To continue on from yesterday's post on Managing and Organizing Your Family:
Tip #6: Get up and ready before the children. Admittedly, this is a huge challenge for me. I love to sleep. Still, I find that it always holds true that the days just run smoother if I have a jump on the kids. Trying to find time to shower once they have risen is hard enough, not to mention the other activities that make you feel like you have a handle on things. One thing that I would definetly also encourage during your time before the munchkins would be devotions and prayer. Realizing that God is in control and trying to be in line with His will for our lives will help with a good number of decisions that need to be made along the way.
Tip #7: De-Clutter your lives. The older I get, the more complicated life seems to get. I'm still a relatively young mother (depends on how old you, the reader are, I suppose) but the idea of "less is more" is really starting to have a great appeal to me. Recently I've read more about this great idea, and found a blog about a family that has really embraced the minimumalist lifestyle. Check it out at http://www.becomingminimalist.com/about-us/ Even if you don't (as I wouldn't) simplify to an extreme, it would be so nice to have less "stuff" around, wouldn't it.
Tip #8: Try to Keep Up rather than Catch Up: I know, I know. Easier said than done. Still, it needs to be addressed. Isn't it so much easier to ask the kids to remove any garbage they created in the car as they are exiting the car each time? The alternative is to spend a Saturday afternoon cleaning the junk out of the car that has accumulated for who-knows how long. The same theory goes for a good number of tasks around the house: sweep after every meal, put away all items when you've finished using them, wipe down the bathroom counter and sink after the family has gotten ready each morning, and so on and so forth.
Tip #9: Automate your recurring bills. It is 2010, and there is very few (if any) bills that cannot be taken care of automatically by scheduling them to automatically be withdrawn from your checking account. The only reason for writing a check should be your weekly tithe to church and the occasional purchase that isn't "regular".
Tip #10: This one is a doozie, and a sticking point for me: Do one thing at a time. Oh, and don't delay if it can be done right away. No multi-tasking, no multi-thinking, no . . . whom I kidding?!? Ideally, it is a better idea to focus on one thing at a time. Here it is from another blog I came across: "When you're feeling down just keep your head up high and don't think of the whole big thing. Just focus on doing one thing at a time. You'll see that you will accomplish a lot, if not everything at the end of the day. And before you start, give thanks to God. This will clear up a lot of the blunders of the day. Discouragement create a multitude of discouragement so it is good that you catch and stop it before it does." (http://motivational-quotes-of-the-day.blogspot.com/2008/01/focus-on-one-thing-at-time.html)
As I stated yesterday, I'd also like to encourage you to have you host your own Clever Container class, where you and your family and friends will learn even more organizing tips. Choose from the following class formats: *Organizing with Kids*, *Clutter Cutter*, *Closet Cleanout*, *Office Organizing*, and *Kitchen Clean-Up*.
PLUS, you will earn loads of wonderful organizing products for free! Free is good!
Disclosure: This post is part of a blogging contest from the TwitterMoms community. There is a chance this post could be randomly selected to win a $50 Target GiftCard, so wish me luck! For more details, you can view the contest page here (http://icomp.ly/IconApps ).
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