Do you ever feel that you can’t keep up with life and that it just happens while you run to keep up with the pace.
The idea is to take control so that you become proactive instead of reactive. This means that you will be prepared for events beforehand rather than reacting to them when they become urgent or important.
The tools you will need to feel personally organized are:
1. A diary
2. A calendar
3. Menu Planner
4. Shopping List
5. Budget Book
The calendar needs to go on the wall at home and the diary needs to be big enough to write in yet small enough to carry around.
In order to get ahead you need to set up your diary. Remember, you start where you are. Don’t think you can only start doing this at the beginning of the year.
Firstly, birthdays. Fill out a list of all the birthdays for the year. Then go through and mark them in your calendar. When you go to mark them in your calendar/diary you will need to firstly mark the date and then secondly put a note in the week before that says “send off card” or “ buy present” or whatever you do for that person. It may just be that you send a special email on the day.
Mark in any other dates. I, for example, mark in all the school holidays and try and plan when I will take leave throughout the year.
Now whenever you receive notification of any events you need to not only put them in the diary but put a reminder a week or two out from the event depending on what sort of preparation is needed for.
I have discussed the concepts of menu planning, budgeting and shopping before on the website and you can scroll down to the category searches if you need further information.
The idea is to be dealing with things before they become urgent. The more ' ahead' you are the less stressed you are.
What can you do today to be prepared for something that is on you horizon ? If you deal with things on the horizon they are the size of ants. If you leave them until they get closer and closer those ants become elephants and you will be trampled.
Please let me know different ways that you do things in advance. It could be as simple as making lunches the night before, buying Christmas presents in January or once a month cooking, I would love to hear from you.Please also let me know if you require more detail. Would you like to see the charts and forms I use in my home management binder or mu budget books/ menu planner etc. Do you need a copy ? Please email me. My address is in my profile.
6 comments:
I tend to follow the flylady system a bit by trying to do a "before bed routine" which involves getting out the empty lunchboxes and putting them on the bench and any other non-perishable items go in there. I also pick out my clothes for the next day as well as my son's. In winter I get the meat out of the freezer for dinner and put in in the fridge to defrost. I find this saves me at least 5 minutes in the morning and there is less to think about.
I have a calendar and a big A4 Diary. The Calendar lives in the kitchen and the diary lives on my comp. desk. The are 5 of us and we all use both. Between hubby and I and 2 of our children who work part time it very important to stay organized. Any appointments are written up on the calendar and anything else House jobs etc are in the diary.
Jaycee
I have a filofax style diary that I use to write in birthdays/events/appts/bill due dates etc. I leave this open to the current week in the kitchen bench but occasionally I still forget to look at it!
I have a "presents" box that when I buy things, especially that are great for parties my daughter goes to etc. I get them and put them aside so I usually have something when she receives an invitation. I also try to buy all gifts ahead of time and especially if things are on sale. I will now be being Christmas presenst when I see things at a good price and hide them away.
I have a wall calendar in my kitchen that I write everything from doctor's appointments, birthdays,school holidays,social events etc. in. It is in a prominent place, so everyone in my family has no excuse not to know what is happening.
Also, I have a journal that I use to write down my chores that have to be done, random recipes that I come across, things needed at shopping, phone messages etc, to replace writing on bits of paper that tend to get lost.
I also have a pantry/shopping list document on my computer that I refer to each week/fortnight, so that as I run low on rice, flour, toothpaste etc, it automatically gets replaced. I tend to do it so that when I open a new toothpaste for example, I buy a new one.
I also have a corkboard next to my fridge that I pin my unpaid bills to with the one due first on top so I know what's what. I also stick any school notices up there (school sport's day next Tuesday, bring sunscreen, towel etc.).
I do a lot of other little things as well, but I'll stop there or I'll be going all day. It does make a big difference to keep on top of things. I know that my stress levels go way up when I'm disorganized and racing around in the mornings, or at dinner time.
I am the most disorganised person I know. Its bad, its part of why I have started blogging about my life and trying to get things in check.
I would personally LOVE to see more of your organisation system.
I can be emailed at
sedarcy@gmail.com
I start thinking about Christmas gifts from January, it helps because I have time to find something nice for everyone that's within my budget. It also staggers the cost.
Another thing I do is I iron shirts for my husband to last him all week, and pair them up with matching trousers. That way I'm sure there's nothing that needs urgent washing to be used during the week.
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