Time management

How to Adjust to a New Routine

September 12, 2022

I’ve been talking to my audience and one thing that keeps coming up is the struggle with adjusting to a new routine. It’s September, so that means back to school. That means getting up earlier, rushing out of the house and having to be on your kids about getting dressed and doing anything to get them out the door. If you struggle with this, you are not alone. Here are several strategies to adjust to or create a new routine that your family will love. If they don’t love the new routine, it will be at least tolerable. Maybe even enjoyable.

The Purpose of Your Routine

First, look at your why. Why does this new routine need to happen? It being September, the most obvious reason would be the kids going back to school, but there may be other reasons to start a new routine such as a new baby, a move, the start of a new job etc. Looking at the reasons behind any new routine will help you stay clear and focused.

Planning Your New Routine

To begin creating your new plan, ask the following questions. Write out the answers and share them with family if necessary.

What needs to happen in the morning?
What needs to happen at night?
Who needs to get up when?
What could you do to speed up your morning routine?
Who will do which tasks?

Routine Tweaks and or Suggestions

Create a schedule for use of the bathroom if you have to.
Maybe kids need baths at night instead.
Create a chore chart for the kids.
Set out clothes the night before.
Pack lunches the night before.
Start the routine a couple weeks before the actual change needs to happen.

Practice Gratitude

In order for change to be welcome and to stick, you have to find some benefit in it. It can take at least 21 days for new habits to stick, so don’t get discouraged if anyone in the family slips back to their old ways of doing things.

What are the benefits of the new routine?
What are you grateful for?
Will it give you more time to yourself.
Will it give your kids more structure?
Will you get more work done?

Relieve Your Anxiety

Is there any anxiety around your new routine? Change can be scary if it is a large change. Humans are creatures of habit so even small changes can be bothersome. If you find yourself resisting, it’s time to look at any anxiety you have around the new routine. Here’s a list of some examples, but you may have some that are different.

I’ll be late for work.
We won’t get enough sleep.
I’ll have to get up earlier and I’m not a morning person.
I won’t have enough time to myself.
I’ll be yelling at my kids.
I’ll feel rushed.
My kids can’t do enough for themselves yet and I’ll have to do everything.
I’ll be busy looking for things. The keys, a pair of shoes, the child’s homework etc.

Get Organized

One way to beat some of this anxiety is to get organized. Find places to keep things and make sure they are kept there. A basket by the door, a place for the backpack, a hanger for keys, Organize drawers so that clothing or personal items can easily be found.

Have a morning routine you love.

Do you feel stressed and hurried in the morning? If so, you will want to create some nonnegotiable rituals. Some examples may be Meditation, exercise, journaling, a cup of tea or coffee, watching the news, watching cat videos etc. Whatever gives you a boost, relieves some stress and can be done in a short amount of time, do it! Even if you have to get up a few minutes earlier. You may have to delegate some tasks or do them the night before. Doing something for yourself in the morning is so worth it. It starts your day on a more positive note and it may only take a few minutes depending on your rituals. If possible, do this before the kids are out of bed. This way you have some quiet time to yourself.

To summarize, get clear on why your routine needs to happen if it isn’t obvious. Then create a plan. Who does what tasks and when? Figure out what makes you anxious about the change and then get organized. Decide what you can let go of and what are your non negotiables. Through this process you will create a new routine that you love. If it’s not something you love, it will be a routine you can tolerate. Did I miss anything? What helps you get adjusted to a new routine? Tell me in the comments!

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Motherhood

Five Simple Ways to Organize Your Kids Toys

January 26, 2021

One of my goals for the year is to reorganize my home. One source of constant clutter is all the toys. Well, it’s not even just the toys. It’s the books, games and art supplies too. If you have kids, you know what I’m talking about. Kid’s stuff can take over the entire house if you let it. I thought I was organized until I had Rosebud, but now Istruggle to keep up, but we now have a system in place for toy organization. Here are five simple ways to organize your kids toys.

1 Keep Toys Visible

If you keep toys visible, you have more of an incentive to keep them organize. If you shove them in a box or closet somewhere, no one actually sees them. That’s wonderful if you are quickly trying to hide clutter from house guests, but then you and your kids can’t find what you are looking for. You know, the puzzle pieces that disappear or those doll clothes your daughter has been looking for all week. Yes, that happens here. This is the quickest way for toys to get lost. Especially if they are tiny toys.
 
There are several ways I keep Rosebud’s toys visible.

1. Use open baskets.

Not only is this a great way to keep toys and supplies contained, but you can find baskets of any size, shape or color to go with any decor.

