Happy Tuesday, Girls!!
Today I want you to think about game-changers in your life. I’m not talking about those HUGE moments…like meeting your husband, having a baby, or becoming a Christian. I’m talking about those small game-changers. The little things you changed up a bit that made your life a little bit easier. I’m sharing my Top Three and then I’m hoping you share yours with us in the comments. 🙂
#1 Laundry
The first game-changer is laundry. And this is a new one. I’ve struggled with this since I’ve been doing my own laundry UNTIL our last move. I changed my laundry mind set and it’s helped so much. Here’s my secret….do a load of laundry everyday. Wash it, dry it, and put it away. It’s that simple, ladies! I throw a load in the washer in the morning. Sometime later I switch it, and then in the afternoon or evening (whatever works for my schedule) I fold and put the load away. It’s SO much easier than letting the laundry pile up and having tons of clothes to wash and put away. Try it! Seriously!!
#2 Set that alarm
I’ve started waking up about an hour and a half before I get my kiddos up for school. In this time I have my quiet time, get some work done on the computer, check blogs, start my laundry, and I get myself ready for the day. This helps me just feel better about not being behind when I get the kids up. If you’re not a morning person, that’s okay….but maybe set an alarm to work for an hour after the kids go to bed?
#3 Write it down
My memory is the size of a nut. I’m talking a teeny peanut…not a large walnut or acorn. At the weirdest times and most random locations I’ll think of something I need to do so I’ve started just jotting down stuff in the notes section of my phone. At any given time, I might have a to-do list, grocery list, AND a menu for the week going on in there but it helps me remember things. My brain will let me down every time. I have a planner where I’ll add stuff as well, but I don’t carry it with me all the time. The phone is the perfect place to keep something that I think of at two in the morning when I wake up and remember Nixon needs a baby picture for school. 🙂
Now it’s your turn! My hope is that we’ll share these small game-changers and help each other out! What have you changed up recently that really made your life easier?? PLEASE SHARE!!!
You should check out Emily Ley's Simplified planner app. I LOVE it! There is a To Do list section that I use daily for Groceries, work items, and even goals. It also syncs with your phone calendar. It's $5 but it is worth every penny!
Thanks so much for the recommendation!!! I'll check it out!
I really need to implement your laundry idea to my life! I let it pile up then it takes the whole weekend to get it done! yuk!
Linds @ Not A Mom
Girl! I did the same thing and then it became a HUGE pile that made me crazy! I feel your pain!!
These are awesome game changers!! Great advice!!
Thank you!!
Waking up early has always been my game changer too! I feel so accomplished in the morning and not rushed. Even though it would be nice to sleep in, I feel like waking up and being productive really outweighs the sleep.
I'm gonna say you peer pressured me into it. Haha!!! But I'm so glad you did!!!
Once a week I make a goal to organize or deep clean an area in the house to finish that week. For example organize the pantry with new bins/labels, clean out the kids' closet for the new season, or find a new rug for the kitchen. I was getting so overwhelmed having two small kids and not being able to get much done. So I found that if I get one extra thing done per week (other than the usual cleaning/laundry/picking up), I feel SO much better about another (fast) week passing by. Great post Erika!! Have a great Tuesday!
I'm with you on doing laundry once a day! For mud I have found that feeding the kids dinner before marks gets home works best for us it stinks we don't eat together during the week. But he gets home at almost 7 and I've found our nights run so much smoother of the kids are already fed , bathed and homework done by the time he gets home!
I need to start doing the laundry one. Because right now there's a load in the dryer that needs to be fluffed again, and there's wet laundry in the washer that needs to go in the dryer (after it's been rinsed last night)…it's been sitting there since late last night because I fell asleep and never moved it. Awesome.
Brianna-great idea!!! I remember that feeling of never having enough time with littles at home. You're right…game changer!!!
Kimm-you totally have to do what works for your family! Glad you've figured something out that makes nights go smoothly.
Love this post!! I absolutely live by having an organized and well thought out routine for every day tasks.
My advice would be: make the bed as soon as you get up (to me, a made bed makes the house feel more put together); set the table for dinner in the morning; lay out everyone's clothes the night before (I even do this for my husband); have lunches made the night before; do 2 loads of laundry every day (whites and colors); go through the mail as it comes into the house (throwing out junk mail and putting the putting the mail you need to deal with in a specific place); add to your grocery list as you notice something is empty or almost empty, so that by the time you need to go, the list is already completed (I also do this for Walmart/Target type shopping trips); unpack a suitcase as soon as it comes in the house (my husband travels every week so this is a necessity for me); stamp and address all envelopes at the beginning of the month (birthday card's, etc…), that way nothing is ever forgotten. I could go on and on!!
I realize I am way more into organization than most people. Just a few minor changes though, can make a day run much smoother.
You are speaking my language!
Although I do towels one day a week, clothes another day, and bed sheets another day. I like doing clothes all in one day because it makes me stay home, get things done here, and just enjoy the quiet/alone time in my house!
Wendy, do you have an organization blog? I loved all your ideas!
Since I work full time I make sure to run the dishwasher every morning before we leave. I also make school lunches the night before and backpacks are easy and waiting for us at the door.
Note Everything is another great app. And it's free!
I don't love the laundry thing, because I can't get it washed and dried before I leave for hte day, so then it gets smelly in my washer through the day. I just do laundry once a week – but don't let it sit, wash, dry, fold and put away. No piles undone at our house. I agree on getting up early – I get up, quiet time, walk dog and work out all before my kids are up and it makes a world of a difference. Also – I make lists even after I have already done something just so I can cross it off my list!! Ha!
