doing what I do

I often get asked how do I have the time to do all I do-mother of three, webmaster of 4 websites, cooking classes, church stuff, and on and on. I especially love when people assume or think I have time to do this project -since my kids are all in school now. And I think do you have any idea what I really do? Anyway that's beside the point of this post, which is how I simplify my life, organize and prioritize. This seems to come naturally to me at least the organized part so I'm just now realizing not everyone is this way. Here are my thoughts on simplifying life.

1. Meal planning. I plan once a week or often once month. I plan my meals so that I don't have to worry about it when it is dinnertime. I look at the menu the night before and decide if I really want that for dinner or maybe rearrange for a different day. Take out what I need from the freezer and within minutes I'm ready to go for tomorrow. I don't freeze my meals all the time but I always freeze my meat since I shop once a week.

2. Keep things organized. Everyone in our house has a cubbybox, which is actually a flat tray, they sell them in different variety. Ours are actually plastic trays they use to sell flats of strawberries in Bulgaria. (we bought a lot of strawberries apparently) Anything that I find laying around, especially paperwork from school, that belongs to someone it goes in the box. Once a month or usually when the box is overwhelming they are each in charge of cleaning out their box. It has to be cleaned completely out.
The kids have to keep their room cleaned with a  thorough clean up once week. Every few months or every 3-4 months we do a deep cleaning sorting out  piles of stuff they've collected including going through clothes.
Baskets and plastic bins are another big thing in our house. Everything has a place such as the animal box, car box, train box, etc. I try to teach my kids "put it where it goes the first time and you don't have to do it over again". Saves energy and time.
I also am big on if I haven't used it in months, years I give it away.

3. Schedule and use a calendar. I use my ipod calendar to schedule everything and I love that you can set alerts to remind you of something hours or days before. Each kid comes home from school with a school schedule which we post on a bulletin board. For awhile we don't know which days are pe days we have to look at the schedule. (This is important as they have to where pe clothes on PE days.)

4. Now that school is starting before I go to bed I decide what to make for breakfast, lay out the recipe and whatever non perishables I need before I go to bed. Often we have cereal days but I try to cook breakfast several days too. I have a few recipes I use over and over again for easy breakfast meals.

5. On that same subject I come with a list of lunch ideas and snack ideas with the kids, post it on the fridge and when we don't know what to pack it gives us some ideas. It also helps having this list for grocery shopping. Kid Lunch ideas.

6. Outsource! I've done this more in the last year with my webwork. It has been a BIG help. But you can outsource at home also, housecleaning, laundry, gardening. It is not one many people can afford to do depending on where you live but it opens up more time for other projects.

7. Turn off tv, movies, etc. Enough said, less tv time =more work time.

8. Make goals. This is part of life in general but I use this all the time in web building. This is how I accomplish everything on my sites. I make goals of what I want to finish per week/per month. Schedule dates to finish certain projects.

9. Have a moment to sit and evaluate, mediate, go through the next day to do list-each night before bed. 

10. Get your kids involved and on the road to independence. Teach your kids to help out in the kitchen. 
Teach kids to do laundry, fold and put away. Teach them to garden. Saying "I'm bored" leads to giving them a job to do around here.

I've always taught my kids from a young age to do things themselves. You're thirsty okay here's a cup, kind of philosophy. If they need help I'm here but at least giving them a chance to try it themselves is important to me.
I remember meeting a mom with a 5 year old starting Kindergarten years ago and she was still tying his shoes not just helping him tie but he wouldn't even put his shoes on himself. Perhaps that is when I developed this philosophy. I think, if you don't teach your kids to do things themselves and gain a little independence it hurts both of you in the long run.

Okay my thoughts on the subject and a record longest post ever!
(another reason I accomplish what I do with webbuilding I keep my family blog quick and simple usually)