How to organise everything in my life OS?

esmf73

Sounds like you have made a great start on your wardrobe. And I know charity shops are screaming for stuff, but as money is tight for us all, have a look on the buy sell and swap (insert town name) on Facebook for your area. I sold all my size 16 jeans and tshirts yesterday and got £10. Was a good bargain to the lady that bought them.

Every mountain starts with a single step. Even Everest! You go, bet you'll be surprised how far you get! X

bess1234_2

:j:T:T:T:TGood luck

teamMrsLK are cheering you on:T:T

Don't forget Heavenleighs pizza night. I'm going to do that tonight, I like that idea!

maman

MrsLK wrote: »

Thank you for all the responses everyone... I really do appreciate all the tips and advice and have started to create some lists

I have dug out my family planner diary that I bought a month ago and started jotting tasks down, little ones to start with

I sorted through my wardrobe last night so have an ebay pile and a charity shop pile so deal with at the weekend

I have started to write up a little chore list for my DD's and a picture one for my DS so they will be produced and explained shortly lol!

My best mate came over last night and wrote down her recipes for shepherds pie/spag bol/beef casserole etc. so I have a shopping list out of those!

Can't thank you all enough... keep em coming as it really is the motivation I need.

XXX

That was kind of her. Any chance she (or another friend or relative) would come round and help you have a mammoth tidy up. Or you could tidy a bit at a time and have a mammoth clean. You can always volunteer to do something for her in return (baking?).

I'm guessing you can't afford to get a cleaner in? I think the way to go is to have a huge blitz of tidying and cleaning (preferably with help and while someone's looking after the children) then have a plan for keeping it that way, mael planning, shopping etc.

Bitsy_Beans

ragz wrote: »

You've had some great advice here. Regarding cooking I would really recommend a book called 'How to feed your family a healthy balanced diet...' subtitled something like 'when you have little money, time, a rubbish kitchen and only a few pans...'
It has easy basic recipes and tips - I have a copy lying around that I don't use any more, if you want I will gladly post it to you for nothing. It's got everything you could need in it, advice on budgeting and meal planning as well as the recipes. PM me if you want the book

Good luck with the sorting, it really is all down to 'a little at a time' - you CAN do it.

You can read this book online here

pigpen

Come join us in our squalor on the flylady thread.. lots work full time and have small children or disabilities and others simply hate cleaning.. it isn't about what you don't do it is about everything you do.. if that is 1 thing or 1000..

Topher

Hi MrsLK. your post rang so many bells. In my past I was in a similar situation. I'd been a Nanny before I was a single mum, and although my little ex council house hardly mirrored my experience in households that could afford "staff" I carried a few ideas into my own life. Following what I'd been taught,.... in my children's bedrooms I made sure everything had a place. Not too much "stuff" was bought for them to compensate for all the things I felt bad about. Once their rooms were as I wanted them, I had little to do with them, and didn't bother about nagging for clean rooms. The children did have to make their bed each day (i.e. pull the quilt up and put P.J.s under the pillow) as part of their morning routine. They had to make sure clothes for washing were in the wash (basket), I processed the rest. I made sure they had been taught how to shower/bath (..you'd be surprised) and that happened within a certain time slot ahead of bedtime. Bedtime was rigid and surprisingly early compared to what I hear of nowadays. When each went up to Secondary school I bought them an alarm clock and refused to have anything to do with how they went about being ready for the school bus on time. I didn't run them to school to bail them out if they got it wrong, and they had to have detention if they were late, so I wouldn't write them a note to get them off that. They'd been brought up with an ironic sort of idea that they had to scavange for breakfast, (in reality I'd made sure bowls, cups, plates, choices of cereals & breads and spreads were stored in easy to reach places), but they and their friends who stayed over used to love the independence of scavenging for breakfast. May I say that all this was done with an apparently light touch, but I was in fact very closely observing how things went. When they were older they had "Washing up week" each. this was mostly the evening meal and included the drying up of dishes, as sharing these tasks had caused too many battles. A week on, a week off for each child was the answer for us. Just before our evening meal, the living room had to be tidied so that the room became the adult room for the evening. Up until that point I put up with wall to wall Lego, My Little Ponies etc. all these things had a place, and games were sorted and put away ready for my takeover bid in the evening. ( I don't mean I hogged the room, just visually it was now adult centred and not child centred.
I did hate the thinking up of meals every evening, it seemed more of a chore than the actual making of them, but gradually a repertoire built up and it had enough variety until Mad cow disease put paid to my "101 ways with mince". I kind of enjoyed the challenges, but didn't always have the energy to be all things to all people involved. However, I've asked the kids since if their upbringing was problematic in any ways. I won't tell you all of their answers but on the whole the things I've mentioned were counted a s reasonable ideas.
Not having a great deal to do with bedroom tidying, not bothering the children with too many chores. Basic tidying of lounge daily (returning toys to their homes) independent breakfasts, and "making" their beds, as well as the later washing up weeks, sum up their contribution for years. It suited us, I suggest you find what suits your team, but I don't place a lot of faith in children carrying out chores willingly and to a high standard, not as an answer to my own sanity anyway.
Oh, and I fed them on a very tiny food budget, cooking ahead sounds an excellent plan, just think of the difference between heating a defrosted meal after work, or thinking of a menu and starting from scratch straight after work. Batch cooking is the way to go (See Tightwad gazette or Shirley Goode for ideas)

zippychick

Im really sorry to hear of your change in lifestyle I think the key thing is to not be overwhelmed and take a step back from everything .

Being a single mum of 3 is exceptionally hard work, add in working full time and it's no wonder things are getting you down.

It needs to be manageable so i would start by making small changes bit by bit. Planning, writing lists and things to do will automatically help you feel more in control. Prioritising things and not being cross when they dont go to plan is important.

Do what you can within your means, and don't beat yourself up.

Ive merged this with an older thread on organise your life OS

Working full time thread may also help you too

Be kind to yourself. x

Zip

maman

I foundthe parallels in topher's post interesting. In Victorian/Edwardian times it was very common for married women to have previously been in service. They then took lots of the practices and manners they had seen in their jobs into their new homes.

While topher has been a Nanny, many of us have skills from the workplace that we could bring to home life like being organised, working to a schedule, getting a certain amount of work done in a fixed time, keeping the workplace tidy, delegating to others etc etc.

Spudsey

I really need help streamlining all my lists….I currently have a filofax, three notebooks on the go, two containing stuff like things I want to buy, places to visit etc which I have scribbled down when I have seen things in magazines etc, and the other I scribble daily to do things on. Then I just have odd scraps of paper with other to do jobs etc on. I’m sure some of it really isn’t that important ie the things I have seen in magazines like potential reading books, dvds etc but I am very reluctant to just shred it all as before long I will start again and my list will just be the same.

How can I keep it all in one place and under control!? I am terrible at time management and I really need to get organised as I am currently suffering from stress as my head is spinning.

krlyr

What about typing them up onto the computer? They won't take up physical space, and you can back them up online (e.g. email them to yourself, upload to a Cloud account, etc.) which is more secure than paper.