Staying Organized

As a former teacher (yes, I said former . . . I am working, but I'm not teaching . . . more on that another time), I learned quickly that staying organized at home was key to staying sane from day to day, and truth be told teaching only fed the planning monster in me. Even though, I'm not teaching, and my job is certainly less demanding (read: I don't bring home a bag filled with a laptop and tons of paperwork every evening and weekend anymore), I don't feel as though my life has slowed down much. We are still up and going by 6:15 every morning. We have soccer practice and school and the adoption and life is still incredibly busy so I decided to adjust but still use the organizational plan(s) that I've been using for the past 2-3 years. Because like it or hate it, laundry must be done and bills must be paid. Anyway, because I know you care, I thought I'd share a bit about it here on the old blog.

First, my system. We have an office that houses all my books (too many), my laptop, and a filing cabinet full of information, but I don't sit down in there to pay bills or do a lot of work. I do sit in there to blog and work on photos, but that's about it. So I started with an "organization station" (that sounds so cheesy . . .).

My last "organization station" was in my kitchen (not ideal). This is my laundry room counter top. You probably figured that out from the clothes and laundry detergent you see sitting to the left. Here you will find my weekly planner and running grocery list, my coupon tray (I'm not a big "couponer" but I do throw them in the tray when I get them), my mail and to be paid bills tray (the cute one with the chevron pattern), my home organization notebook, and my office/paper holder thingy which houses paid bills, address labels, car information, receipts we need to keep, etc. There are a few reasons I picked this spot for my "organization station": (1) The garage opens into the laundry room and this is my first stop on the way in. It's rarely this clean since I dump all papers, flyers, mail, etc. here. (2) It's not readily seen. The whole world does not have to nor do they need to see my mess. (3) It's next to my laundry room refrigerator (explanation below).

This is our laundry room refrigerator, and I use it as a catch all message center. Soccer schedules, school calendars, scripture memory, pictures, invitations, and of course, dinosaur magnets can all be found here. I'm not a fan of the big bulletin board in the kitchen idea (not saying that if you do that it's wrong . . . more power to you if it's your thing . . . it's just not my thing), so this was the perfect solution.

As far as planners go I use the Erin Condren planner and love it. I know a lot of people use their phones/ipads, but I still like my paper and pencil calendar for daily use. Unfortunately, it's a bit more than I like to spend each year, so I've been shopping around to see if I can find something similar but more reasonable. 

This is next week in my planner. In case you're wondering I had to smear out some stuff on the mornings of the 20th and 21st. Confidential info and all. :) The big key to staying organized is planning. Once you get into a planning routine it's much easier to stick with it, but I pretty much write down everything that needs to be done (I need to add soccer to next week). Obviously plans change and get moved around, but this is an example of how I plan. I always plan laundry. And after years of leaving all the laundry for the weekend, having Andrew changed that. I got tired of my weekends being consumed by laundry and cleaning. So I "pencil in" laundry and cleaning. I have a lady that comes and cleans every other week, but on the weeks she doesn't come I make sure to put in my cleaning. I also plan meals for 3-4 nights of the week depending on our schedule. Sometimes these meals get moved around, but this really helps with grocery shopping and being prepared (i.e. remembering to thaw stuff out). I usually plan meals about two weeks out so I can shop ahead if need be. Bills that need to be paid, doctors appts., vet appts., class pics, special school events, parties, etc. . . . it all goes here. During the week, I'll write down when I work out . . . it keeps me accountable, and I can look back and see what I've done when.

On a side note: One thing I do every so often when I have a quiet day off or an unfilled Saturday is make about 6-7 freezer meals. Then at least one of my meals each week (for example: beef and noodles) is already made and only has to be popped in an oven for about an hour. 

The final piece of the puzzle is my home organization notebook. This isn't used on a weekly basis, but I keep important info in here that I may need from time-to-time. The tabs include: (1) School Info - I keep Andrew's class list, party schedule, special days schedule, etc. in here. (2) Vacation Info - anytime we are planning a trip the information goes in here, and since this is a file folder I can pull it out and take it with me. I also include information on places we'd like to visit. (3) Addresses - they're on my computer, but I like to keep a hard copy. (4) Bill information - a lot of our bills are paid online so this is where I keep any important info/reminders. (5) Birthdays/Holidays - this is just a list of family/friends' birthdays as well as gift ideas for the kiddos. (6) Adoption Information - I keep any notices, receipts, upcoming appt. info in here. Once we have finished that step in the update process, I'll move it to the filing cabinet. 

And that my friends is my day-to-day organization plan. Super exciting I know. I'd love to hear how you stay organized.