Are you an organised mum/dad

[Fuschia]

and how do you manage it?

I am naturally quite good at organising things but it has taken

Me a few years to get our household sorted out And as the children get older it changes

Big organised mum calendar on the wAll with important dates and reminders

School

Letters and hospital appts etc go in the big pocket

Same dates entered into my iPhone/iPad which interfaces with my work calendar I can access via iPhone as well as from my work pc

Meal planner and shopping list on the side of the fridge

Online shop always same slot

Labelled bags in a drawer always prefilled for ballet etc, stuff goes right back when washed

Individual swimming bags (6!) in a big bag, prepacked

Drawers in the hall and children trained to put their shoes etc away when they come in

Packing list for holiday stored on pc, reused each year

Separate sub list for each bag (beach bag, rainy day box, wellies and sandals, medical kit, etc etc)

I could do better with family birthdays though, often a bit late

Should get a folder by month and have the children make all the cards in advance!

Any other tips?

Are you naturally organised

Or scatty

Does it matter?!

[Ruth_Baldock]

In a word; no. I am a bit scatty/flakey. Except when it comes to routines/ baby -toddler activites, thats what keeps me sane. I never write anything down, and if someone emails me, I always always forget to reply, but will convince myself that I have. D'oi!

[oimissus]

I'm kind of like Ruth, know what's going on with Miss Oi's regular routine, but all over the place otherwise, which I put down to have a shocking memory, and having still not quite accepted that life with a child can't be the same jolly spontaneous affair that it was before. The weekends are a shambles!

[Ruth_Baldock]

Our weekends are all over the place! We always say lets plan X,Y,Z but barely ever get round to half of it. My memory was excellent pre-babies, and I was v organised. Big sigh.

[Belle]

Not at all, except for on washing which I have to be. don't even manage to keep the ocado to a weekly thing, sometimes ends up being 5 days apart or 10 days, depending on when I get time to do it.

F where do you get your mum calendar as I have had to concede we do need one now to keep up with all the various appointments etc? but couldn't find one I liked online.

[Pickle]

I'm organised, possibly too much so really. I've always been an organised person, and it seems with the arrival of each child I get even more so, but in my mind it's a coping mechanism.

Kids uniforms and my clothes are laid out the night before. Breakfast bowls/cups/spoons on the table before I go to bed (right down to my coffee being in the cup ready for hot water, and my porridge soaking overnight). Washing in the machine on timer ready to finish at a time that means I can hang it before the school run... I could go on for ever!

Throughout my life I've always been the person who's early, and this hasn't changed even ith 3 kids to organise. On my wedding day my Dad insisted we drive round the block a few times as I was even early for that.

Between hubby's sport practice and my music rehearsals there's not a single night of the week that we're both home, so organisation is key. On the evenings I'm home I like to sit and relax and "work" (knitting, so although I get paid for it I dont really feel like it's work!) so I try as much as I can to have everything domestic/child related done meaning I don't feel I should be doing other things.

Hubby is the opposite to me, not very organised and a prized "faffer". In the time it takes him to get ready to go somewhere I generally have myself and the kids ready and strapped in the car :)

I think it depends on your Mum... Certainly as I get older I realise I'm just like she was at the same stage of her life.

[oimissus]

that's interesting, my mum was (and I think still is really!) spectacularly lazy. Not disorganised as such, but I think she was secretly relieved that my sister and I were quiet, shy things, happiest at home with a book a la Lucy Mangan - I absolutely can't see her shepherding us around to a gazillion activities, which would be right enough, as she didn't. She's got an excellent memory though. My memory's been awful for years, can't blame that one on age or the baby!

[pebbles]

I'm pretty organised as well

Filofax is my lifeline and that has everything in it for the whole family.

My email inbox only has emails that I need to deal with and all other emails have been dragged into correct directories

Clothes are left out night before, pyjamas put on radiator in the bathroom every morning so it's ready and warm for after the bath in the evening

Breakfast isn't laid out as that's something the kids like to do while i'm bringing down the dirty washing.

Dishwasher always put on last thing at night so i unload it while they're eating breakfast.

Washing machine put on while they're eating breakfast for me to hangout while youngest has lunch

The only thing i wasn't organised about was food actually however that changed when I started weight watchers and therefore in turn meal planning.

I'm always early no matter even if i'm panicking about being late!!!

I'm not very good at putting clean clothes away - the most annoying part of my life!!!

I'm loving Fuschia's idea of packing ballet, swimming etc into bags kept in a drawer/hall rather than what i do which is put it away in children's bedrooms to get it out again every week.

[Fuschia]

Pebbles, I used to stress vital items would be missing even when they were safely put away in the bedroom!

Calendar, try organised mum

Can't post link easily as on phone

I think

Ours is the monthly planner

[snowboarder]

OMG hot on the heels of feeling like the most extravagant and wasteful shopper I now feel like lazy disorganised sloth....

Washing all done ad hoc - occasionally I even have to rewash on discovering did a load about 4 days ago and it's still there..

All appointments etc in my head - I do have a diary and an iphone and they are empty other than birthdays...

Food and meals...well..hmm..whats in the fridge/veg box? Lets see....

Post/bills etc all in scary piles that are hastily stashed away (some in wine cupboard) as house on market and needs to be tidy...

Ha! On the other hand I do manage to do everything super fast to make up for lack of organisation...

[snowboarder]

Also I'm pretty good at time keeping and generally early if not held up by faffing husband/children...BIG up me, right?!?

[Fuschia]

Sb: but your house is so tidy! And 2 under 3

[susyp]

I too weekly food plan and shop online (but as and when I need it), wash adhoc (there are only 3 of us!), but was very proud that last week I FINALLY felt like I had got the entire house clean. Not yet organised house but we are having final building work starting soon so hoping to solve some storage issues then. Also then will have a dishwasher which will change my life (and my hands).

My daughter started nursery at her school last September so I have 3 hours free every afternoon which is helping me enormously, she was an incredibly difficult baby (I now realise after seeing people with new babies which are entirely different to how my daughter was!) - so for years I just thought I was hopeless mother (and housewife - but care less about that!). I don't know how those of you with babies at home manage to be so organised!

I couldn't cope without food planning, everything was total chaos before I thought of that. I have a big calender thing with pockets too which is helping reduce the lists and clutter on my kitchen side.

Useful tip about laying everything out the night before - with my daughter at afternoon nursery we are usually still in pjs at half past 9 and I was starting to wonder how I could possibly get her to school on time come September - pathetic really!

Susypx

[snowboarder]

Fuschia Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Sb: but your house is so tidy! And 2 under 3

Ah it's all surface (don't open a cupboard!) and is a constant battle!!

[KatsuQueen]

Fuschia, you are a legend! (Storing away all your tips for future reference!)

[Fuschia]

Oh gawd

Just trying to keep my head above water with 4 children and a busy job!!

Looking for the easiest way of doing things

[Fuschia]

Using skills learned as a scuba instructor!

[womanofdulwich]

Fuschia- you are ex - army- right??

;-)

[Fuschia]

Rofl

I do shout a lot!

My sister is also a scuba instructor and recently after a day organising 40 divers for a major training event, followed by a day with me and mine, said our lot were harder work!

I have had my full of disasters ... Like the mOnday morning we were waiting outside John Barnett at 930 because ds1 couldnt go to school, having mislaid his shoes!!

[cashewnut]

A blackboard in the kitchen changed our lives. Write things up there as soon as they start to run out. And reminders of stuff that needs doing.

Also proper fortnightly supermarket delivery with meals planned out (top up from local shops middle weekend).