Time Management/Organization...How I Do It!

I was asked to do a presentation about time management/organization.  At first I was a little surprised because I really don't feel like I'm organized...I'm TRYING to get organized!  But as a homeschooling mom of 6...I have learned a few things!  I do have to have a certain level of organization to stay sane!  I thought I would include my notes here in case I ever wanted to refer to them again.

Top Ten Tips for Time Management

1.        Routine Chart

*See how much time tasks take and make adjustments

2.        Plan Meals & Shopping

*Basic Seasonal Plan

*Use Saturdays to prep  as much as possible

*Prepare Extra to Freeze (when I’m prepping on Saturday I double a dish that I can stick in the freezer)

*Keep it Simple

*Standardized Breakfast-Snack-Lunck-Snack

*Shopping Lists kept inside cupboard

3.       Household Cleaning

*6 Kids +Homeschool=Potential for a Messy House (I wish I would grow an extra set of arms with each child…then I realized I had…I just had to train them)

*Morning Clean-Up (This is just for me-5 minutes)

*Morning Zones (Everyone has 1 assigned job in addition to their super seven)

*Afternoon Zones (Everyone responsible for part of the house -timer set 20 minutes)

*After Dinner Jobs (Everyone has a specific assignment – timer set 10 minutes)

*Saturday Jobs (Everyone has specific assignments – we’re done in under 1 hour)

*Weekly Zones (These are just for mom, done on Friday)

*Make it fun…music, high fives, Go Judy Team, do it together, set a timer

*Seasonal Changes…school starting, January, summer starting

*I LIVE IN A HOME NOT A MUSEUM

4.       Daily Focus

Designate a focus for each day of the week

Divide that focus into 5 different tasks (one for each week)

Sometimes I get to spend an hour on this focus, sometimes I’m lucky to get 15 minutes!

5.       Weekly Planner-clipboard

*weekly vs. daily (I prefer weekly)

*MIT (most important tasks)

6.       Home Management Binder

7.       Binders

*take notes on repeating events so I don’t have to look the same thing up every year

*Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter

*Vital Records Binder

*Binders for each child (swimming lesson, summer reading program, fair)

*School…keep notes so I know what worked

*Holidays (including General Conference)…menus…Christmas Planner

8.       Limit Screen Time

*”We become so caught up in the busyness of our lives. Were we to step back, however, and take a good look at what we’re doing, we may find that we have immersed ourselves in the “thick of thin things.” In other words, too often we spend most of our time taking care of the things which do not really matter much at all in the grand scheme of things, neglecting those more important causes.”  President Monson

*Make a list of things to do on computer so I can sit down and do them all at the same time

9.       Realize that I’m the Mom/Five Facet

*Self-Discipline, Consistency, Attitude

*I have to Initiate Tasks

*Taking Care of Myself:  Spiritually, Emotionally, Mentally, Socially, Physically

10.   Heavenly Father’s Help…PRAY

*HF is organized, He wants to help us