Organization 101 – Lesson 5
Using Post-its to Keep Organized
This is a very quick tip that I picked up when trying to get things done around the house, with phone calls and with the many doctor’s appointments and lab tests that I have had to get done. It’s not good to run yourself ragged trying to do a million tasks in a day. I have Post-Its; they are like gold in my house. I use the small-unlined Post-Its to write down each thing that I need to do on individual post-its and I stick it to mirror that is beside my bed.
Why beside my bed? Because just before you go to sleep you always remember something that you have to do tomorrow and you might forget it by morning. So, I have the post-its there and the mirror and there you go! I never forget what needs to be done (It doesn’t mean I always do it). You could also do this with your fridge or bathroom mirror, or just the wall (the Post-It won’t hurt it, but you will need the Super Sticky small post-its if you want them to stick to the wall)
In the morning grab some Post-Its, the Super Sticky lined ones are the best for this, and write down only the # of things that will fit on the post-it, say 5-7things, that would be a good day. You also need to be careful of time, do you have time to do all of the things that you are putting on your list or can you trade some things out for something you were going to do tomorrow instead? Those are the things that must be done today and a few other things that if you have time you will get to them too. If you can accomplish all of those things then you have the rest of the day off. Don’t forget to include things like:
- Call Mom for Birthday
- Mail Bills or Pay Bills
- Check Email and respond to Friends/Family
- Vacuum House
- Take Kids to Park for an Hour
- Go to the Video Store
- Refill Prescriptions
- Make Doctor’s Appointments
- Laundry (separate wash/dry, fold and put away)
They may not seem like big things but they take up your time and energy, you can even put an estimated time next to them so that you can figure out if you have enough time to get them all done (say while the kids are at school). You need to include the small things in your list because they take away from what free time you have to yourself. This is something I am working on and I know how difficult it can be to try to do so many things in one day. Unless it’s something that you do to relax, it’s taking your energy to do it. You need to set boundaries for these things. Say that you can only give so many hours a day to other things and the rest of the time is yours and with your family.
You need time to yourself believe it or not. Just one hour a day, where you are not running around, on the phone or doing chores in time to relax and time to heal. Everyone needs this time. Without it, you will just make yourself exhausted and sick.
Then, at the end of the day before you go to sleep, remove the tasks that you have completed and add more stuff for the next day or following days. You won’t believe how you will feel when you do this. It really gives you a feeling of accomplishment. You’re actually getting things done and enjoying your day at the same time. You’re not exhausted like usual and things are getting done around the house and in your life without causing you stress. You will have time for yourself and your family at the end of the day and you will be happy with yourself over all.
Then the next day you can work on something new. Just do things the same way as before. Don’t think that because the day before you were able to do 7 things and still have free time that you should do 8 or 9 today. Keep the limit at 7 and you will find that you will be happy and so will your family. No chore is as important as a happy mom or dad. And doing too much just makes you stress and not able to function at the end of the day when the family is all together again.
Another tip, on the weekends, give everyone a chore Post-It, only 3 or 4 things for the young ones and for the adults 6 or 7 things that need to be done by the end of the weekend. No pressure, but it helps out the parent at home to get some weekly cleaning done with a little help from some extra hands. Just tell everyone they have until Sunday night to get the list done. That means no cleaning all day on Saturday or Sunday, just picking up here and there when they have the time. This also means less stress on the whole family and more time to do fun things with them on their days off.
I hope that I have helped in some way to give you a way to get organized and be a little bit less stressed about life. That is my goal after all. But remember I am no expert, I am just giving you the ideas that I came up with on my own and they work for me, that’s all I know.