Family Organization - What Are Doing to save Time or Keep Track of Everything?

We use Google Calendar too. If you have an iPhone, there is even an app you can both access from your phone. We also put a copy on our fridge and update it by hand as needed.

I plan the week's clothing on Sunday. We have a closet downstairs and I hang all the kids clothes in there for the week, plus I usually put one extra outfit just in case. All the kids shoes and clean socks are in this closet too. That way, they don't have to go looking all over the house to get dressed for school.

We also get backpacks and homework all put away and ready to go for the morning before dinner.

All of our meals are planned ahead, there is a list on our fridge. We have some quick meals and others that take time to cook. We also will make meals on the weekend and freeze for later use. In a crunch we have sandwiches or cereal for dinner.

After dinner, the whole family spends a few minutes picking up if the house has gotten messy. This is a big time saver, 5 - 10 minutes is normally the most we spend doing this. If leftovers are being used for lunch I get these ready after dinner too.

But, if leftovers aren't going in lunch boxes, I don't get lunch ready until the next morning. I do get up, dressed and ready about 15 minutes before anybody else is out of bed. That 15 minutes is great for making lunch and packing lunch boxes.

Most importantly, we get the kids ready for bed early so there isn't any fighting at bed time...they know the routine and if they finish quickly they can have a few minutes of free time to read or play before lights out.

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We use Google Calendar too. If you have an iPhone, there is even an app you can both access from your phone. We also put a copy on our fridge and update it by hand as needed.

I plan the week's clothing on Sunday. We have a closet downstairs and I hang all the kids clothes in there for the week, plus I usually put one extra outfit just in case. All the kids shoes and clean socks are in this closet too. That way, they don't have to go looking all over the house to get dressed for school.

We also get backpacks and homework all put away and ready to go for the morning before dinner.

All of our meals are planned ahead, there is a list on our fridge. We have some quick meals and others that take time to cook. We also will make meals on the weekend and freeze for later use. In a crunch we have sandwiches or cereal for dinner.

After dinner, the whole family spends a few minutes picking up if the house has gotten messy. This is a big time saver, 5 - 10 minutes is normally the most we spend doing this. If leftovers are being used for lunch I get these ready after dinner too.

But, if leftovers aren't going in lunch boxes, I don't get lunch ready until the next morning. I do get up, dressed and ready about 15 minutes before anybody else is out of bed. That 15 minutes is great for making lunch and packing lunch boxes.

Most importantly, we get the kids ready for bed early so there isn't any fighting at bed time...they know the routine and if they finish quickly they can have a few minutes of free time to read or play before lights out.

E.:

I use the Mom's Plan-It calendar.

I make my meal menu a week in advance. I go through my cupboards and see what I have and what I need - then I go through my coupons to make sure I have them for items.

I have my kids do a "bag drag" the night before - so they have their clothes picked out in advance. I need to see - underwear, socks, shoes, pants, shirt. Then it gets put in their "locker".

I make lunches the day before for school and work.

I have set days that I do the laundry - Monday and Thursday. On the 1st of each month - i strip the beds to the mattress and wash the bedding, mattress pad, pillows, etc.

What saves the most time is assigning family members things to do so I am not doing it all. Just because I am home doesn't mean I have "free" time and don't work.

Hi E.,

I am just allowing myself 5 minutes on Mamapedia so I don't have time to share much on this subject. (Actually... part of me being more organized now is not being on my favorite sites for too long because then I have more time to be organized.)
Yet, I am new to a site called Pinterest and I lLOVE it and I have to try hard not to put too much time into that site! However, it really can help organize different areas of your life if you don't catch yourself looking at a whole bunch of blogs before pinning. lol
So this site (that I learned about on Mamapedia) has SO MANY great ideas on home and family organization. You might want to join (free) and look at the boards on this subject.

Good luck!
J.

I hang a huge 12 month desk calendar (2x3 ft) hanging on the wall and write down all our activities, events and appointments on it. I don't use anything digitial.

I meal plan a month at a time, mostly for bfast and dinner during the week. For dinner, I just write down the main dish item (beef, pork, chicken, etc) on each day, go to my 3 main cookbooks and write down a corresponding page next to each main dish item. If my family likes a particular day, I circle it and write it in on one of the days for the next month. Meal planning for the month helps me keep my grocery bills down as well.

I love my housework schedule. I set it up where I am not lugging tools and supplies all over the house. Mon - laundry (there's only 3 of us so I can do all my laundry in 1 day, including linens) Tue - dust upstairs Wed dust downstairs Thur bathrooms (each bathroom has its own bucket of supplies I keep under each sink) Fri - mop and vaccum (I have 2 vaccums, one upstairs and one downstairs). Everything takes 30 mins or less, except for Mondays...and Fridays, which takes at least an hour. I have a hardfloor vaccum and pull that out everynight to keep the kitchen floors clean.

I plan meals for the week, with the meal plan reflecting nights I need a quick dinner vs other nights when I can spend 30 min-1 hour cooking. I frequently do a lot of prep for the week on Sunday, like assemble a lasagna or baked mac and cheese or roast some squash or bake potatoes that I want to use later in the week. I also frequently make a large batch of a casserole or soup and freeze half for nights when we need something quick. I pack lunches before I go to bed at night because I can do it a lot faster if I don't have a toddler asking me a question every 5 seconds. Really most of my planning revolves around food, if everyone is fed we seem to be ok :)

We do things very similarly to Cindy R.

We have a plan for the meals for the week, and like Cindy some are easy, and some take more time to cook. We cook a couple of meals on Sunday and heat them up later in the week. I love that!

Homework is done right after school, mostly because that's when the boys like to do it. I go through backpacks while they're doing homework, and then backpacks are packed and put away - ready for the next day. I'm also beginning dinner while homework is being done, and they do homework, so I'm around if they have any questions, and I can see what they're learning.

The school lunch menu is taped inside a cabinet in the kitchen so the boys can decide each morning if they want to take a lunch or buy a lunch.

We have a big hutch in the kitchen, and each person has a drawer and a cabinet. The drawer holds papers and such, and the cabinet holds backpacks, shoes, etc. It keeps things organized and out of sight. I am in charge of paying the bills, so my drawer has the bills. I keep the ones that need to be paid first on top. I pay all bills electronically on my laptop, so it's convenient to just pay them in the kitchen and then shred them. My drawer never gets cluttered.

We fill the dishwasher as dishes get dirty. Dirty dishes never sit in the sink. Whenever the dishwasher is full we start it. Our 14yo son or my husband puts the dishes away. I hate putting dishes away. ;)

I'm looking forward to getting tips from others! :)

Great questions!! I so long to be more organized. We also use Google calendars. We have them on the computers and also on our smartphones. I live by them. I would be a total mess without them, honestly.

I tend to do the main laundry on M-T, with whatever didn't get done on W, and sometimes Th (if I am washing extras). I do the ironing on T/W nights after the kids are in bed. If I have a ton or didn't get as much done as I had hoped, I extend that to Th night as well.

I desire to menu plan in advance, but in my 22 years of marriage, I have never done that. I think that is a huge mistake on my part, but there you have it.

In a perfect world, I would make lists. I think they are incredibly helpful, and keep me from lying in bed awake at night remembering all that I didn't do that I had meant to accomplish.

Best wishes on your family organization quest. I just bought Sarah Mae's ebook called 31 Days to Clean, and I am already enjoying what I am learning.