Organization

The thought that I could help anyone become more organized would boggle the mind of anyone who knew me before I had kids! With help (and through abject desperation), I have become more organized. I had a friend with lots of little kids ask about it, and I thought I would post my response on the blog. I really enjoy seeing other peoples systems and thought you would like to see mine as well as why I ended up where I am. What I'm not sure how to do is import my spread sheets and tables from Word so I can show you my actual lists. If you know how, please tell me in the comments!

I remember when God started sending me lots of kids, I just felt so inadequate. I was more than disorganized, I was a slob. I am not where I should be yet, but I've grown so much in organization and in my relationship with God, and I can see that none of it would have happened with out passing through the crucible you are in right now. It is so hard, but it is such a time of grace. For me, a lot of it was learning to die to self and to let go of what I thought I needed to be happy. The God who created me knew what would make me happy, but I clung so tightly to what I "knew" would make me happy, that I was making myself miserable. Once I started letting go, I started opening up to the delight God was showering me with. Happier Mommy meant happier easier to manage kids, and we were over the hump. That took a long time for me! Slow learner! ;) I ended up doing Fr. Pinto's Plan of Life program, figuring out what God's plan was for me and how He was guiding me, and that made all the difference. But that's another long e mail!

Anyway, He'll supply the grace! I think I know that you go to Adoration? When you are working out a schedule, definitely bring it - it's His opinion that counts!

When my kids were all small, I lived really close to a friend, Eileen, who had a side business giving time management and organizational advice. I was really remarkably disorganized then, not that I am very organized now! One of they key things she did for me was explain how much time I was wasting trying to figure out what to do next. I was drifting through the day trying to "just hold on" because I felt too tired to swim. I have a much easier time now that I have a plan each day. I don't have to follow the plan! But I don't have to worry about what to do with the kids next. Part of my problem was that the kids were getting into trouble because I didn't have specific stuff for them to be doing. I have tons of books of "stuff to with your baby/toddler/preschooler/etc." if you are interested. And I escaped the, hmm, we need dinner in half an hour... which drove me crazy.

Eileen had a bunch of different kinds of lists. She's an educator, so she is really into "different people work differently". I will attach a copy of my current weekly schedule. What I do is sit down every Saturday with my calendar and this sheet and fill in what needs to happen each day (like co-op, Dr. appointments, Mass), then I fill in chores (which days will I do laundry? Clean bathrooms? anything I think should be done that week). Next I put in homeschool stuff and things I'd like to do (playdates, outings, library). Then I fill in the menus based on how much time I'll have to cook each day. Wednesdays we have a lot of crock pot meals because of co-op, for example).

Here's the thing: My "week plan" has changed as the family and my needs have changed. My friend was able to help me in a way that books were not because she helped me "grow my own" schedule. I loved the book Mother's Rule of Life, but trying to do what she did, didn't work for me because it felt like I was imposing her rules on my life. Working out what was key for me and what I needed made my schedule something that helped me instead of something else I had to do. I was serving the "externally imposed" schedule, so I couldn't keep it up, but when I developed my own schedule, it served me and made my life easier. This is not at all a knock on that book (or the many other organizational books I have read)! I got ideas from it that I could use, and I hope the stuff I send you gives you ideas that you can use. I can only imagine it would be overwhelming for some one to try to fill in all the charts!

I have a second sheet that I print out each week (both are posted in the kitchen), and that is my homeschool log. I use it to keep track of what I've done, to make sure I'm not neglecting any subjects (or children!), and to give myself a sense of accomplishment. By accomplishment, I guess I mean completeness. I know I have done enough and I can see I've done something on days where it feel like I have gotten nothing done! Those days can really wear you down, so it helps to be able to see, yeah, we didn't do much today, but the rest of the week was great, or yeah, we did do stuff, just not everything I wanted. I will attach several versions of that because it changes almost every year.