I must remind myself that I am just one of those people that needs a daily schedule - I forget things so easily, and I need a schedule to stay focused. Achieving something in my day, especially as a stay-at-home-mom, is so important to my mental well-being. At work, I was always able to set goals, achieve them, and feel good; but at home it is so easy to lose that with all this craziness of having kids involves.
This new schedule took a while to get set up, thought out, organized, revised, categorized, typed-up, printed out, edited, and, finally, approved and ready-to-go!
Basically, I have an excel spreadsheet for each day, printed out and stored in a folder. Each day consists of:
Top 5 to dos
For School
Appointments
Kids' Extra Activites
Kids Daily Lesson
Daily Routine (from 5:30am to 10:30pm)
Today's Chores
Blog
Exercise
Me
To Wear
I have a weekly spreadsheet for all meals - I print out 4 and schedule out a whole month at a time.
And I also have a spreadsheet that lists at the kids' lesson plan (have two month's worth).
On my daily sheets:
- the top 5 to do are the top 5 things I want to achieve today.
- For School - I list anything we need to remember for school that day (like change for the lemonade stand, hand in homework, etc)
- Appointments - must write these down as I make them - so forgetful!!!
- Kids' Extra Activities - gymnastics, ballet, playdates, etc
- Kids' Daily Lesson - these are short little things I put together to do with the kids - can be a craft, reading a book together, etc
- Daily Routine - list it all out so I know when to leave to get somewhere on time
- Today's Chores - I do a room each day - 1/2hr to 1hr max - this is in addition to general pick-up/tidy-up
- Blog - trying to plan :)
- Exercise - list it out, tick it off = feels good = more motivation to keep going
- Me - yep! ME! reading, do nails, put on face mask and listen to music, etc - this is my time and I'm scheduling it in!
- To Wear - this is to try to break free of the exercise pants/t-shirt/sweatshirt outfit that I love to wear around the house and thought looked great out of the house too. But alas, it does not!! So I need to make an effort and Pinterest is providing tons of inspiration :)
The Monthly Meal Planner
- has breakfast for the girls listed (I'm a cereal girl, husband eats a banana)
- lunch to pack for girls for school
- dinner
- and one dessert for the week
Most of my recipes come from the internet - I print them out and categorize them into Vegetarian, Meat, Chicken, Fish, Dessert/Other. My weekly plan is:
Monday - Vegetarian
Tuesday - Meat
Wednesday - Chicken
Thursday - Fish
Friday - leftovers/ take out
Saturday - Casserole
Sunday - Casserole leftovers
I know it probably sounds confusing but once it is all set up it really works well. I have not included my spreadsheets on purpose, because every time I see someone else's example it does not work for me. So I think it is important to sit down and work through what will work for you. This is just a brief outline of what works for me. And I hope it helps me work through some of my issues, and maybe helps you get started on your own path to an organized schedule :)
