How do you stay organized? August 6, 2009
Posted by dailysavingsfromallyou in Uncategorized.trackback
I am really disorganized. I try to stay on top of it all, but am sadly deficient. My excuses are plenty: my job is more demanding since the recession got in full swing, time is scarce after fulfilling the needs of my two kids, the overgrown yard and garden are waiting to be tended to, the mail and the bills pile up for months, the failing car needs to be brought to the mechanic, I need to research new used cars and agonize over how to pay for one, my son needs to go to the doctor again for his mystery ear trouble, I make meals on the fly every night because I haven’t yet mastered proper meal planning, I’m frazzled and resentful from the lack of personal time, and my head is spinning from the multitasking.
Sometimes I think that I have undiagnosed ADD, since I always struggle with juggling so many things at once. Is my attention span too short to finish one thing before starting another? Or is the New York Times article I read a couple of years back right – that it’s not me, it’s the fact that our society makes us multitask too much. Studies have shown that nothing gets done when you’re trying to do many things at once.
So I end up taking the finger in the dam approach. I address the most urgent things first, and I never get the time to get on top of my many lists — a notebook here, a day planner there, a new PDA trying to combine everything…
Here is the tiny bit I have under control: Have a place to put your coats, the mail, your bag, your shoes, when you walk in the house. We pretty much have that much under control. But I need more help than that. I need an overhaul.
I’m not giving up though. I’m still on a quest for the right system.
Please share your tips for a busy woman to regain control over her unwieldy world, including the best online resources or blogs you’ve found. And if any of you suffer from severe disorganization, share your story too!
My first tip for you is to cut out any unneccesary activities/obligations to clear some time in your schedule. Learning to meal plan is definitely a must and will save you time and money at the grocery store. http://www.orgjunkie.com is a great place for meal planning tips.
Also, schedule your day in as little as 15 minute increments to make sure you have time for everything.
Do as much as you can the night before. Lay out clothes, kids stuff ready, set table for breakfast, etc.
Good luck and know that no one has it ALL together =)
Thanks for your tips! I know, I have some block about meal planning. I think it’s that I want to get all available quality time with my kids over the weekend, and I worry it will be this big overwhelming task, especially since I have so little time for meals after work every night. So I tend to do lots of harried last minute stuff. I’ll check out the site today!
My mother used to do all her food shopping on Saturdays when she would buy enough to feed all 5 of us for the week, so perhaps you can put some time into thinking through what you will be eating while you’re at the supermarket? What looks good now, fresh fruit & produce, meat & chicken, get the staples – running low on butter, cheese, don’t forget the bread- peanut butter? Also, good markets may have cooked food ready to go – roti chicken, meat balls, spinach pie. I love to have ravioli on hand – quick and simple, I like to finish it in olive oil, make a salad and voila! Figure 1/2 hour in the kitchen making dinner, and let the children help as they get older. I had my best conversations with my mother while helping her make dinner.
One thing that I do to try to keep organized is to create zones. We have a mail zone where we keep bills, stamps & address labels. I have a coupon zone (which for me is drawer in the kitchen) where I keep my coupon binder, uncut inserts, and various coupon mailers. My children even have a homework zone that has a box filled with notebooks, pencils, erasers, ruler, calculator & other items to help them do their homework. These “zones” help us stay organized and reduce the time we spend searching for this & that.