To the 6 people who have found this blog after searching for a ‘diary in the shape of a tree’ – Sorry, I have no clue why ended up here either! However, if you’ve found me by searching for the term ‘organised mum’ then this post may be the one for you. I’ve decided to dedicate a whole post to sharing as many tips on how to be an organised mum that I can (I aim to please after all ;-))
I should be honest before I start though, I’m not one of those perfectly organised people who has everything under control all the time but Google seem to diagree judging by the numbers of visitors they send my way – they seem to thing I’m organised and send people here in search of a bit of organisation and Domestic Goddessness.
So here’s my Top Tips:
Invest in a wall planner / family calender.
I’d be lost without my wall planner, in fact I am lost at the moment as mine ran out at the end of August and I haven’t replaced it yet because I’m trying to decide whether to get an all sing, all dancing one from Organised Mum or whether to buy my usual one from WHSmiths. If you’re kids are anything like mine, they’ll have a better social life than you do so one of these wall planner will mean that you’ll never miss another birthday party again…. (*hangs head in shame* )
Meal Planning will save you time and money – guaranteed!
When I don’t plan our weekly meals in advance, I find that I end up going to the supermarket more often and spending much more money than when I do a menu plan. We have a few meals that are our ‘regulars’ like macaroni cheese, toad in the hole, home made pizza and oven baked risotto and I am always trying to find new recipes to try.
Every Friday afternoon, I write a list of what I have in the fridge, freezer and cupboards and then I sit down and write down an evening meal for each day until the following Thursday using as much of what we have in as possible. I don’t really write down lunches as the kids have packed lunches (see below) and Mr Frugal eats at work verrreee cheaply (wish we could all go for tea).
I then write all the planned meals on my wall planner (told you I’d be lost without it) and write myself a handy little shopping list, which brings us nicely onto….
Shop Online
I don’t always do this but it’s so much easier to stick to your shopping list when you do your shopping online, it works out cheaper for me even when I don’t manage to find a free delivery code because no crap finds it’s way into my shopping basket.
Organising the kids for School
We have a routine that the kids follow every night when they come in from school – shoes off and in the shoe cupboard, coats off and hung up, book bags in the downstairs toilet (AKA our storage room lol), packed lunch boxes on the kitchen counter and then it’s upstairs to get changed. The uniforms are left folded on my bed and I check to see if they will last another day. We then hang the uniforms up ready for the next day. After tea, we check the book bags for any notes from school and do any homework due and I try to listen to Miss Frugal read her reading book and read a bit of Master Frugal’s to him. Any letters from school that need to be returned are filled in and put into the front pocket of the book bags and any relevant dates added to the wall planner.
*Disclaimer* Please note that no matter how organised you are, you will still end up practically dragging at least one child out of the house kicking and screaming with odd socks or shoes on the wrong feet!
Packed Lunches
Now I don’t like to brag but I have been told that I am the best packed lunch packer in the whole wide world. We make them the night before and they usually include a sandwich or a wrap, a cheesey thing or homemade sausage roll, one or two pieces of fruit, a home made muffin and a packet of crisps. The muffins, sausage rolls and cheesey things are made in bulk on a weekend and frozen so I just get one out the night before and it’s nicely defrosted by lunchtime the next day. I have even learnt to ignore the constant begging for chocolate ‘like all my friends have’.
Budget
Spend some time sorting out your monthly budget so you know how much you are spending each month. Be completely honest with yourself and include EVERYTHING that you spend money on otherwise you won’t get a true picture. Here’s my budget from last time I did it. We overspend all the time but now that I’ve gone to part time hours at work – that’s just not an option!
Christmas / Birthdays
I have just two words here: PLAN AHEAD. Buy bargains throughout the year and keep a list of who you’ve bought what for. Make sure you set a budget for each occasion and save towards it. Note to Self – Take own advice otherwise this Christmas will be presentless lol.
I know most people will probably do mosy of these things anyway but I thought I should dedicate a post to the many people who are here in the hope of finding a real life Organised Mum.
So, have I missed anything? Is there something else I can do to make life easier 😉
I originally posted this early last year but when I saw that the prompt for this week’s Friday Club was organised tips for the home, I thought of this post straight away.
Here are the other entries in this Organising Tips for the Home Carnival:
Make Do Mum posts Organising for Magpies
Maggy at Red Ted Art posts How to… make your own Scrapbook/ Artwork Calendar
Jax at Making It Up posts her tips in A place for everything and everything in its place
Helen at Cheeky Wipes posts her laundry tips
Jules at I Need Curtains for the Window in my Head posts her tips for organising post
Angela at Mum’s Survival Guide posts The Organised Side of Me: Paperwork.
Ella at Notes From Home posts her laundry tips.
