|
Welcome to the Plan-and-Organize-Life.com Newsletter. I hope you enjoy getting the newsletter and that it helps to keep you on track with your organizing goals. Remember, you can get a lot done in only 10 minutes of decluttering and organizing! Table of Contents -Introduction
Introduction Through most of my life, January was my “fresh start” month. I loved getting the new calendar and the idea of starting the new year off with the intention of completing certain things on my “to do” list. However, since my kids have started school in the past couple years, the start of school has become my new “fresh start” time of the year. I’ve even turned into one of those people who changes their calendar out in August/September to coincide with the school year. My kids went back to school last week and we’re busy adjusting to our new schedules, figuring out our homework routines, and doing a little reorganizing to make sure everyone has a quiet place to do their homework and a place to put their book bags. Change… it keeps us on our toes! Did you know… having a daily routine helps reduce stress and give you more peace of mind? Getting all your mundane tasks out of the way frees you up to do other more productive or enjoyable things. The Monthly Mission – Kids Stuff If you don’t have kids, don’t worry. I’m sure you can still find a room or area of your home to work on organizing. But if you do have kids and want a few pointers on organizing all their stuff,
here. Recent Site Additions Here are some of the more recently added pages to the website you may have missed. Updating Your Daily Routines With the beginning of school last week, it’s again time to tweak our daily routines, even though it feels like we just did that for the summer break! Change is inevitable, and whether you’re changing jobs, going back to work or school, or whatever the change in your life is, it’s a good time to re-evaluate your daily routines. You may need more time in the morning to get you and/or other people ready to leave the house. You may have more or less time during the week to take care of household chores. Or you may just need to decide what the after school routine is going to be, including when homework is going to get done. The routine that worked for you last year or last month may no longer be appropriate. In my home, we are currently re-figuring our daily routines in respect to school. Mainly, we’re working on getting out of the house on time for school and figuring out our afternoons in regards to homework and playtime in addition to the normal evening activities of baths and dinner. I like to put up a general schedule for us to follow so we can be reminded of what we’re supposed to be doing. Here is an example of part of our routine:
I like to put times on our routine (some may argue it's a schedule) but they’re there to help guide us so we don't get behind. We can follow this plan and see how it works. It can always be changed if we encounter issues. In addition to adjusting our daily routine in terms of time, we are also making some changes to our organizing strategies. In order to keep the kids school bags ready to go near the doorway, I’ve put out an attractive basket for each child to put their book bag and any other items in which are to be taken to school. Anything they need for the next day goes in the basket and should not be forgotten. The night before, we also set out our clothes for the next morning to help save on time. I’ve still got the baskets I used last year for school work that was brought home. However, this year I’d like to purge their papers a lot sooner rather than waiting to sort through them during various holiday breaks and at the end of the school year. We really don’t need most of that daily paperwork. I try to save the important things instead. Whatever the change you’re making, sit down for a few minutes and map out how much time you have on a daily basis for various chores and when you plan to do them. Decide what needs to be done in the morning before you leave the house, and what will be done after you get home. For example, your morning routine might be to get up, shower, get dressed, eat, unload dishwasher, gather laundry to be started when you get home. And when you get home, it might be to start a load of laundry, cook dinner, tidy up kitchen. It can be any combination of things that need to be done on a typical day. It will vary for each and every one of us. But most importantly, these routines will help keep your home mostly tidy and keep your sanity mostly in tact by giving you a sense of control. Also important, don’t forget that these routines are not engraved in stone. If it’s not working for you, change it until you find what does! To read more about daily routines, you can
click here. Sincerely, Tracy Greene
P.S. Sometimes links to website pages get broken. If a link doesn't work, you may need to copy and paste the entire link into your browser.
|
