The last two weekends have been the busiest we have had in over a year and it has thrown me a bit. While I would never wish to be in lockdown again, it is a bit of a shock to spend most of Saturday running around dropping kids off and picking kids up from places. Autumn/winter is always the busiest time for us as a family on weekends. Lots of footy of different codes across both days of the weekend. Add in extra play rehearsals, birthday parties and social commitments and the weekends are very full.
Despite the running around it is causing, I am really glad the kids (big and small) are back playing sport. I am glad they are having fun with friends, participating in extracurricular activities and socialising. What it has highlighted to me though, is how key my plans and processes are. For example, with much less on, I was just doing my weekly meal prep as I thought of it over the weekend. I didn’t plan it out as I have previously done because I had quite a bit of time to do it. I can guarantee you that I am not taking that approach this weekend! While I did get some basic meal prep completed (you can see it on my FB page here), focusing mainly on items for kids’ lunches and general additional “grab, heat and go” food for the family, I very much needed more food prepped for me over the last couple of weeks.
Setting the foundations
I have found that part of re-adjusting to family life in the post COVID-19 environment means looking at what systems and plans you have in place to give you a good foundation of organisation to work from. While you cannot plan or choreograph every element of family life, there are constants in family life that we know we have to do each day or each week. Here is a shortlist of just some of the things that we know we need to:
- Cook for the family
- Shop for the family
- Eat with the family
- Clean the house
- Do the washing
- Ensure kids are at childcare/kinder/school on time and picked up as needed
- Supervise homework
- Spend time with the family
These are things that we can plan for, can create routines for, can delegate activities to other people to help us with and can schedule into our weeks. This allows us to set a solid foundation of organisation for us and the family. This solid foundation means that when kids get sick, when we have extra work commitments or our partner has to go away for work (that happens again now!) we are in a much better position to absorb this and manage it without too much stress.
What to do the foundations look like?
The key elements of home organisation include the following:
- A morning routine for you
- A morning routine for the kids
- Menu planning
- A night time routine for you
- A night time routine for the kids
- Allocating household tasks to all family members
- Routines for homework and device usage
- An effective calendar system
These routines, plans and systems do require some work to set up but once in place they will not only save you stress, they will also save you time and money!
Need help adjusting or setting these routines and plans?
If you would like some help adjusting or setting these routines and plans for your family, then join the upcoming round of Planned + Present. This will be the 11th time I have run the Planned + Present e-course and I love seeing how it not only helps mums organise home and family life more but how it improves their happiness and quality of life as they are not feeling so stressed or feeling like they are constantly chasing their own tail. Here are a just a few reflections from happy members of the course:
Planned and Present is an online course, spread over seven weeks, and you’ll learn the strategies and find out the tools and resources I have used to allow me to stay organised at home while still having time to enjoy my family. You will learn:
- How to analyse your time use with the the 80/20 principle
- How to set a single focused goal to keep you on track at home
- The science behind habits and how to set up habits to achieve your goal
- The six essential routines for the home to save you time, energy and money
- Processes to set up to allow you to be present with your family, instead of the worker bee
- How to track, tweak & repeat this process as family life changes so you can stay organised
I’ve distilled 22 years of my parenting and productivity experiences into one easy-to-follow 7 week course. Raising a family isn’t easy, and trying to remain present with your kids, keep the home organised and be there for your partner… well at times it can feel overwhelming.
Planned and Present can take you from feeling overwhelmed and out of control to organised and under control.
Be quick – grab the early bird pricing!
It has been some time since I have run an early bird special for Planned + Present and I have never had an early bird offer this good! Be quick to take advantage of this offer as it ends Sunday 16th May 2021! There are two options:
- Guided – this option allows you lifetime access to the course along with lifetime access to our supportive Facebook Group. Each week for seven weeks I host a Facebook Live where I go further into each topic and do a Q&A to help support and guide members through the course. This option is usually $179, but for a few days only it will be only $99. The guided course will officially start on Monday 24th May, but if you want to nab the early bird price you need to sign up by Sunday 16th May 2021.
- Self paced – this option allows you lifetime access to the course and you follow along with the weekly emails that direct you through the course. This option is usually $149, but for a few days only it will be only $69. Registrations close on Monday 24th May, but if you want to nab the early bird price you need to sign up by Sunday 16th May 2021.
Head to the Planned + Present E-course website for more details.