Even though the weather wants to convince us otherwise, it’s finally fall! For people like me, this is the best time of year; but for many others, fall means waving goodbye to summer vacations, lounging on the beach, soaking in the sun, long, sunny days, and time spent with family and friends. With the fall comes a lot of stressors, especially if you have children. So, how do you balance it all? What should you know going into the season of (typically) cooler weather, darker and shorter days, never-ending stacks of homework and school events, and so many holidays - all while allowing yourself time to do what you want to do?! In a multi-post series, we’re going to talk about how to make the transition into fall and the holiday season as seamless as possible, with our first post digging into organization - a hot topic on this blog!
If you have kids, school is back in full-gear - including clubs, sports, and after-school activities. They have homework and projects, assemblies and field trips, play dates and birthday parties...it’s a lot to manage.
If you work for the University, you know how busy this time of year is. From now through January, everything seems to be put into high-gear and the days seem to go by so fast (even though it also feels painfully slow at the same time).
Taking the time to organize and plan is essential if you don’t want to get caught up in all the noise. Here are some tips from the pros/organization fanatics like myself:
1. There are three main ways to plan - and you should learn how to do each.
Monthly planning
Get a big whiteboard or chalkboard calendar to hang up where everyone in the house can access it. Write in any (and all) important dates for the month: birthdays, holidays, after-school activities, soccer games, concerts, parties...anything where pickup time for the kids might be different than usual, where you’ll need a babysitter, etc. Target has a ton of affordable dry-erase and chalkboard calendars in various styles and sizes.
Weekly planning
Weekly planning is especially useful for balancing your work schedule, but also important if you like/want to meal plan. In a personal planner, take the time once a week (Sundays are usually the best!) to write in your meetings for the week, any notes or reminders (kids have an upcoming test in school? Need to make an appointment for your car to be serviced? etc.), and your meal plan for the week. Now, if you’ve never meal planned before and want to start, definitely take a look at The Little Honey Bee blog. Amy breaks down her process and even publishes some of her favorite recipes.
There are a ton of planners out there and they greatly range in pricing. If you like something pretty that essentially tells you everything you should be planning for the week, Emily Ley’s planners are wonderful. If you’re crafty and like to customize, Michaels has everything (and I mean everything!!). If you want something simple without all the bells and whistles, Amazon has plenty of simple and affordable planners.
Daily planning
I am a huge proponent of daily planning. It’s not for everyone since it can be monotonous and nit-picky; but I find it really useful for work. Essentially, you break down your day into hourly segments by setting goals and planning your day in a way where you are working towards achieving those goals. Most of the planners mentioned above will have a day-to-day breakdown; but if you need some more variety, the Paper Source has some beautiful planners to help you set and achieve your daily goals.
2. You’re not the only one that should plan -- so should the kids!
It’s early in the school year, so there’s still hope to develop good school habits! Just like you, your kids should have a planner that they bring to school to write down homework, due dates, tests, etc. Parents.com has a great article about how to help your kids establish good homework habits - ranging from when and where to do homework to setting rules and boundaries. Once they get on board with keeping themselves organized, you'll no longer have to micromanage - ultimately freeing up time for yourself.
If you're looking for a good planner that's kid-approved, take a look at Planners4Kids. These planners are customizable, colorful, and include guidelines on how to use the planner in the front cover.
3. Plan time for yourself
I’m not kidding. You’re probably reading this post right now thinking - how the heck am I supposed to do all this planning, go to work, take care of what I need to at home, and have time for myself?! To that I say: it’s not as bad as it seems. If you’ve ever taken any courses in education or developmental psychology, you’ve probably heard the term scaffolding used to describe a series of activities to support learning new concepts by building on previous knowledge. All of these different types of planning can be viewed as scaffolding - each type, though increasingly more detailed, builds on each other to help you ultimately achieve your goal and (ideally) create more time in your schedule (you won’t be in ten places at once because you’ll have it all planned out perfectly!).
So, take time for yourself. Schedule it in if you need to. Go for a long walk along the D&R canal and take in the fall scenery; take a nap; sit on the porch and read a book (maybe one for the WPN bookclub?!); or, if you’re an organization nut like me, shop for a new planner or planner accessories. There’s a lovely quote from Bryant McGill that sums it up pretty well:
“Your calm mind is the ultimate weapon against your challenges. So relax.”
How do you find balance during this time of year? Do you have any useful organizational strategies that have helped you? How do you make time for yourself? Comment and share below!
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