Lesson: There are 3 things that I incorporate into my plan for each week that really ease the pressure of getting everything done. Planning ahead of time is the name of the game! Nailing that down is the hardest part of being organized. Once you plan ahead, then executing the plan becomes the goal.

I am a very visual person, so I have to see my plan. So I bought a large picture frame that was divided into 10 sections and I used it as a dry erase board so that I can make changes each week, as I need to. (Below is an example)  Each day of the week has a section (I combine Sat. & Sun.) and each person in our household has a section as well. Then the planning begins! When I started this process I put a staple meal on each day of the week. For example, Sunday is a crock-pot or slow cooker meal, Monday is leftovers from Sunday, Tuesday is pasta or casserole meal, Wednesday is Soup/Salad with a protein, Thursday is Protein & Starch, Friday is Pizza or Seafood and Saturday is a free day (I usually do a lot of cooking for the week on Saturday so we just wing it). Then I try to add specific meals to the frame for each day prior to the start of a new week. I prep my meals for the week on Saturday after our Saturday outings or activities.

The other thing I added to the frame is the weekly chores. Let’s face it, you have to clean your house at some point and personally I didn’t like taking an entire Saturday morning cleaning, so I broke up the chores throughout the week so that it would take 20-30 minutes a few days a week instead of an entire morning or day. For example, on Monday I vacuum and mop the floors (granted I have to spot check this throughout the week because I have a 1yr. old and 2yr. old that can be hard on the floors). I strategically do the floors after the weekend because we sometimes have visitors, play-dates or abnormal traffic at our house on the weekend. Tuesday I clean all of the bathrooms; Thursday I dust and clean the glass and windows and Friday I do the laundry and change all of the bed linens.

The other sections of the frame are dedicated to reminders and to do lists. Each person in our household has their own individual section and we add reminders for appointments or upcoming events, as well as, things we need to get done.

This organizational system makes getting through the weekly routines of my household and family much easier!

 

Action Step(s): Find a dry erase board or frame of some sort and break down your weekly routines and to-do list that are currently overwhelming you into daily manageable segments.