Juggling Many Plates in the New Year

As the new year rolls forward, I’m trying to stay focused on making life run more smoothly around the Henderson household. Taking advice from Life Coach, Jacquie Damgaard helped tremendously (www.coaching-solutions.com) in realizing the importance of a plan. She told me, “If there is not a shared calendar, it creates mass confusion for everyone, since each member of the family has a complex “schedule”. The absence of time blocking also makes it very easy for the priorities to subtly be shifted by reacting to all of the demands of the outside world.”

Once we started a family calendar it eliminated a lot of confusion in our daily lives. We also spend time at the beginning of the week talking about who’s doing what, when and who will be home or spending the night out. My son (17) learned the hard way that no planning meant no fun. Those last minute ideas that kids come up with invariably don’t allow enough time to contact other parents or think through the whole plan. If I don’t have his plans by Wednesday, the chances are good that he’ll get a “no” regardless of how great the opportunity is on Friday or Saturday.

Amy Kossoff Smith, the founder of  MomTiniLounge.com used her work experience to help other mothers. “As a working mom, I had constantly found my business world and personal worlds colliding. Over the years, I had naturally begun to use my work tools to organize our home life. Complicated carpools? No problem, a color-coded spreadsheet will do the trick. Chores for the kids? Lay it out so all can see. Chart after chart, spreadsheet after spreadsheet, my business skills were guiding me through motherhood, providing me with much valued order in my home. Though I knew that this approach might not be the answer for everyone, I had been asked for help from enough other busy moms to know that I had tools other people could use.” She went on to create the MomTini Lounge: Tips and Tools for the Business of Motherhood. She’s made those spreadsheets and charts available free in the “Get Organized “section of MomTiniLounge.com. There’s no need to reinvent the wheel when you can use someone else’s template for organization. Let this be the year that you put the value of planning high on the priority list and Happy New Year! 

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