“Next time I’ll be more organised.”
Have you ever thought that as you’ve been racing out the door to get to work or off on the school run?
We have 4 kids. Life is busy for us no matter which way you look at it. The simple act of just getting out the door in the morning is a marathon effort.
And while I definitely don’t have everything figured out 100% of the time, there are a few things I’ve learnt over the years that if I get sorted and out of the way before I start my week, the rest of it flows a whole lot more smoothly.
Because, what I’ve discovered is that it’s not so much about organising or planning out every tiny little detail that makes things work the way they’re supposed to, it’s doing things in a way that means you have space for things to go wrong.
I get ready for the week before it begins, and doing a few little tasks at the beginning means I have space for other things to ‘pop up’ unplanned.
Here are my top 5 things to do to be more organised and get ready for the week.
This is a really simple activity, but one that can make a big different.
If you wear a uniform, how often do you wear it/wash it, and what will you plan be for making sure it’s always clean and ready?
If you don’t have a uniform, or you don’t often think about what you’re going to wear, take a few minutes to choose your outfits for the week and set them aside.
It’s one thing your brain is not going to have to process for the rest of the week.
This is life changing.
Planning what you and your family is going to eat is one of the most emotionally-freeing things you can do.
If you don’t already do this, and you’re not sure where to start, create yourself a no-thinking meal plan which will automatically give you a week’s worth of meals and a shopping list to go with it.
After you have planned your meals, purahsing the food you will eat for the week is the next step to be more organised.
Having all the food you need for the week in one place means you mind can be at east and you don’t have to remember to get anything else.
Packing lunchboxes is not the most exciting job in the world. In fact, I would go so far as to say it’s probably one of the worst.
I pre-pack school lunches as much as possible for the whole week so there is less need for my brain to have to think about what is needed every day.
Do this is late in the day as possible.
A planner is a great tool for this, either digital or paper, but if not, a simple sheet of paper will do fine.
This is literally just a brain dump of everything you need to do during the week including kids’ activities. The act of writing a list of everything you need to do and places you need to go means that your brain is aware of it and removes the overwhelm that comes from a jumbled mind!
I discovered a long time ago that being organised doesn’t mean planning everything down to the last tiny detail. It just means doing things in such a way that you have space for when things go wrong.
Doing these 5 things before my week begins means I’m not having to think about them each day, and I have space to prioritise things as they arise.