
The first thing I did was create a home management notebook thanks to The Simple Mom. I printed out two weeks worth of her Daily Docket and I love it.
I fill out the next day's docket at night before I go to bed (waaaay too late - I'm working on that soon!) and then review it again first thing in the morning. It's totally keeping me on track and helping me to waste less time.
And I really like knowing what I have to get done in a day and then planning for when I'm going to do it.
I've also had to edit myself a lot.
I've realized that on the days I'm home alone with both kids that very little is actually going to get done. So I shouldn't schedule four errands and an hours worth of accounting work. I'd just be setting myself up to fail.
But I can change the crib sheet, do a load of laundry and return emails that day. I can also play outside with Andrew and read two books and I'm putting this on the list. Andrew and I do better when we spend some quality time together during the day and I like penciling this in. It's a good reminder.
And, I haven't forgotten an appointment once in the last two weeks! (I can't say this was the case the prior two weeks...oops.)
I've also set up a tab for my bills and to-dos that come in the mail. These tabs have pockets and I can keep all these important papers together. This is key because I don't have my own desk so all these papers had just been sitting by my laptop in the kitchen and driving me crazy.
My little corner can stay tidy now and I know where everything is!
I also set up sections for the blog/photography and the house/kids projects.
I feel so much more together. Now, things are still crazy in the evenings. Caroline and Andrew are hungry and tired and Brian's not home from work yet and I'm worn out and just want everyone to go! to! bed!.
But at least the rest of the day seems a little more peaceful and productive. And it's not too much work. I can totally keep this up.
How about you? How do you organize your time at home?
The first thing I did was create a home management notebook thanks to The Simple Mom. I printed out two weeks worth of her Daily Docket and I love it.
I fill out the next day's docket at night before I go to bed (waaaay too late - I'm working on that soon!) and then review it again first thing in the morning. It's totally keeping me on track and helping me to waste less time.
And I really like knowing what I have to get done in a day and then planning for when I'm going to do it.
I've also had to edit myself a lot.
I've realized that on the days I'm home alone with both kids that very little is actually going to get done. So I shouldn't schedule four errands and an hours worth of accounting work. I'd just be setting myself up to fail.
But I can change the crib sheet, do a load of laundry and return emails that day. I can also play outside with Andrew and read two books and I'm putting this on the list. Andrew and I do better when we spend some quality time together during the day and I like penciling this in. It's a good reminder.
And, I haven't forgotten an appointment once in the last two weeks! (I can't say this was the case the prior two weeks...oops.)
I've also set up a tab for my bills and to-dos that come in the mail. These tabs have pockets and I can keep all these important papers together. This is key because I don't have my own desk so all these papers had just been sitting by my laptop in the kitchen and driving me crazy.
My little corner can stay tidy now and I know where everything is!
I also set up sections for the blog/photography and the house/kids projects.
I feel so much more together. Now, things are still crazy in the evenings. Caroline and Andrew are hungry and tired and Brian's not home from work yet and I'm worn out and just want everyone to go! to! bed!.
But at least the rest of the day seems a little more peaceful and productive. And it's not too much work. I can totally keep this up.
How about you? How do you organize your time at home?
Labels: Motherhood, Simplify
4 Comments:
short answer is I am working on it. I try to keep myself organized as much as possible. I am generally very organized although not as much as I like lately!
By
Colleen, At
March 1, 2012 at 12:36:00 PM CST
Looks like a great system to me! I have little organization except to keep the bills in the same place (we do have a nice desk in our kitchen) and I do have a school notebook for the kids school stuff. And I use my iPhone for my calendar. That's about it.
By
Unknown, At
March 1, 2012 at 12:53:00 PM CST
I actually did this the other day with all of my work stuff. I was using clipboards to keep everything together and it was just a hot mess. I have an entire corner to myself and STILL couldn't keep things together. I moved everything to a binder and I'm finding it much easier to stay organized. Although, my binder isn't nearly as cute as yours. :)
By
Courtney K., At
March 1, 2012 at 1:09:00 PM CST
This is really helpful, thank you! I've been looking for something simple to help me get organized and this looks like just the ticket!
By
Abi, At
March 3, 2012 at 10:56:00 PM CST
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