organizing those busy schedules

I know you all think I’m organized and have it all together, right? HA. Not so. If I don’t write things down, it’s gone forever. Lost into the vast wasteland that is my brain! I have post it notes everywhere, and calendars for everyone in the family and a master calendar. With school coming up so fast, its time to get it together and get all those appointments written down, birthdays written down and other important dates. Get yourself a big white board calendar. You can use different colors for each child. With sports practices, and games, and fund raising events, and dr. and dentist appointments…good gracious, it’s too much to keep inside my frazzled brain! Don’t wait to mark things down till later, believe me you will forget! Keep it simple. Don’t go into a frenzy of spread sheets and graphs. All you need is a simple calendar.

A White board is great, different color markers for different people in the house, and a smaller calendar to put future dates on. Each month just take the smaller calendar and add them to the white board. You can use the white board for strictly the kids and their events, and use a smaller calendar for you and your husband, and for birthdays of friends, relatives etc. If you can find a white dry erase board with a corkboard attachment or magnet attachment, grab it. It’s perfect for the forms and permission slips your kids will be bringing home. Do not try and magnet all these things to your refrigerator. It will just end up lost and looks messy and overwhelming. So let’s get organized now, before we get unorganized!

Folders can be useful too if that’s what works for you. Have a binder for each child with their friends phone numbers, their sports schedule, homework or project schedule, pemission slips etc. You can go through it each night to review and get ready for the next day. Remember to keep your childrens papers separate from your papers and from the bills. Each member of your family should have their own space for these things. Don’t forget there are many websites that can be used to set up reminders. One cute site that’s free right now for the first 3 months is BigDates.com. You’ll get your own personal assistant Dottie, who will text message your phone with reminders of Dr. appts, anniversaries, birthdays and other important dates. Stay on top of things, write down appointments, and keep things organized and you will have a smooth school year. And your children will have a successful school year!