In case you don’t know, I’m a project manager in a corporate healthcare company. I manage HUGE efforts that are done because the benefit the company in one way or another. I’m busy all day. I eat lunch, when I get it, at my desk. My calendar usually looks like a game of tetris because I’m double/triple booked some hours. It’s a mess. Amidst all the chaos though, what I have learned is how to organize the chaos. So here are a few lessons I learned that I’ve applied to my personal life and I think you might benefit from them as well. Enjoy! If you have any lessons/efficiencies you employ during the day, let me know. I’m always a big fan of becoming more organized.
1. Stay on top of your work in whatever way works best for you.
The lesson here is know what needs to be done and plan for it. Sometimes it’s hard enough for us to get through what we have to get done today let alone look into the future but try doing it “At A Glance”. I’m still working at this but here’s what I look for:
- I look for birthdays/anniversaries that I need to get gifts for.
- I look for events/apts that I need to warn S about or coordinate
- I look for assignments that are due (for me)
The harder thing for me is getting all this information in one ELECTRONIC format. For me it has to start that way, through outlook calendar events, emails, etc. My problem currently is I can’t sync my work and home so I’m still managing to two schedules. YUCK! I try to write things down too but like I said, I’m still working on it.
2. Get & Stay Organized
This is very much related to Item 1. At work, I’m pretty good at this. At home, I’m getting better. Planning for E’s party has been very organized. Probably so much so that I’ve lost focus on some of the other things.
I’ve got all these little tips and tricks which I’ve picked up from the blogging world that I’m planning on putting in place. Some we’ve already started using and they are great. For example, we posted a list of cleaning tasks in the kitchen on the inside cabinet. It’s great. Now S and I can game plan who does what and we do a little each night. I also started printing and posting a sheet for the weekly grocery list/menu for the next week. That way I can let S know what we’re eating and he can add to the list if he knows of anything we need.
3. Don’t recreate the wheel
The world of blogging has opened my eyes to worlds I never knew existed and in many ways it overwhelmed me but in many ways, it made me better. I love looking at specialized blogs for inspiration. Some of my favorites are:
For parties: HWTM.com
For decorating: A Lettered Cottage, A Lived in Home, Tater tots and Jello.
For life management: Life Your Way
For fitness motivation: Elizabeth Waterstraat, Run Faster Mommy,The Great Fitness Experiment
For general mom support: Lil Muse Lily, Sweet Leigh Mama, Teagans Tales
Bloggins is all about sharing ideas and that’s what I use it for. I host better parties now, I decorate a little better, I know what I want to look like (not that I do) but I’ve been able to define better what I want and how I want it. That’s great. I got to an end state much quicker.
4. Know your strengths and weaknesses
In my house, your typical roles are reversed in some ways and that is because in some ways, S is better at certain things than I am and vice versa. For example, I manage the money. S likes that he gets somewhat of an allowance that he doesn’t have to think to much about. I like knowing where everything is going.
S does the majority of the cleaning. That is because he’s more thorough and detail oriented when it comes to those sorts of things.
The point in saying all that marriage is a team sport and you are there to compliment each other’s strengths by supporting the weaknesses. For S and I, it almost always works out that way.
4. Outsource, outsource, outsource
For those things that you and your spouse recognize you need help with and can, DO. For E’s party, I knew I wasn’t creative enough to make my “vision” come to life, so I’m getting help from a local STL party designer to make it all happen. She’s great and makes planning so much fun.
I’m currently looking at other things I can outsource. There are always people out there willing to help for a price and if that is right for you and them, make it happen.
Also, you commented that you wanted to see my budget tracker spreadsheet, send me an email at momslittlerunningbuddy @ gmail . com
I’ll happily forward it to you.
Hope this helps!
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