Orderliness

I had a few emails that I've responded to privately which I've decided to respond to on the blog...I touched on this briefly in my recent newsletter too.

How does a busy mom of many get organized? What is the best way to organize one's time? How do I organize my time?

Well, I am not about to say that my way is the only way, because I have found from trial and error that a schedule and any sort of organizational structure in our homes and lives has to reflect us. Just because something works for me doesn't mean it has to work for you. I've tried many "programs" that gave me some assistance but didn't completely work for me without modification. So, make it your own. Make it work for you.

I'll probably talk more about organizing other parts of our lives later...but for right now, this is going to be about organizing time, also known as scheduling.

Before I start though, my thoughts on babies and schedules...When my kids were babies, I tried a feeding schedule, which resulted in my milk drying up from not feeding often enough, so when it comes to wee little babies (under 2-3 months old) I tend to go with the flow, and slowly easy them onto a schedule when they start to get older. Most of the time, with mine anyway, they started to fall into a routine by that time. It was way too stressful to try to recover from childbirth, care for the house, cook meals, and care for children while trying to make a baby and several toddlers follow my schedule (maybe it was because they couldn't read my pretty color-coded schedule on the fridge LOL). When it comes to babies and young children...life happens more than usual, and you have to learn to relax and be flexible.

You also have to work around your husband's schedule and his preferences regarding a level of structure in the home. My hubby liked to follow my pretty color-coded schedule about as much as the baby did. ;) He preffered things to be a little more laid back, and so I had to strive to overcome my obsession with office supply products, schedules, lists, and planners and work together with him to hit a happy medium. By God's grace, after nearly 16 years of marriage, my husband carries a small appointment calendar most days (and sometimes even looks in it!), and I have learned that I will in fact live even if I don't finish everything on my to-do list. I can even survive doing things that were not scheduled in my planner!

But, what works for me?

The main point of my system is having a power list which I work my way down each day. There are certain things which I do each and every day no matter what (I keep these on a laminated sheet, which I then check off with a dry erase marker), and then there are special things that I need to accomplish too. These special things which don't occur every day are coded so that I know what priority they have--I give them an A, B, or C. If I skip a "B" or a "C", i transfer it to the next day's to-do list, and usually give it a slightly higher priority (if it was a "C", it usually becomes a "B" unless it isn't really that urgent).

There's a fantastic recording by Susie Glennen of the Busy Woman Planner, which you can get from her site that talks about a similar organizational method (only she has some added levels of prioritizing items on the list). I really enjoyed what she had to say, and it certainly helped me more proficiently use my planner. Her MP3 is called "How to Put Together Your Planner", and is something I like to re-listen to every now and then. Most people think a planner is going to solve their organizational problems, but don't have a clue how to use one effectively. This will help you. :-)

My current daily to-do list (the laminated one) is divided three ways--homeschooling, household, and business life. I don't really include my personal (which includes my quiet time, my exercising, etc.) because that has become 2nd nature now. :-).

For home schooling, we have a set itinerary for each school day. It is a list of what must be done, in order, but without scheduled times. We've been doing this so long now, we don't even think about it.Whenever you start something new, just remember that if you do it consistently for 30 days, you will have the habit instilled in you. Each of the kids gets a lesson plan for the year (I have a template I designed in MS Publisher), and that also helps.

For household, I have certain daily chores, and then also some weekly and some monthly chores, and I have them on different laminated sheet. By the way, you can also use a gloss page protector...works too. I just am one of those that has to have it fit into my planner purse I got from Susie's site a few years ago! The kids also have set chores they do each day, rotating.

For business, I have a few daily things I do to stay on top of things...but mostly I have just a list, which I work on when I am done with homeschool and housework. :-) Sometimes I let the kids bid on doing jobs for me, if they are capable of handling something (such as packing orders, or filing receipts). Ruth does my QuickBooks for me.