2. Use clear plastic containers.

These are especially great for small items or if you are limited on space. We got some of these containers from the dollar store. I’ve had them a few years and most of the containers are still in good condition. They are great for stacking if you have limited space.

3. Use Labels

I don’t currently do this in my home, but this trick is great for open shelves if you want to divide them up. It’s also good for bins that you cannot see through. We do this in all the classrooms I work in and it’s a great way for the children to see how to organize. It’s also a great matching activity as they are matching the toy with the picture.

If your child reads, you can simply label the bins with words as well. If you’d like to print or create custom labels, here are some free

toy bin labels.

2 Make Toys Inviting

If you have toys out, most likely children will gravitate towards them, but presentation helps peak their interest. Some ideas for making toys inviting are

Keep only a few toys on each shelf with space in between.

If toys have multiple parts, put them on a tray, in a basket or box to keep pieces together.

Change the set up from time to time. Sometimes just rerranging the toys can make them feel new.

3 Organize toys by theme

This is how I like to organize toys. We have a science/sensory shelf, a shelf with games and books, a shelf for puzzles and shelves for doll props and dramatic play. This way makes the most sense to me and works best when it comes to toy rotation.

4 Toy rotation

Rotating toys is a great way to bring out older toys and to your kids, they will feel new all over again. How often you rotate toys depends on your childrens level of interest in the current toys, how much space you have and how much you plan a curriculum at home. Many homeschooling moms may rotate toys and other items depending on daily lessons or weekly themes. I’m not a homeschooling mom, so I don’t have a regular schedule for rotating toys. I change things up a bit when Rosebud loses interest or if I want to focus on a certain theme. For example, I brought out the Christmas and winter books in mid November. I will be bringing out the spring themed books soon as well as making play-dough and sensory bins related to spring. I also will bring out different themed coloring pages or arts and crafts ideas.

Speaking of arts and crafts, I use this wonderful container with dividers for collage materials.

5 Get the kids involved in toy clean Up

This is the most important thing of all. Don’t be afraid to get your children to help clean up at a young age. Children as young as one-year-old can help you put things back into bins or put items on a shelf. This helps children feel a sense of ownership for their toys and other items. They will feel good accomplishing a task. Clean up is also a good lesson in tream work. If we work together, we can get things done faster. If we work together, we can keep our home clean and organized. If your children start cleaning up at a young age, they are more likely to help you keep their toys organized as they grow.

Rosebud will pitch in and help with clean up most of the time. There have been the natural consequences of losing toys because they were all thrown together and not put back where they would normally go. Overall, she has adapted to grouping things together and everything has its place.

What is the toy situation in your home? How do you organize toys? Tell me in the comments.

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Personal Development

Are You Valuing You?

August 26, 2020

Are you valuing your value?

Let that sink in. Do you really see your value and are you allowing others to see it?

To figure this out, reflect on how you respond to people and the boundaries you set. In friendships or relationships

Are people respectful of your time and how do you respond?

Do you drop plans for people or do you expect to be contacted in a reasonable amount of time?

If people flake out on you, do you bother to get back with them?

Once in a while is fine and understandable, but if this is a patern for you, you may have some work to do.

Valuing Your Time

If you value your own time, others will as well. Of course, being flexible is a wonderful trait to have. There may be times when people contact you last minute to get together or people may make you wait. If this is a constant for you, you may want to look at your schedule and how valuable your time is. This is one way to create boundaries and know that your time is valuable. You don’t have to say yes to everything especially if it interferes with your schedule.

Ask yourself these questions to know if the request is that important.

Do I really want to do this or do I feel obligated?

Is this person/activity a priority?

Will it fit in with my current schedule?

Will doing this make me feel good or will I feel tired or drained?

Surrounding Yourself with Positivity

Do those closest to you respect where you are in life?

This is important. Are your family and friends interested, excited or positive about what you do? Of course, not everyone is going to be interested in everything, but if your friends can’t show some positivity or encouragement, maybe it’s time to rethink the relationship. If you feel dragged down, devalued or drained after a meeting with this person, perhaps they don’t see your value.

This goes for relationships as well. Does your partner value your characteristics? If you are driven, successful, inteligent etc, is your partner turned off by that. If he or she is the right person for you, they wouldn’t be. I’m speaking from experience here, but if your partner doesn’t value your goals, who you are and the path that you are on in life, it’s definitely time to move on.

Make Yourself a Priority

Finally, do you value you?

