Anyone want to join me in becoming more efficient this Autumn?

[Thatsnotmybookworm]

Would anyone like to join me in a thread to encourage ourselves to be more efficient and organised this Autumn?
I'm about to return to work after maternity leave, and I've really enjoyed how organised and (reasonably) calm my life has felt over the past couple of months; I would really like to hang on to that state when I'm back at work, but I'll need to be pretty efficient to manage it; I'll need to figure out lots of shortcuts I think . Time is going to be my most precious resource and I need to manage it accordingly!
Would love some company on my journey

Can i join you please :) have been trying very had to declutter and want to just become more organised on general.
I try e.g will buy a card im advance to post for a birthday..,, day before birthday i realise in haven’t posted it. Its not even written in. Envelopes now crumpled. I have no stamps....

camelfinger I thought this was a good article about back to school. It’s from the American Good Housekeeping site in case you don’t like clicking on unknown links

Betsy86 I started putting reminders the week before the actual event in my diary/phone. I also try to always keep some 2nd class stamps in my purse. That way I can post a card the week before and know that even with a 2nd class stamp on it should get there in time.

I haven’t got around to meal planning today but it’s on my to do list for tomorrow.

@Betsy86 Welcome!
I too have recently started keeping some stamps in the house and I feel very grown up and well organised when I need a stamp and I already have one! Keeping them in my bag is a good idea though; I will pop them in there.

Today I brought leftovers from last night's dinner to work and had them for lunch. I could have had them at home this evening but DH is out and I like to have my main meal at work sometimes; I find I'm then never particularly hungry in the evening so I can take my time putting DC to bed and doing whatever tasks need to be done, and then have a quick sandwich later on when its all done; instead of rushing through bedtime as I'm starving, and then trying to summon up the energy to get going again after eating.

Hello

Just checking in. I've managed to get myself sorted enough to go gluten free since Tuesday and done a square for Woolly hugs.

have put the house back together after visitors.

This weekend, I will check DS's school shoes, buy DDs stationary etc.

We also tend to keep stamps at home run out now iron for the week and lay out the night before and pack bags the night before (not lunches though)

@MrsJones; well done you on the gluten free; that can't be easy. Have you done it before?

I did 3 weeks of Dairy and Gluten free before the holidays saw me eating everything going.

My head feels so much clearer, but boy it takes more thinking about!

Yes dietary restrictions take so much planning for don't they?
Great that it works for you though!
Today I had a waxing appointment in my lunch break; being able to do things like that at lunchtime when I don't have to organise childcare is a great advantage of being back at work!

I have a hair appointment booked in a couple of weeks - I booked it at my last one because that is one of the things I tend to put off so I need to get it in the diary to get it done!

Over the weekend, I aim to meal plan for the next week (it makes things run so much smoother) and also to outfit plan - get some clothes ready.

@SassitudeandSparkle booking in the next hair appointment at the last one is a great idea; I'm not always organized enough though. But I looked at my calendar this week and wrote the dates I need to get my hair done for rest of year to time it right for Christmas and a trip away innJanuary, so must actually book them now.

So this morning I managed, using the iPad as bribery, to get DS to stay in the sitting room while I vacuumed and mopped downstairs; no small achievement as he usually wants to do the vacuuming and mopping himself (he is 3) . If I could do that for half an hour of DD's nap every day; I might actually get something done.
I have also laid out mine and DD's clothes for week; will do DS's later.

Bribery works

It sure does @MrsJonesAndMe!
I realised yesterday that with doing lots of laundry on Mondays and laying out clothes for the week on Mondays,
It's impossible to do both on the same day so I'm going to try to get clothes through the laundry more during the week/Saturday for this week.

Love this kind of thread. I find that I have to do a bit at a time until it becomes a habit. I have started to delete my personal emails as soon as I have read them, and have also been unsubscribing to loads. I need to do this at work too.

Joining in...

Although my most regular thought about getting myself more efficient at the moment is “I really must work out how to stop Mumsnetting in spare moments and so useful things instead”

Anyway...

Meal plans - I might finally have cracked a system that works for me. I have a template with eg Mon - fish Tues - meat Weds-veg; then a list of fish/meat/veg dishes I’m liking cooking at the moment. Then plan three days on Tues and do a smaller shop then (with a templated shopping list) and four days on Fri and do a bigger shop then.

Stamps - I keep a pack inside a teeny address book which stops me frantically scrolling though emails trying to find when someone sent me their address.

