You probably have a handle on how to organize your own time at this stage of your life-but if you don’t it’s now time to get organized! Either way, your life will be changing soon & so will the way you organize your time. Use these months of planning/pregnancy to enhance your time management skills. You should definitely be:
- Using an agenda / Smartphone
- You need to have a place where you keep all your info- phone numbers, dr’s appointments, expense log, shopping list, etc. If you are using an electronic device- make sure to back it up regularly (at least once weekly).
- Using a wall calendar.
- Get in the habit of marking appointment or time-sensitive things-to-do on a wall calendar that is easily accessible at-a-glance. An agenda is great for planning but a busy mom’s entire morning can often pass without a fleeting moment to look for that Agenda or Smartphone (& where is my purse anyway?). Getting in the habit of checking a calendar in an easily accessible area e.g. Kitchen wall, will help a lot. Looking for a calendar that fits?
- Menu Planning! This will help keep you organized in so many ways! It will:
- get you out of that “what’s for dinner tonight?” rut that usually hits between 4-5 pm.
- eliminate the last-minute takeout which, nutritionally speaking, is not always ideal.
- save you money by lessening dependence on take-out & also, when you know in advance what you plan to buy for the week, you will shop accordingly. montrealmom.com also offers a shopping list that is linked to our menu plan so if you follow the menu plan you just print out your shopping list for the week & you’re done!
- Block off a specific window of time for those “it just takes a few minutes” things. When we know something just takes a few minutes, we often say “I’ll get to it later”. That may be an option now but when baby comes around, these are the things that often slip through the cracks & before you know it, the visa payment is late & you’ve missed the deadline to apply for a program. Examples of things to set time aside for:
- Phone calls
- Emails
- Paying bills
- Going through the mail
There are also loads of apps to help keep you organized & on track…Take some time to research them now and see what you like 🙂 If you have any favourites, please leave me a note in the Comments section – I’d love to hear about them!
Tanya
