How to organise everything in my life OS?

Emmala

I have a household book - I got two 'old' organised mum notes books from E*ay and a life book cover from OM and customised my own book. It lives on the kitchen side so I know exactly where it is. My sections are - to do lists, budget, household, birthdays&xmas, car info, kids.

I also have a menu and shopping list from Organised Mum on the fridge.....I plan the meals for the week and fill in the shopping list accordingly. DH can also write things on it as they run out.....in theory!!!!......then I take the whole sheet shopping so I have the shopping list AND the list of meals to keep from buying too many extras, and when I get home, I just put the meal list back on the fridge. I've found this has made me much more focused on what to buy, what needs eating up, where I can freeze leftovers or batch cook etc.

I always do a load of washing overnight so I can get ahead in the morning - either it's pegged out or put in the tumble. There are five of us, and I do use my tumble through the winter - I can't be doing with having loads of washing everywhere, and by getting it dry it can be sorted, ironed if needed and put away, which helps me feel on top of things. But I know people who wouldn't dream of having a tumble dryer, never mind using one!

Good luck!! It's about playing around with things till you find what works for you. Some days I'm super organised, and others........!!

Linda32

I've got terrible short term memory as well.

To remind me to completely load the washing machine and turn on at the plug and then switch on the front (without walking away part way through), I've put a piece of paper into the box of powder reminding me to switch it on. Its worked every single time since I did this
Sometimes I hold the paper until I've finished, that helps as well.


Another thing is I bought a dial type oven timer as I'd oftern light the oven (gas) then put dinner in and forget to check the time so I wouldn't know when it was done :eek: So now I leave the timer right next to the cooker so that I see the timer and hold it until such time as I've set it.


Just thought of something else, labels, I've labelled different plugs with what they are WM = washing machine TD = tumble dryer, this might not be relevant but it makes sure I plug the right plug in.

Shopping lists are a dream. I've got a magnetic one on the side of the fridge and add things as I use them up.

Try to put things where you see them when you need them. I have a calender on the side of the fridge as well. Put things in like MOT and Car Tax or other yearly bills so they don't jump up on you.

I've not looked at the official Flylady website, but have you looked at the thread on here. Its impossible to keep up with the thread but you don't have too. Just pick that days tasks for yourself and work down the list.

HTH

thriftwizard

Lovinglife, I could have written your posts 15 years ago! I have 5 kids, now aged 16-23, my OH worked odd hours and I've always either worked PT or been running my own small business, also craft-related. My home gradually got messier & more disorganised, bills & appointments got forgotten, and I think I'd eventually have gone under altogether if it hadn't been for the help & advice I found on forums like this one. Flylady's been going a long time & I had a good go at following her advice, but couldn't hack it in the end and my home is still a tip, which I'm now beginning to address - just wish I'd done it long ago. But with the help of others, I did manage to get on top of bills, appointments, budgeting, washing & even getting the library books back on time.
Bills are all paid by DD, even the milkman (it's worth paying the extra, to save otherwise unnecessary trips to the supermarket) Washing is done as soon as there's a pile big enough to fill the machine, and it's been well worth having a machine that most people think of as an industrial one, to keep me from having to pay out for the laundrette to do duvets etc. It goes straight out (or up) to dry & is folded as soon as it comes down and hopefully put away, but my kids are at the stage when I expect them to deal with their own clean washing. Although one or two are clearly having trouble with this concept...
Appointments are put straight onto the calendar (or diary) by the phone; it's a big multi-line per day job. I've even used an office one when I couldn't find a pretty one! Schools, doctors & hospitals have to be made to understand that you cannot be in two places at once, or even two places too close together in time, and that doesn't mean you are a bad parent; it's surprising how often they fail to understand this, especially at parent's evenings, when one teacher running late can make you late for the next two appointments through no fault of your own. Our library has an automated reminder system that sends me an email when anyone in the household has books due back.
With budgeting, meal plans really are the key, after working out your monthly & yearly incomings & outgoings. It's too easy, when you've been up half the night with a sick child and worked all day, to drift into the supermarket in a grey fog of tiredness & blow half a week's allowance on one meal. I shop once a week at our local market & plan our meals & snacks around whatever's best value; I usually do have to top up with fresh stuff mid-week though. I also do a once a month supermarket top-up of tins & packets (it was worth putting up with the vagaries of the delivery service in order not to have to shop with tired & grouchy kids) and also use AF to stock up on things we will use at rock-bottom prices.
There are all sorts of tips on how to keep your house well-organised online. Many of them are clearly from people who don't have time pressures faced by larger families! But some are very good; the one thing I think I'd say, from someone who never managed to hack this, is make sure that you & your partner are agreed on how to deal with it. Sadly OH & I seem to be trying to follow completely different systems!
The folks here are a wonderful bunch full of helpful & practical ideas, hints & tips. Keep posting & reading & life will seem so much better-organised & easier in no time at all. ;-)

kippers

I wake up early so i put the dishwasher on (from the day before) and put one load of washing on and then wash and refill the jug of water in the frideg. I then wake my dd's & my dh at 6.45 on a school day and get myself dressed. Whilst still nagging everyone to get up i put yesterdays washing away and iron a few things. This really helps me keep up with the washing/ironing/putting clothes away.