Mornings - this is my big challenge right now. Two different school drop offs, two grumpy primary schoolers and one toddler to deal with... I know I need to get up earlier, get to bed earlier and prep more the night before but I just can’t seem to get it working...

Jobseeking - this is my other big thing. I mean to do ten minutes on something every day - CV, job site trawling, linked in etc. - but it’s not stuck as a habit yet. The only time when I get a longer chunk of time is in the evening but my brain is just shot by 9pm and I need TV and ...

Yes please.

I need to kick my backside into gear after the summer holidays!
I'm back to working 4 days from this week and I need to get back into a routine to keep things running (relatively!!) smoothly!

Meal planning is key in this and so is the slow cooker/ instant pot!

Welcome @Wildernesstips, @CorianderSnell and @TeaandBisquits.
@TeaandBisquits I agree meal planning is key. I use the the slow cooker too and cook meals to cover two days. But I'm starting to think that the quickest dinners for me are low prep meat/fish, veg and potato dinners. DH and I eat relatively late once the children are in bed so I'm at home in plenty of time to cook; I'm just busy feeding the children and getting them to bed at that time. So dinner where I can pop some meat and potatoes in the oven and then do some quick veg on the hob in five minutes are the easiest for me.

Marking my place. Start my ou degree in October and I have to get more organised.

Ooh, I don’t miss the days of doing two dinners @Thatsnotmybookworm. I used to do that, but now DP works away Mon-Thurs in the week I’m just cooking for me and kids, then Fri-Sun we all eat together at 6.30ish.

So, I have taken a tip from this thread - can’t scroll back to work out who to credit it to, but someone said something about spending a little time every day on doing something to help things go better in the next week or something.

Normally at toddler nap time (or tv time like today when he is nap refusing) I do 15mins laundry, 15mins kitchen, 10mins picking up downstairs then half an hour ish on emails/admin, then I normally try to have a quick break if he’s still not woken up.

So today I tried to think of one thing to do now to help later today; one thing to do now to help with the next week, and one thing to help with things coming up in next month or few months...

So did 10mins dinner prep, then laundry as normal, then 10mins writing out a nice timetable so I have all the various clubs, playgroups, lessons times etc on one sheet on the fridge, then 10mins washing up/kitchen as usual... and now I’m taking a break! If I get round to it whilst we’re playing in the garden I’ll try to send out a message about babysitting which is my thing to help with next month...

Bought my first Christmas present yesterday, but not sure if this is going to be efficient or a mistake! Kids tastes can change a lot in four months...

Doing two dinners isn't as onerous as it sounds @coriander; DC eat their main meal in nursery/childminder on the days they are there; and I batch cook meals for them and freeze portions in muffin tins for the days they are at home. We try to eat together at the weekend; as we've always thought it important that we eat together as a family some nights but DS isn't a great eater and mealtimes with him are hard work; so our adult only meals are much more enjoyable .

One thing to help today, one thing to help next week and one thing to help next month; I love it; I might just try that out at the weekend.

I've meal planned for next week today and I'm working closer to home than usual tomorrow so I've made a list of things I can get done on my lunch break/with an earlier finish.

Got a few extra things done today with working nearer home; laundry,
and vacuumed and mopped downstairs (which has to be a much more regular job than usual with crawling DD).
I also have to clear out the fridge later before the supermarket delivery tomorrow; I try to do that every week.

Well done bookworm; hope you get some time to relax at the weekend after powering through all that!

I had an incredibly unproductive day, as for the second day in a row DC3 decided not to nap at his usual
convenient time and just fell asleep on the school run instead...

Not being able to get a bit of ‘maintenance’ housework done in the day makes me feel quite frantic - I don’t need to do much; just enough to feel as though there’s not an impending avalanche of mess and chaos about to engulf the house. Getting a few forward-planning things done is even better.

But... wasn’t to be. On the plus side, I found a bookcase of the kind I’ve been looking for for ages on Gumtree, and sent a message about that, so done something.

I’ve also been listening to podcasts about successful job hunting whilst I drive, so kind of doing something on that front!

Hey, just treading water till they go back to school.

Haircut booked and going to have 2 big admin/sorting days next week.

Hang on in there ladies!

Thanks @CorianderSnell . I'm going out tonight and it will probably be quite a late night so I expect I'll be taking it easy tomorrow.
Both DC exhausted with the adjustment to childcare and earlier starts so we are having a quiet day at home.

Right, back from holidays so going to read the thread properly now