My other game changer is to set out anything needed for the next day the night before – lunch boxes, baseball clothes, gymnastics leotard, books, etc. whatever it may be is ready to go before I head to bed the night before!
I have two game changers. I have two dry erase magnetic boards on my
refrigerator and one has the grocery list and one has a weekly menu. Seen it
done millions of times but, the menu takes stress of dinner off for the day, I
can do any prep work before and have everything I need. The kids love it too as
my 9 year old helps me "fancy" it up. The menu takes the stress out of the most
import a time of the night.
About a month ago, I started following Clean
Mama's blog a housecleaning routine. Each day takes me 15-20 minutes, and my
house is so much more organized. It helps me to focus on 1 task and rock it
out. I have always tried to clean the whole house at one time and it exhausted
me.
If I find that I'm just not getting it done like I need to I put my shoes on. Crazy I know but apparently I'm more productive with shoes on.
I really need to follow the one load a day trick. Laundry can be so overwhelming when I get behind…HA! 😉
I totally agree with the laundry! Seeing it pile up makes me want to do it less and less and I usually end up leaving it longer because it is overwhelming. Putting a load in as I get up , then drying it before I leave the house to do errands and by the time I come back it is ready to be folded so much easier and doesn't seem as much when I am splitting it up.
Another game changer is the crock pot not having to slave over the oven and having my meals prepped and cooked is the best, so is left overs.
Setting out my clothes, prepping my lunch and packing my purse the night before is also a must so I am not rushing in the morning!
Love these ideas!! Once we can unpack (hopefully soon!) I need to implement some!
My game changer is my planner… last year I bought my first Erin Condren Life Planner and it now holds my entire life… having a physical place to jot down appointments, meetings, to do's, projects, etc. is something I've always done, but this planner has really taken it to the next level! I highly recommend it!
I love a to do list try to app shop shop its my favorite and its always on your phone and u can mark things off create several lists whichever! its free to! have a great week!
Great laundry tip! I just wrote a similar post today on my blog with 10 tips to working at home! They are definite game changers for me as it's hard to get it all done in a day!
After my 3rd baby I had to start doing all these things! I make a daily to do list on my marker Board. It helps so much and then I'm not running around at night trying to get cleaned up… Love doing laundry daily, that's a big game changer!
We could be best friends!! I'm not a morning person but I've started getting up earlier to go workout, which is has helped tremendously! I need to get up earlier the days I don't go. The other two things you suggested, I already do as well. The laundry was major game changer for me too! I don't feel so bogged down with laundry now. I've been doing it like that for a while and I love it!
I love your laundry one, I need to do that! I'm a huge to-do list person too! My game changer is making smoothie prep bags and freeze them every Sunday. I love having healthy smoothies in the morning, but they're time consuming so now I prep them every Sunday and freeze them. In the morning now I just grab a frozen bag, throw it in the blender and it's done! It really helps me stay on track with starting my day being healthy!
Whenever I'm on the phone at home, I use that time to straighten or declutter or organize – a drawer, a closet (even a partial one), a bookshelf. I agree on the laundry – waiting until the weekend is just all kinds of wrong.
I love the idea to do a load of laundry today! It's just me and my husband – no tiny humans -so there's truly no excuse for Mount Laundry…except by the time I remember I need to do laundry at the end of a week of work for both of us, school for him, coaching for me, and managing our my business, it's just too exhausting to consider! He works from home once a week and helps me get caught up but by the next week it seems to be back where it's started. If I would just wake up when he does instead of sleeping in for an hour I think I could do that, easy peasy. Thanks for sharing!
I love to sleep. Like I. Love. Sleep. My new job as a para educator requires me to wake up at 5:45 and I LOVE IT. I'm an empty nester so I wish I would have discovered this as a young mamma like you. I love my sunrise drive to the elementary school.
Great game changers and it's always easier to do a little a long than let it pile up. And, I always got up extremely early when I had children at home and still get up fairly early just because I am so productive in the early morning and generally dwindle as the day goes by. :o)) Happy rest of the week!
I do the daily laundry thing as well; however, I learned that if I only do one person's laundry at a time, I eliminate the need to sort & thus save lots of time in the process. Each family member has a laundry basket in their closet (me & hubs share), so the laundry is already sorted by person when it's brought to the laundry room. Mon is me+hubs, Thurs is my daughter, Fri is my son. Tuesdays are towels and sheets. No more Mount Laundry and I only have to do laundry 4 days per week.
The load of laundry once a day is totally a game changer for me! I got caught up this week, and today I'm like "I don't have anything to wash. This is weird." And I definitely would never remember anything if I didn't write it down! Great tips!
Hi Kelly…I don't have a blog, although I have thought about having one from time to time. Organization has always come incredibly easy to me (my mom often says that at 18 months old, I picked out my own clothes, everything matched and organized my toys). I have cleaned and organized family, friends and neighbors houses. I even got my awesome job in Wash DC as an assistant to a man who I call the Ben Franklin of our time because of this skill. You can email me at reagan499@yahoo.com if you have any specific questions about organization that you might need help with.
My phone has also been a game changer for me. I would always think of things after I laid down at night or when I was somewhere without my planner. Now, I make notes as needed and if it is vital, I also set a reminder to prompt me to look at the list.
Great ideas!