TIME HACK + MONEY SAVER + SANITY SAVER
I’ve loved the relaxed holiday experience. No lunch prep, no swimming or music lessons, no timetable to adhere to, no schedule – it’s bliss!
But this week marks the beginning of the working from home with kids at home challenge. It kind of reminds me of COVID homeschooling, without the schooling part. I know many other working parents are in the same position. Whether you work from home or not–parenting is busy.
If one of your new year’s resolutions was to reduce stress and be super organised, I’m with you! So let’s blitz it with a few simple organisation strategies. #WeGotThis!
With four peeps, several extracurricular activities, family/friend celebrations and events to attend, dentists appointments and the like, it can be tricky to keep on top of who needs to be where at what time.
3 tools I use
Here are the three key tools I use to manage our busy family:
1. Family Organiser
I love my new Family Organiser with a meal planning section included. I never used to bother with meal planning, but having tried it last year I found it saved a heap of time and made sure I avoided the ‘toasted sandwiches for dinner’ nights, so I added it to the Family Organiser.
Even though the calendar is starting to fill up already, I feel under control and comfortable I’ve got this week sorted.
I use a physical organiser that takes pride of place on our fridge (unoriginal but very practical) because my other half won’t use digital apps outside of work. If you’ve got a more digitally savvy family, there are some great apps out there, I’m sure–feel free to add a comment below if you’ve found a great one.
PS our Family Planner is 13 months and starts in the month you purchase it so no need to wait for the next year to roll around.
2. Google calendar
- Google calendar is my go-to phone and device planning tool. Colour coded for business, family and holidays/occasions, so it’s easy to know which mode you need to be in and when. I use the reminder function, so I don’t miss anything. Setting recurring events is easy and saves a lot of time.
TIP: Schedule in driving time as well, so you don’t suddenly realise you’re meant to be somewhere in 15 minutes, and it takes 35 minutes to get there. #LearnFromMyExperience
3. Weekly ‘Staples’ List
- I have set up a weekly shopping list on my grocery home delivery app. Until recently I would start my shopping list from the ‘Bought Before’ list in the app, which took about half an hour to do. We order the same staples that need to be replenished for most weeks, so now with my newly created ‘Weekly Staples’ list, I simply re-order all the staples with a button’s click, and add a few extra bits and pieces. This saves at least 15-25 minutes a week. That may not sound like much, but every little bit adds up and that 15-25 minutes could be your daily meditation time or stretching (no excuses now!).
With online shopping, my grocery shopping time has gone from 2.5 hours per week (prior to online shopping) to the time it takes to drink a nice cup of tea on a Saturday morning. Saving 2.25 hours a week and a whole lot of grey hairs! Now that adds up. So if you haven’t converted to online shopping, I highly recommend you read this post.
I know there’s nothing groundbreaking here. There are a few more time hacks and a bit more detail on some of the above in this post.
Share your fav organising tools and tips below. I’d love to hear how you do it so I can try a few myself.
Photo by Emma Matthews Digital Content Production on Unsplash
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