5 things we do to stay organised, healthy, centred and on top of life in a busy and full world
I was recently asked how I stay centred with so many things going on and with all the roles that I have, so thought I'd share my top tips for managing life and staying healthy with a full schedule.
I Plan my meals for the week and write a shopping list
Every week I set aside time to plan out my meals for the following week. I look at our week and figure out what nights I'll have limited time to cook, which nights I'll have time to cook extras and what nights will give us enough leftovers for lunches. Some choose to meal prep lunches, instead I just like to cook extra at dinner time. This removes the decision fatigue of having to think about what to cook each night, check I have the ingredients and go to the shops everyday. I also plan snacks, this helps make sure that there is always something to eat when on the run and reduces the likelihood of picking up not so healthy snacks.
I have days scheduled for when I'll do house work.
There is nothing worse than getting to the weekend and realizing that you have 10 loads of washing to do, the house needs a full clean and that you have no food in the house. Instead I have days where I do different things. Mondays I clean bathrooms, wash sheets and towels, Tuesdays I wash nappies and clean floors, Wednesday is catch up day, Thursday after dinner I give the kitchen a proper spray and wipe clean, Fridays catch up, Saturday I wash nappies and do the fruit and veg shop, Sundays I make snacks for the week and everyday I usually do a load of washing. This too removes the decision fatigue and reduces the likelihood that i'll get to the end of the week and have everything piled up. We also have this written on our planner on the fridge so that Josh also knows what needs to be done.
We have a set routine in regards to exercise and time to ourselves.
There are a few things that don't change each week like the mornings that we have to get up and do something for us. Josh gets up Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and my mornings are Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. These are non negotiables, Josh having his own business knows that on my mornings he cant leave for work until after 7am because until then its my time. But also having these mornings forces us to get up and do something, there's no wondering “will I get up tomorrow and exercise” it's locked in, we just get up and get it done! And usually if we don't get up the other person gets a bit annoyed because they could have gotten up and used that time.
I use an app called Things for my to do list
I don't use a paper todo list, it always ends up too messy. Instead I use the app Things. I have different folders for Home, School and Glowing and Thriving. I can also change the date of when things appear, so anything for school only comes up on a Thursday or Friday, but I also don't have things like ‘write a shipping list’ come up on those days instead I have that come up on a Tuesday or Wednesday. It also means I can clear my todo list each day, my must dos get done and ticked off and anything I run out of time for gets moved to the next day, I never end the day with the overwhelm of a to do list that didn't get done.
Every Sunday night Josh and I talk about what we have on for the week, and then every night we talk about what’s on for the next day.
Just making sure we have this conversation means that we are both on the same page and know what needs to be done and when. Makes parenting and life so much easier, rather than just assuming the other person can read your mind.
