How to be an organised mum? please can you share your organisation tips and Mum hacks?

[Postwhisk]

Anything you got, please share.

Trying to be more organised this year!

Shamelessly placemarking

I have a 5 week meal plan. Saves me thinking of what to buy in the shopping each week, and takes into account busy nights eg club nights. I've also set up lists on my supermarket account for things that I buy every week. Only saves 5/10 minutes, but every little helps I guess.

Not exactly a secret tip but my mind has been blown so I’m sharing it sticky hooks from Amazon that are strong enough to hold my life together.

I’ve hung caddies in the shower, scarfs/hats under the stairs, keys, cloths, if the dog sits round long enough he’ll be on a hook too.

I don’t know why it looks less cluttered and I feel better, if it looks less cluttered I’m more inclined to keep it that way.

Game changer for me was an ordinary little pocket diary.
Things like Wear Red Day -€2 for school./send card/ dentist/query bill/ pay bill/ playdate. Then I can scrap all the notes and letters, adding on relevant phone numbers or account codes.
Ongoing shopping list as well.
Also have a little code system for myself so when I'm doing a dry month or upping exercise or whatever I give myself the relevant little Gold Star, like a child. Motivating!!
Sit with morning coffee and see what needs doing today and add in whatever else you want/need to get done.
Some people do it on their phones but I'm more visual so writing stuff down and flicking through the pages helps it stick more in the brain.

Letters from school - action them immediately.
Party invitations ( if these ever happen again) - accrue/decline immediately.
For both - put details on online calendar - share with other parent/nanny/relevant adults.

I have recurring calendar reminders for car insurance, passport expiry, birthdays etc and sit turn once a week and deal with whatever is coming up.

I have a timetable for housework, the week's menu on the fridge and reminders in my phone for regular things. Schoolwise(!) I sort out their bags as soon as they get home from school and repack, clean and polish their shoes (and brush off the polish in the morning). 5x sets uniform washed and ironed and hanging in their wardrobes by the end of the weekend clean pyjamas out every day so they can put them on after their evening showers.

I used to be a shambles where my sil was a domestic goddess so I basically got her to tell me how to do things her way. These are things I got from her:

Always have entire week worth of school clothes ready on hangers (a hanger per day and divided with those wardrobe dividers you can get)

Reminders for family birthdays weeks in advance in calendar both to buy and send the cards

Shop and do lists on calendar

Weeks menu on calendar

My biggest tips are:

Get a physical calendar to stick on the fridge / wall which you will see. Before the start of the year eg in Dec, transfer any key dates / birthdays / events etc onto the paper calendar.

Create a shared Gmail or similar email address with your partner/spouse (if you have one). That way you can sync your calendars to reflect 'shared' appointments or reminders on this calendar such as birthdays, events etc and set alerts to go off at the time / 1 hour / day before before etc.

Sit down in a Sunday and review the week ahead in terms of appointments, meal plan, events or things to remember. This will take 15mins over a cup of tea.

Meal plan!

Create a daily / weekly / monthly / 6m / annual cleaning tasks rota and diarise.

Definitely prepare clothes (your own and children's uniforms) a week or at least a day in advance, including PE kit etc.

Get the children involved where they are able eg polishing their own school shoes (under supervision) on a Sunday.

I’ve gotten out of the habit but I used to do a Sunday eve ‘brain dump’, to write down all those little ‘must remember to do xyz’ niggles. During this did rough meal planning, check calendar for bdays and events etc. Use the brain dump to generate to do lists, phone reminders etc.

Similar to google calendar above, we use a free app called ‘Cozi’ to sync family calendars, it sends a note to DH when I add an appointment. Also has a section to save recipes and to do lists. I keep bdays on paper calendar in kitchen tho.

This may have been said already but when you get letters from school, invites, appts etc take a photo then you will always easy access to the information

Lists and Meal planning always!
Batch cooking or freezing leftovers so there is always something to grab
Now I WFH set a timer for 15 minutes have a break from work and whiz round the kitchen - gets done so quick!

Some good tips here - thank you!

The Organised Mum Method

I use something like this for meal planning for the week. I work full time and have two now secondary age children but have worked this system for years.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Group-Magnetic-Calendar-Shopping-Children/dp/B081XGK7XH/ref=sr11_8?crid=HYJWDWTS694S&dchild=1&keywords=magnetic+whiteboard+for+fridge&qid=1609605899&sprefix=Magnetic+whiteboard%2Caps%2C385&sr=8-8

Meal planning done on a Friday before shopping on Saturday (previously on the shop but due to COVID now all online). Calendar appointments and birthdays etc recorded in family iCal to allow everyone to add their appointments, but also transferred to the weekly fridge board along with reminders for each day e.g. musical instrument, p.e. Kit etc. Children then have to check fridge each day to see what they need to pack and what their activities are for each day.
Essentially, I find I have to deal with stuff as it comes in. Anything put to one side to deal with later usually isn't!

