New Year, New You…A New Series on Getting Organized!

There are TONS of areas in our lives that need organization. As a working from home, homeschooling mom, I’m always looking for resources and ideas to get organized. What better time than a new year to reset your priorities, get motivated, and address those areas of your life that feel out of control?

I am excited to start this series with you. We’re going to share tons of ideas – from organizing Trim Healthy Mama with meal plans and menus, homeschooling schedules, cleaning schedules, routines, and more! I’ve been hard at work on free printables to help  you even more!

At the end of the series, I plan to give away an Erin Condren Life Planner. You won’t want to miss out on that! So stick with me as we tackle one area at a time, and we’ll get organized together! (Giveaway is now closed)

Part I – Organizing your Week (Update: Part 2 , Part 3 , Part 4, and Part 5 are available now! Free printables, Trim Healthy Mama menus, and more!)

There are two books (aside from the Bible) that have changed my life as a wife and mom. Those books have shaped who I am, how I behave, and how I run my house.

The first is Created to be His Helpmeet, by Debi Pearl.  Before I read this book, I definitely had a case of the mommies towards my husband (and I didn’t even have kids yet!). I was a mother-wife instead of a loving wife. I didn’t want him to go out with friends without me, I told him he couldn’t do things that he enjoyed, I nitpicked about his spending and eating habits…well, you get the picture, and it wasn’t pretty! Reading this book changed my heart, and I came under major conviction, which I’m convinced saved my marriage as it was just getting started. My husband is much happier now that I act like his wife, not his mother, and we have both Created to be His Helpmeet and the Holy Spirit to thank for that!

The second book, and more directly related to organizing, is Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman. Sadly, this life changing book is not available for sale new until spring of this year, according to the author. But if you can get your hands on a used copy, or a friend’s copy, DO IT!!! You won’t regret it!

Large Family Logistics outlines a simple way to organize every week that has vastly changed the way my family operates. Kim suggests allotting one day per week to major jobs. In my house, it looks like this:

Here is a free printable to keep track of your own weekly tasks: Download

Monday – Laundry Day – wash, fold, and put away the laundry (you may need to do more loads throughout the week, but do the bulk of it on Monday!), clean the laundry room/laundry area.

**Update** Here’s a new, free laundry schedule printable! I use this so that my older kids know which laundry day is theirs. Monday is always my day to do laundry for me, my husband, and the little ones, and the bigger kids have their own laundry days. Our rule is that they have to be done with their laundry by 6pm so I can get one more load in each day throughout the week (a must with a bigger family). I also have Friday reserved for sheets and towels. Download 

Tuesday – Office Day – Pay bills, sort and put away mail and paperwork, fill out forms, budget, make grocery lists, cut coupons, etc.

Wednesday – Errand Day – Schedule lessons, doctor’s appointments, etc. on this day, and get your grocery shopping done while you’re out. The night before, we pack lunches, set out everything we’ll need for the day (including coloring books for the little ones), and plan to be out for awhile. If we can come home and take naps in between activities it’s a great bonus!

Thursday – Cooking Day – This is the day I do the bulk of my Trim Healthy Mama cooking. I make snacks, muffins for the kids, and a freezer meal. I also choose one cabinet, one drawer, and one refrigerator shelf to deep clean on this day.

Friday – Cleaning Day – On Fridays we deep clean bedrooms and bathrooms in addition to regular chores. This is also the day that I choose one project from A Bowl Full of Lemons 14 Week Challenge and get some extra organizing done.

Saturday & Sunday – sometimes we might do some yard work on Saturday, but generally we don’t schedule anything besides church on those two days. I got the idea of keeping those days as blank days to relax from blogger Heidi St. John, and it really is refreshing to have two days with not much to do!

Large Family Logistics has some great tips and ideas for the details of each day. As I get into more details on planning your days and routines in this blog series, I’ll give you some new ideas on what exactly you can do to be better organized (for example, what types of things to prepare on your Cooking Day to make Trim Healthy Mama (and mealtime in general) easier to do.

In the next post, we’ll tackle Organizing Your Meals and talk about easy meals for the kids, meals for a mom on the run, and a two-week Trim Healthy Mama menu with directions. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, here’s a free printable weekly scheduler to keep track of your major task (I advise picking just one!) for each day of the week.

Printable Weekly Schedule (You may want to print in black and white)

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