I do packed lunches whilst the tea is cooking as i need to be in the kitchen anyway. I always do two days worth of cobs for everyone as the spare one keeps fresh in the fridge for the day after next (provided i'm not putting salad in them ), so this helps me with the next days lunches.

I have a family calender on the kitchen door and everything is on it so i know when everything is happening. When i put the pans/plates in the dishwasher after tea i always wipe the cooker down and the work surfaces down so they are clean for the next day.

I only hoover once a week and mirrors and windows only get cleaned if they need it (not once a month as someone posted on this thread earlier). We have one room with the dining table in and this houses my dd's paper pens games etc but our front room is kept neat and tidy with none of my dd's things so it always looks tidy, so if anyone turns up unexpectedly we always have a room to take them into lol

I think organisation is the key to organising food and meal planning and shopping and if you get into a routine of doing things everyday as you go along, then it doesn't seem so daunting

Cat501

Go DD and paperfree with as many bills as possible - all mine are DD now, and paperfree too except the annual council tax bill. I've also gone paperfree with my bank statements, and signed up to the Mailing Preference Service to cut down on the amount of junk mail I get. The less you have coming through your door, the better!:)

fuddle

lovinglife, I'd love to join you!

My New years resolution is to be organised and therefore gain supermum status and therefore I get to be kinder to myself.

I love the monthly meal planner. That would take a huge amount of brain power out of the equation and help balance the budget.

I am making more use of my family calendar this year, infact go me as I've already written birthdays on

I know if I was organised I would be much happier in my role as mum, housewife, cook and cleaner. Great thread!

Lovinglife

Its fantastic all your tips and ideas everyone sounds so organised! I fell so inspired now and I also feel that by doing this I will feel better inside rather than hopeless and stressed as I was feeling.

Bought myself a set of 3 notebooks today that has a To Do List book, a Notebook and an Address Book (I am going to use this as the Family Telephone number book everything is going to go in it school, Inland Revenue, TV Licence, Utilities & Personal) :j

1 load of washing done and on the clothes airer today, I am going to look at planning meals menu for this week instead of going in Tesco and spending a fortune.

Its nice to know other people experienced feeling like this but have managed to get themselves organised. I feel truly inspired now! Thanks everyone :T

PipneyJane

Lovinglife wrote: »

I currently just keep opening post then putting it in a pile here there and everywhere then I forget the bill was due or to deal with the letter and I end up when I do tidy up putting it all in a bag and shoving it into the spare cupboard what does everyone do with their household paperwork and what system do they use as this is one of the things I get really overwhelmed with and although its a really good idea someone has said but I dont currently have a filing cabinet.

How about getting a cheap set of in-trays to put where-ever you routinely open the post? The top one is for your diary/notebook when you're in the house, the middle one for bills and the bottom one for other things that need filing.

You asked about iPhone apps. While I love my iPhone, I haven't found apps to be that helpful in keeping me organised. I think the reasons are a) the size of the screen makes things harder to read, b) the time it takes to load anything into them (no keyboard = slower) and c) the inability to see a bigger picture of anything because the screen size can't give you an at-a-glance overview. I'm a big fan of Filofaxes and I'm sure I saw them in Lidl for £5 recently. I have a personal sized one in which I keep a diary (badly maintained), to do lists (done OK) and track my spending goals (very good). But you can use whatever system works for you. The trick is to make a habit of using your tools.

Where your phone comes into its own is for alarms and reminders. Mine syncs with my Yahoo account so my plan for 2012 is to put recurring diary dates into Yahoo (i.e. birthdays).

The secret of Flylady is creating routines so that things become a habit. Since you work from home, start with a list of morning, lunchtime and evening tasks that take, say, 15 minutes or less in total per session. Post it on the fridge and have a copy written in your notebook. Read it every time you open the fridge and try to put it into action at set times. It can be as simple as "morning: put away last night's dishes, make coffee, put on washing, tidy lounge for 5 minutes" or "lunchtime: hang up laundry, make beds", etc. The trick is to see it so you don't forget things and to religiously do your 15 minutes worth.

Cat501

I also like http://www.lifeorganizers.com/ but there's so much to read it's very easy to sit there all day reading and drinking coffee and not actually doing anything - like this place really:D

Lovinglife

PipneyJane wrote: »

How about getting a cheap set of in-trays to put where-ever you routinely open the post? The top one is for your diary/notebook when you're in the house, the middle one for bills and the bottom one for other things that need filing.

Love this idea I really think this would work for me as I know it will be great to have it in a system that I can deal with it easy, thanks so much! Fab idea x