Melissas Bargains

I work full time, have two busy kids, and blog on the side!  I often feel that I could use a few more hours in the day or a clone or BOTH!  Organization is CRITICAL, but also something I struggle with!  I know that I could be using my time better and that there are things I could be doing to get more organized.  I found this awesome article on Pinterest (which is probably a place where I shouldn’t be spending my time, but I just can’t help myself!) yesterday about 10 Things To Do Every Day to Stay Organized.

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You can check out the full article here–>10 Things to Do Every Day to Stay Organized

Here are the things I’m doing right now that are working for me:

• Notebook with my daily “to do list” and more – I would be absolutely lost without my notebook (just misplacing it temporarily causes hyperventilation and/or a mild panic attack!)  I keep this thing with me all of the time and in addition to my “to do list” it’s also the place where I jot down all of those random thoughts that come to me at the craziest times as well as things like my grocery list and even ideas for my blog!
• Family calendar – I am not good about updating a paper calendar and the problem with a paper calendar is that I never have it with me when I need to add something to it.  About six months ago, after my husband was constantly complaining that he never knew what we had going on, I created a family calendar at Cozi.com.  I absolutely LOVE it!  It’s totally free and we can access it from our phones and other mobile devices!
• Meal planning – During the holidays, I wasn’t as good about meal planning and I was absolutely LOST!  We spent so much money eating out because by the time I got home, I was too tired to come up with a plan and then actually cook something.  I’ve been back on track for the past two weeks and it’s so nice to have family meals together again (and home-cooked meals at that)

Things we’re working on:

Getting my kids more involved with helping around the house – I recently invested in the Melissa & Doug Responsibility Charts thanks to an Amazon deal and we started using them two weeks ago.  My kids absolutely LOVE them!  What I’m finding is that they are very willing to work around the house if they have a responsibility.  If they do everything on their “list” each day, they get game night that night and if they everything for a week, they get a special “date” with mom or dad!  They have been loving this so much they’ve actually been asking for MORE things to do, so we will be adding “bonus” chores where they can earn extra money if they complete them!

Things I’d like to do:

• Create a donation station – I LOVE this idea!  The article suggests placing a bin or box somewhere in your house with items to donate and suggests adding 5 items to the box or bin every day!!  I can already see the clutter disappearing!
• I’m Outta Here shelf – I love this idea, too, except that I think I’m going to make it a basket or magazine file or something like that near the door!  I can’t tell you how many times I have forgotten to mail things or return things (Redbox, anyone?).
• 10 Minute Tidy – I think this 10 minutes at the end of the night to make sure toys are picked up, clothes are laid out for the next day, and backpacks are ready to go would help our family SO much!

What things work for you to stay organized each day?

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