Life Hacks!

[Perpetuallydumb]

I lead a very unstructured lifestyle. This results in disorganisation, adds to stress and amplified anxiety.
I have young DC and am back to work in 2 weeks to a busy, more stressful role.

What can I do to make myself more productive and to streamline my life so that I’m on top of my game?!

Blessed are the list makers. I find it much easier to organise if I make lists, bullet points and set reminders.

Once you are back at work you will have structure, work around the bits that are structured and after a while a pattern will emerge. For example, I work Wednesday - Friday so Tuesday nights I always wash my hair, that’s become routine. I have a reminder app, shove things in it when they come in to your head but you don’t have time to do them - examples in mine at the moment, sort school uniforms, buy toothpaste, ring dispensary for repeat prescription. They pop up on my phone and I snooze them for an hour / day depending on when I will be able to do them and tick off ones complete.

Also streamline everyone’s wardrobes and declutter. Uniforms, a few outfits for nursery / weekends... everything else donate or sell. Makes mornings easier.

Meal plan, get clothes ready for the week at the weekend, have bags ready the night before and a routine to each day of what you do to keep on top of things during the week (eg. A load of washing a day)

Get a system for laundry and meals then the rest falls into place.
Train the kids to do some jobs

Make sure clothing storage works well. Find dividers for drawers if that’ll help so kids can find socks, pants, tops and bottoms and can put them away too.
Do a couple of laundry loads over the week do you’re not going mad over the weekend.

For food, have a list of easily prepared meals. Chuck it on a tray/in a pot then leave in the oven meals work really well as you can spend time doing other things.

Make sure kitchen and living room are tidied and cleaned every night.

Get everything ready the night before.
Nothing productive gets done in the morning

Pack all bags, make lunches, get all clothes ready, get breakfast bowls and cutlery out.

Do your children need specific items on specific days, a great hack I saw is to type up, print out and laminate a daily check list of items. Then give to your child and they need to collect each item and tick it off (whiteboard pen).
Ie
Monday

• drinks bottle
• spelling book
• homework
• pencil case
• glasses
• specific day item - pe kit, art supplies, swimming costumer, karate outfit

Thought that was great to teach each child responsibility.

Get a cleaner in once a week if you can possibly afford it, helps so much!

Declutter - tidy house and cupboards make life much more streamlined, things are less likely to get lost and it is easier to square up any mess

Do proper weekly Meal planning, and have an online shop delivered every week at the same time so you get used to it.

Plan ahead for things like birthdays and Christmas - always have a little stash of birthday cards and gifts for when DC are invited to parties.

Get your clothes and bag, as well as the kids' clothes and bags, and any packed lunches ready the night before. Also lay out breakfast things as much as possible. Try to operate your morning routine the same every day, so that you are less likely to overlook something important.

Get up an hour before your kids, and blitz as much as you can before they are awake.

Have an online food ship with weekly recurring slot booked (we have a Saturday morning between 9 and 10) and add items throughout the week as you think of them.

Recommend following ThisGirlCanOrganise on Instagram.... she has great tips for getting organised.

Plus the organised mum method for house work. When I stick to it the house looks fab..... but I've struggled to stick to it past few months 😬

Set yourselves tasks to do each day, if you can’t complete by the end of the day don’t beat yourself up, just add to the next day list.

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