Most mothers are organised and all mothers have a way of being organised that is different from the next. My own mother is always giving me tips and advice on how to do little things better, which I appreciate fully. Today I’m sharing some tips on some little ways you can easily get more organised than a mother (the mum next door, your own mother or someone else’s mother) and feel very chuffed about your superb new motherly organisational skills.
Here are some quick tips on how to easily get more organised than a mother.
Do birthday cards and presents for the year
Firstly, buying birthday presents and gift cards can be real pain. For many, this involves going off to a mall or store, fighting traffic, finding a park, going into the store, searching for a gift, searching for wrapping, and buying a card. This also involves paint parking on the way out, driving home, wrapping the gift, writing the card and getting it to your recipient either by post or personally.
Seriously? What a painful experience this is. So it makes sense to me that this job should be done in bulk each year at a time of year that suits you. Winter is good. There’s always more time (and money!) in winter for organisation and projects.
Here’s what to do:
Firstly, set up a small cupboard of wrapped boys and girls’ toys – according to your own children’s ages. This way when you have to buy a present for a birthday party (rather than go through the hassle above), you can simply delve into your little cupboard of packed presents and pick a gift.
Seems thoughtless? Not really. You’ll still be picking nice gifts out – just all at once.
For adults and family members write a list and do the same. Have them ready to go in a cupboard. Set reminders on your phone / calendar and all you’ll have to do is send or deliver the gifts personally.
Get groceries automatically sent each week
Think about visiting sites like Aussiefarmersdirect.com.au. These guys deliver fruit and veggie boxes, milk and bread, meat and numerous other items to your home each week and on autopilot. This is another ‘set and forget’ scenario, which is also great for budgeting and time management. I now hear they have a service where you can choose what vegetables go into the boxes, which is really handy for customers.
Set up chores and charts for everyone
Another way to get more organised than a mother is to outsource chores around the house to other people. Avoid being the ‘house help’ and let the cleaners come to you. Think about my system, which is having a dump box for everybody. Each person must clear their box every night as part of their evening chore list. Offer children pocket money or a reward system for their efforts.
Outsource little tasks to a virtual assistant
There are plenty of pesky little jobs in life that none of us like to do. I usually put these in my ‘too hard’ basket. These are the things I’m constantly procrastinating over. The reason I put them there because I’d rather be doing something else.
Did you know that a virtual assistant can cost as little as $8 per hour?
Think about what your time is worth and how much extra time you would have to do more important things – like spending time with the kids or on a business venture. Let a virtual assistant (online PA) do the job for you so you can live a little.
Have a spot for everything
Homes get dirty when there’s nowhere to put anything. I can vouch for this fact because this year, my 1800mm x 1800mm super large storage cupboard was lost to our renovation project (my idea) – so now I’ve screwed myself in terms of cleaning. It was a hard trade-off.
Even if you don’t have a lot of storage there are still ways you can make it all happen. I’m talking containers, storage boxes, portable organisational systems, filing systems and more.
I’ve now found new spots for items in my home and the sanity is starting to return thankfully.
Get people doing stuff for you – delegate
On a final note, start delegating. Admit that life is too short to be working 24/7 and delegate tasks to people at home. People don’t know you need help until you tell them and they’re not mind readers. Since they love you, I’m sure they don’t want you to be sad and stressed. Show them the alternative sad face if you have to and they’ll get the picture. No-one wants to hang out with a grouch.
Once they see how much happier you are now that you’ve got help, I’m sure they’ll be willing to keep helping. They might be more happy to do jobs than you think anyway – but a little training does go a long way and may be necessary. Put the hard training yards in now and they’ll pay you back tenfold.
Got tips on being more organised than a mother? Leave them on my FB page.