How old are your kids? Things that work for us are
Week of outfits/uniform hung up ready.
All school clothes shoes and kit bags etc ready the night before.
Calendar where everyone walks past, pen nearby. If it's not on the calendar it's not happening.
Rolling shopping list on a pad in the kitchen for when stuff runs low.
Meal plan and shop two weeks at a time. Top up milk bread etc when buying petrol. This also saves a fortune.
Basics like petfood , dishwasher tablets etc on Amazon subscription.
Cupboard for birthday presents, wrapping paper etc. Buy a year's supply of birthday cards, vouchers, book sets to split.
Tub of change for charity stuff, collections etc.
Routine of clearing a cupboard or a drawer every week.
Charity shop bag for unwanted and outgrown stuff in the utility room.

I always have our "going out" bag packed and ready to go (apart from adding in a bottle of water for DD) so we can just get out of the door. I always replace nappies, wipes, snacks, spare clothes as and when they get used.

Add any updates from nursery (and going forward, school) on to our kitchen calendar straight away and make note of any special requests (wear certain clothes, £1 for charity donation etc)

Clean clothes put away as soon as they are dry and/or ironed

Storage boxes by the front door - one has canvas bags for shopping in, the other has hats, gloves, sunglasses and now face masks in so we can grab on the way out of the door.

It's all gone a bit to pot here with a newborn but I try and work ahead.

So pyjamas and vests out when I get kids up.

Dishwasher and washing powder in as soon as last load done.

Washing hung out at night if weather ok for morning.

Dogs next meal made when one finished.

Next meal being prepped as one eaten. So soup on go as cereal put out.

Shopping app and add as I run low.

Keep everything topped up high. Nappies, wipes, bag always packed.

Clothes away straight from line or ironing.

Present cupboard stocked with sale items, buy as I see.

Good stock of cards in cupboard.

Make things a month earlier. So car insurance March, that's a February job.

All tiny things but mean I don't get in a muddle at last minute.

Google calendar here too. I put all the dates on it (school term dates, special dates, events, extra curriculum lessons, days out, appointments, holidays, people's birthdays etc) and sync with DH so he can see it too.
Also agree re school stuff ready in the evening and every weekend. I clean the shoes/stained uniform every evening and get clean ones out. Laundry gets put on throughout the week but on Friday night we do a big wash and everything is ready by Sunday.
No meal planning as such here. We have a rough idea of what we are having then decide the night before what to make the next day.
I also use memo pad on my phone and jot down all the birthday/xmas presents I need to buy/have bought, and price paid, so I know how much we have spent on each person. We have a lot of people to buy for and it's easy to lose track. It also reminds me what we bought previously.
Re housework, I can only do a bit whenever I have 5 min, to do a quick tidy etc and once a month we try to deep clean. Every year we clear out the clutter.

Yes to weeks worth of uniform ready to go on Sunday night
My dc do several activities throughout the week. They have a separate bag for each activity and each child (mostly a cheap drawstring bag). If anything needs walking or drying then they are done immediately and returned to the bag. We have one of those storage cube units - each person has a cube for all their activity bags, school bags and pe kits. Keeps everything together and has stopped the where’s my towel, uniform etc
Yes to the pound pot for all those days when you need a £1 for the privilege of wearing your own clothes.

My dc have an area of their bedroom they have to tidy each day.

Monday bookshelf
Tuesday windowsill
Wednesday hoover
Etc.

Meal planning blackboard
Hook for school bags so they aren't all over the floor
All washing to be in basket by 8pm on a Friday under pain of death

Have a read of 'the man who has it all' on Facebook.

The societal pressure to be an organised mum is ridiculous and is never applied to men.

I would read all these suggestions and (assuming you live with one, apologies if you don't) make them your husband's responsibility.

@Mnusernc

Have a read of 'the man who has it all' on Facebook.

The societal pressure to be an organised mum is ridiculous and is never applied to men.

I would read all these suggestions and (assuming you live with one, apologies if you don't) make them your husband's responsibility.

It’s more that I don’t want to live in a shithole, nobody sees my house except family, DP will clean/tidy but not to the standard I like to live in. As an example: after DC arrived I did sweet F A for about 2 months, the house was clean but nobody had wiped down the cupboard fronts, the skirting boards and so on. So whilst the important stuff like the washing basket and sink being empty it, the little touches I care about weren’t done. Because he doesn’t care about them.

I don’t think it’s societal pressure to want a sanitary and relatively tidy environment?

Definitely the organised mum on instagram. Daily lists all housework broken down, it has really helped me. If you keep at it, after 6 weeks it becomes much easier as you are keeping on top of it. Also it has a bootcamp to kick start you. It has an app but I didn't use it initially I just printed off the tick lists. I also find once you have one room completely done it urges you to do next.

Each child doing their own washing from start to finish, hells reduce the load massively s as bad gives them a great sense of achievement. We did it from when they were about 7/8 (although they whinge about it now as teens). They just have their own laundry basket in their room, and a set day of the week to do their laundry. When they were little we put a little sticker against the right setting on the washing machine and tumble drier.