Its funny because my husband often gets asked if his life/home/family is really organized because his wife is a professional organizer. He usually laughs at this comment and says that we are challenged every day just like everyone else.
I like to think that we are fairly organized because we usually know:
- where to find the keys to the car
- where each child should be at any given point in time
- when we need more orange juice, milk, pasta & paper towels
- that we usually do laundry either Fridays or Saturdays
- who is going to make dinner that night
- where to put back the wine glasses
This may seem like fairly mundane things to do but it is the stuff of life. Let me take you through our little ‘organized’ and very functional world.
- We hang the keys to our car in one place and on
e place only…on a key holder in the laundry room by the garage door. To me there is nothing more basic then knowing where your wallet is and where the car keys are.
- My husband and I have a shared calendar. That is to say that our smartphones (Blackberrys in this case) have calendars that we share and update on a regular basis.
I usually take care of ortho appointments, Irish Dance practices/competitions and school appointments. He takes care of soccer practices, dental and banking appointments and date nights. I am traveling an average once very 7-8 weeks so when I am out of town speaking or giving a seminar, he knows how to plan his work schedule to make sure he is home for our 11 year-old son (and the others two kids).
- We keep an on-going grocery list. Once it is time to go shopping, we take a picture of it and off we go. That keeps simple. I have often lost piece of paper that I had written the list on. Does that happen to you?
- In Ontario, we have a variety of prices for our electricity consumption. So if you use electricity during peak times, you pay for it. So I tend to regress back to my 1970’s days of energy conservation and only do the laundry during non-peak times. That means laundry gets done on Friday evenings or Saturdays…Its like clockwork. Routine helps immensely when you are trying to keep a family organized. It just means that when we are watching TLC’s “Say Yes, To the Dress” and “My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding”, it is time to fold laundry… a lot of it!
- I believe its important to teach your kids to make a meal. My dad was a Chef and he NEVER let us help so I did not learn to cook, really cook a whole meal, until I was married. It is still a bit of a ‘chore’ for me so I
vowed that I would give my kids the tools to understand that food is a necessity and learning how to cook is a skill you NEED to learn. So teach your kids how to make healthy, simple meals and have them pick one night where they are responsible from start to finish. (This Good Housekeeping Illustrated Children’s Cookbook is one of my favourites)
- By the end of the week, I am ready for a cold glass of white wine…so when its time to put the glasses away, everyone knows where they belong because I like to label my shelves. I can be found labeling my pantry shelved, bathroom cabinets and kitchen shelves so my family (+visitors) knows where to store things…
So these are a few of the things that I like to do to keep my family organized. What do you do?
Margarita Ibbott is a Professional Organizer, Presenter, Blogger, Social Media Trainer, wife and mother of three. She brings order to people, places and things and then blogs about it.
Her most recent adventures brought her to Chicago to be a LiveBlogger for Oprah’s Life Classes (not once but twice). She continues on her quest to keep evangelizing brands, companies, people and products using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Blogging
Margarita Ibbott is a travel and lifestyle blogger. She blogs about travel in Canada, the United States and Europe giving practical advice through restaurant, hotel and attraction reviews. She writes for DownshiftingPRO.com and other online media outlets.
I’ve been talking with people on Twitter about putting the shopping list in my phone to make sure I have it with me (I have been known to forget it from time to time, but the act of making the list seems to reinforce in my brain what is needed, as I’ve never forgotten anything). I’ve resisted because, like you, we keep a running list which we both add to, but I never thought of just snapping a picture of the list! You really are brilliant. 🙂