When your life is more organized, you will find that you spend more days glad and much fewer days feeling stressed. You can reduce or avoid altogether these common stressors in life by getting yourself organized. Stressors like, time wasted looking for misplaced items. Regretting missed appointments. Wondering what you should cook for dinner that night and if you have all the ingredients that you will need. Trying to keep straight in your mind the different activities, the kids will need chauffeuring to in the week ahead. Hoping that you will remember to pick up your dress and his suit jacket from the dry cleaners in time for that party the both of you are attending next weekend.
The list of things that can stress you out and that are as a direct result of disorganization in your life could go on for pages. I do not think it is necessary to try to list them all anyway as I am sure you can either relate to the ones I have listed, or readily come up with a list of your own of stressors in your life that could be decreased or eliminated with a little organization. I think that we can all agree that more days filled with glad than days ruled by stress are far better for us all. I decide to make this post today because Sunday afternoons are a good time for most people to organize various things for the week ahead so that you can have more glad days and fewer days of stress.
Designate a place for keeping your car keys, checkbook, stationary and stamps, kid’s book bags, shoes and jackets, sports equipment, etc. Then remember to put things back in their designated spot after use so you will know exactly where they are the next time that you want to use them, and you will not have to spend time searching all over the house for them.
You can sit down with weekly sales ads from your local grocery store(s) and plan your meals for the week as well as build your shopping list. Do not forget to look through your Sunday paper for grocery coupons you can use to reduce your food bills. Sundays are also good for many people for cooking some meals ahead of time to freeze and then pop into the microwave or oven for quick meal fixed during the week.
You can set up a family calendar board to hang in a prominent place where everyone will see it and list important appointments like dental and doctor visits, and school and business meetings, as well as the activities that family members will be doing during the week. You can use different colored markers for each family member to help them find at a glance what they are doing that day. Give family members the responsibility of adding any new appointments and extra curricular activities that prop up throughout the week. It is a good idea for them to draw a star or another symbol in front of any new entry, so that other family members will notice it and understand it to be a newly added to the family calendar board.
Plan chores for the week and assign them to family members. You can create a chore board for this or just add them to your family calendar board. This way everyone will know what their responsibilities are in helping to keep the house tidied, and other things like making sure the trash is placed out by the curb on trash day gets done during the week. Doing a few chores every day could mean less time playing catch up on Saturdays, and more time for family fun on the weekends.
Sundays afternoons are a good time to balance your checkbook and write out checks for bills due that week. Place checks with their corresponding payment slips into envelopes and affix the appropriate postage to them. Now they will be ready for dropping off at the post office on your way to work one day this week.
Lay out a few days worth or an entire week’s worth of outfits for the kids to wear to school or to play in so that you will not have to mess with picking out clothes on a busy morning. If you are worried about wrinkles developing, hang outfits on different colored hangers for each day of the week in the closet, so that you or your child can grab the outfit for that day quickly in the morning when dressing. You might find that this works so well in eliminating arguments and hassles with getting the kids dressed every morning that you will want to do the same with your work clothes for the week.
Check your child’s school bag to ensure you have signed all papers needing your signature before your child takes them back to school to give to his or her teacher. Place extra gym clothes and other things your child will need during the week into their school bag. Do not forget to write dates of upcoming school parties and treats you are to supply for those parties on your calendar board so you will not forget them. Children should place all their schoolbooks and school supplies into their school bags and place them near the front door, or a designated spot, for fast retrieval of them on the way to the bus stop in the mornings. Do the same with your briefcase or workbag, so that you have everything you need for the office or work when you head out the door each morning.
After planning and organizing your week ahead, late Sunday afternoons are also perfect for treating yourself and your family to a special treat like an ice cream cone, or a family bike ride around the neighborhood. With more organization in your life now, you are certain to have more glad days in your life, than those stress-filled days none of us enjoys having.
No comments:
Post a Comment