Feeling like you have too much to do and not enough time? Well, you’re not alone and I’m here to help you. Listen to the audio below and you’ll increase your productivity and be more focused. Also included below is an exercise to help you with the brain dump processes and ease the transition back to work and/or back to school.
Click here to download the handout exercise
No matter how chaotic it gets at home, having a system for keeping track of kids’ things is essential. There’s sports schedules and phone lists, papers to sign, health records, music books, report cards, and precious keepsakes that tend to pile up around the house.
Then there’s the sports equipment, jackets, shoes, backpacks, lunch containers, homework, projects, and electronics that your children drop at the door when they come home from school each day. Times this by three to five kids and you’ve got a giant heap sitting on the floor on a daily bases.
The key to keeping your sanity and peace of mind is to create a place for them to easily hang their coat and backpacks. I love the storage locker system if you can create space for this in your home. Also, create a homework area and have all the necessary supplies handy for their projects as well.
Then gather all the sports equipment and store each child’s items in separate bins, for each sport. Store bulky equipment in a one area, sports clothes in their closet. If they play soccer and baseball, then have a small clear container for each sport and make sure to label the bins “Soccer Clothes” and “Baseball Clothes.” When you’re rushing out the door to soccer, the right socks and shorts will be in one place verses all over the bedroom or house.
Next, create a Family Reference Binder with tabs for each child. Behind each child’s tab you can file their sports schedules, music schedule and any other important phone numbers that you want to have at your fingertips! Everyone in the family will thank you for gathering all the papers and putting them in one central location!
Now to deal with all the other papers. Create a hanging file for each child and keep any awards, report cards and other keepsakes in this file for the current school year. At the end of the school year, simply take out the papers and file into their keepsake box. For larger artwork, just take a picture and store the photo in their school photo album. Or store large artwork in an art porfolio.
Be realistic about what school papers and artwork you are going to keep. The more stuff you have, the more time and space it will take up to store it. A good rule of thumb is to “keep the best of the best and let the rest go”. Ask yourself, “When was the last time you looked at your keepsake box stored in your attic?”
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Want To Use This Article In Your Newsletter or Website? You have my permission as long as you include this complete blurb with it: Sherry Borsheim is the president of International Association of Business Organizing and Simply Productive. You can visit Sherry, access her free article archive and grab lots of free stuff here. Sherry lives in Vancouver, BC Canada with her husband (her high-school sweetheart).
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“Organizing is what you do before you do something,
so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.”
A.A. Milne
“Life is what happens to you while
you’re busy making other plans”
John Lennon
Did you forget something? You know the story…you all pile into the car, you’re trying to beat the rush hour traffic, you’re frantically making a list in your head and hoping you didn’t forget anything, you head out of town and suddenly you remember you forgot something. It’s too late to turn back, so you tell yourself you’ll just pick it up on the way or when you get to your destination. Who wants to be running around buying necessities and spending extra money when you could be having fun on your vacation?
Make your next vacation more enjoyable and relaxing so those obstacles don’t get in the way of you having fun! Here are a few simple vacation planning tips:
Create a Trip File
Keep all your trip related papers together in a file and when you return from the trip recycle or toss papers you don’t need and file receipts and travel expenses in your financial files. Move towards being paperless and create a document on your computer for each place you visit. List your favorite restaurants, accommodations, and points of interest. Years ago I created a “New York” document and it’s been updated and passed onto many friends over the years and I’ve completely eliminated all my travel reference files!
Create a Pre-Travel Action List
Make a list of all the tasks you want to accomplish prior to the trip either on paper or electronic. Every time you think of something capture it and get it out of your head otherwise it will keep coming up for you as a reminder to do something and increase your stress levels. Look at your list each day and schedule time to accomplish these tasks.
Packing Checklists Reduce Stress
For the past 10 years we vacation at this wonderful place with my family, and every year we pack the same things. Some years forgetting crucial items, while other years packing way too much. So, one day I sat down and wrote out everything we needed to take with us, clothing, food, sporting equipment, games and other necessities. I even made a simple meal plan with healthy meals with minimum effort to prepare. What a huge time-saver and stress reliever this has been over the past 15 years. A little pre-planning can go a long way towards a fun-filled vacation instead of disappointment and disaster.
Create different packing checklists for different types of trips or regular activities. You could have a packing checklist for summer and one for winter vacations. We have a family vacation that we take every summer and all I do is open up that file on my computer, print a copy and begin packing. I even have a small checklist in my gym bag so I don’t forget to pack a key piece of clothing! I’m sure you can relate!
Here are a couple of great resources I recommend for packing checklists if you don’t already have one. Frommer’s travel planner and Frommer’s Activity Planner are available for you to print and fill in your own packing items. Independent Traveler has a fun interactive packing checklist that you can customize for different types of trips.
Avoid Last Minute Packing
Whenever possible, pack 3-7 days prior to the trip to reduce last minute stress and a late night with little sleep. This is not a relaxing way to start a vacation. Get out your suite case and review your packing checklist and begin packing what you can. This is especially helpful if you have several family members to pack for plus yourself. You may also want to pack a separate overnight bag to carry on the plane for long flights just in case the airline misplaces your luggage you’ll have a change of clothes. Or if you spend a night at a hotel on the way to your destination you don’t have to haul in your entire luggage for one or two nights.
Savvy Travelers Packing Tips
Check the weather forecast at your destination before you begin to pack. Also, store all your travel items in a container, drawer or one location in your home. Passports, other currencies, shoe bags, luggage tags and any other travel items you use from time-to-time. This makes it easy to pack when all the items are together. Keep travel size items stocked and on-hand to avoid last minute trips to the store. Here are some other savvy packing tips:
Have fun and enjoy the peace of mind a little pre-planning and preparation gives you when you are organized!