I mean do you really? Do you give your goals and dreams the time and attention they deserve? Do you make time for these things in your schedule or do you put them on the back burner because you are too busy taking care of kids, being a wife/girlfriend, cooking and cleaning or doing a meaningless job that you are constantly on the verge of quitting? If you are, it’s time to look at your values.

Grab a notebook and start brainstorming with these four questions.

What are your top five goals?

What are your values?

How do your goals reflect those values?

What is one step you can take today to move you towards accomplishing at least one goal?

The step can be very small. For example, if your goal is to start a blog, one step would be to brainstorm name ideas. Step number two could be to purchase a domain. If you don’t know what a domain is, then your step number two would be to research on domains. If one of your goals is to read four books per month, then your first step could be to choose a book. Next step, read five pages. You get the idea. It doesn’t matter which goal you choose to work on, but make it something valuable to you. Once you start seeing the value in yourself, others will follow suit.

Are you an overwhelmed mom who doesn’t know where to start? Have you lost yourself and don’t even know what your goals or values are anymore? If so, I’d love to help you. Schedule a discovery call with me and we can discuss strategies that will help you feel like that valuable mama I know you are!

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Productivity

Delegate or Delete

July 15, 2020

Whether you are a working mom or a stay at home mom, there are never enough hours in the day to complete that never ending todo list. It’s filled with work, cooking, cleaning, running Aaron’s and the endless tasks that come with having children. Is your todo list as long at the end of the day as it is in the beginning? Are you overwhelmed by clutter and kids toys? Are you tired of feeling like you do it all? If so, it’s time to delegate or delete! Keep reading to learn why you should delegate, the benefits of deligation and how to get some much needed free time.

Why Delegate?

If you’re anything like me, you feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment from achieving your goals. My number one goal is to ensure that my daughter is well loved and has everything she needs. Part of that goal includes maintaining a clean home, cooking relatively healthy meals and running errands. Then there’s my regular day job, blogging, the coaching business etc. Not to mention the time that we spend playing because a life without play is not worth living. While playing is wonderful, it can come with the guilt of not getting to all those annoying tasks on the todo list. Giving up some of that control may feel uncomfortable, but discomfort is what helps us grow. If you’re not filling your day with time wasting tasks, you can spend your time doing things you actually enjoy.

Sometimes, there is no one else around to help, but even if there is, it’s difficult to hand over that control. The task may not be done to perfection and that can be hard to accept. My mantra has always been if you want it done right, do it yourself. Needless to say, that hasn’t served me well in the mom game. I am a single mom, so I don’t have a partner to delegate to, but there are other options. If you are a single mother as well, we may have to think outside the box, but there are ways to delegate those mundane tasks and free up some of our time. We may not have partners, but our kids can help us do many of the household chores.

Benefits of Delegation

Less stress,

More free time,

Family working as a cohesive team,

Teaches children responsibility,

Gives family members a sense of pride,

Teaches children life skills,

Responsibilities are shared making for better relationships.

How to Delegate

1. Grab a notebook and for 5-7 days write down each task you complete.

2. Put stars next to anything that can be done by someone else.

3. This is where the delete comes in. Look at your list and then put an X next to any tasks that aren’t either absolutely necessary. Especially the unnecessary tasks that you don’t enjoy. There, doesn’t that feel better?

4. Assign tasks to family members. Make a schedule or chart to help everyone remember.

5. Make a weekly schedule for things like errands, meal prepping etc. If you know you will have a busy evening coming up, plan your menu ahead of time so that you save time knowing what’s for dinner or have freezer meals prepared ahead of time. If you have errands to run, have the person go who will be closer to the store, bank etc to save on driving time.

6. If it is in your budget, you may want to hire out some of your work tasks if you run your own business.

7. Depending on your budget, you may want to invest in a cleaning service or meal delivery service.

Tasks to Delegate

Cleaning children’s rooms,

Cleaning common areas,

Organizing toys,

Shopping,

Work/office related tasks,

Children as young as 18 months old can be taught to pick up their toys. It is especially helpful for children if bins or shelves are labeled with a photo of the toys. That shows them exactly where the toys should go. Bins are great because they can be covered and stacked to save space. Depending on their age, children should be able to make their own beds, put their belongings away, put dishes in the sink or dish washer, throw trash away, take care of their personal hygiene, pack their school bag etc.

Delegating will be hard at first, but the hard road is usually the right road. Not only will you be a more productive mom, but you will be a less stressed and happier mom. Meanwhile, your children will be learning to take pride and responsibility for their belongings and home. The best part is your family will be working together as a team! What could be better than that? Do you delegate chores at your house? What chores were you able to delete from your list? Tell us in the comments.

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