September: The Power of Organization
Photo by Sarah, Memories on Clover Lane
Although family life is full of energy, chaos, and messes, there is in incredible power in being organized.
This doesn’t mean our homes are perfectly clean all the time or that we get every task checked off our “to do” lists. It means we’ve deliberately worked to bring order to our minds, to our time, and to our family systems. Our contributors at The Power of Moms are excited to share what’s worked for them, and we welcome you to share what’s worked for you.
Oprah Winfrey, Rachael Ray, and Katie Couric have all featured NYT best-selling author Julie Morgenstern. And now she has stopped by Power of Moms!
If you're looking for a step-by-step plan to simplify your home and create an environment where your family can thrive, this post and free download will do the trick!
How does a mom de-clutter, organize, and maintain her home when there are children living in it . . . and when she has a zillion other things to do? This podcast with Marilyn DeBry and April Perry will point you in the right direction.
Did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed today? Are you feeling a little grumpy with your children? See how this mom turned around a case of the morning blues and had everyone laughing in the end.
The most important part of organization is finding the system that works with your strengths. Read on to learn what this mother found were the keys to her family’s organization....and sanity!
As the mother in our house, I had control over the schedule. I was successful at this motherly duty and everyone arrived where they were supposed to be and with what they needed. That was until last Fall, when our family decided to come up with a plan to eliminate debt.
My 7-year old is a disaster...when it comes to organizing, that is. Step One was getting her to realize things don't belong under the couch, on the couch, or in the middle of the kitchen. That's when we introduced the Karate Kid method.
This free e-book packs dozens of helpful organizational tips in bite-sized pieces. When you’re feeling frazzled and disorganized, it can be overwhelming to sit down and read a huge book on organizing. These simple suggestions can get you on the road to sanity quickly!
After dealing with the accumulation of way too much stuff during a recent move, Saren figured out some rules of thumb to keep stuff from taking over again in her new house. She also tried a "stuff fast" which resulted in some great side effects. . .
Need a boost to help start the school year off with an organizational “bang?” Amy Fonseca’s offers helpful tips that will bring order and perspective to any home. This article is a “must read” for all moms as children head out the door back to school!
We have a lot of great authors here at The Power of Moms, and three of them came through this week with a fantastic smorgasbord of ideas to help moms and families with their school year routines.
The inconvenience of the dirty diapers and messy bedrooms pale in comparison to this bittersweet process of letting go. This is the chapter I would add to all of those parenting books stacked on the library shelves.”
Do you ever make long, complicated lists and expect yourself to accomplish EVERYTHING? I learned (the hard way) that it's much better to learn the art of renegotiation.
With our eyes turned to mom-centric organization, we can’t let a day go by without saying something about organizing our children's "stuff". From double strollers to sports equipment, dealing with our children's "stuff" is something we have to face.
Take half an hour this week to consider this question: does your current calendaring system work for you?
Sometimes, I resent that my life even requires the effort it takes to be organized. But you know what? I'm a mom. So whether I like it or not, being organized is a skill I simply have to master.
“I've found that organizing my physical surroundings frees up the energy I need to organize my mind.” Author Gina Ricks shares five great ideas for a clutter-free home. From closets to toys, these ideas are certain to help you “live lighter”.
Realistic expectations. Small bite-sized jobs. Job training. This stuff can make a huge difference in the happiness and cleanliness of our homes. Check out Saren's bite-sized job list and a quick video of the certification process that works with her kids.
Do you ever feel like your watch is running in “fast forward?” Author Daisy Phillips shares valuable tips on how to better organize our time and how this will help us create a more positive attitude about motherhood.
“...with three young children going into three different classrooms this fall, life isn’t showing any signs of slowing down. So I have started to ponder, even in the middle of the chaos, ‘How can I make developing priorities a priority?’”
Want your children to become more independent with their school projects? This video with April Perry and her two daughters outlines five simple steps to project success!
Organization is not just about finding places for socks and toys. Organizing our lives as mothers requires special attention as well. Join author Cindy McKee as she shares nine helpful hints to organizing life as a mother.
During September, we'll be focusing on The Power of Organization at The Power of Moms. We'll offer all sorts of great articles to help you organize the way you do things in your family.
Based on ideas from the book, "Time Management from the Inside Out," Adina Soclof (from Parenting Simply) joins Power of Moms Co-Founder April Perry to discuss powerful ways mothers can become more productive and purposeful in the way they use their time.
Want to learn a simple method for helping children to accomplish their school work in a confident, timely manner? This podcast with Saren and April features powerful tips to help your whole family.
Last year we finally got summer right. We decided to forego regular summer camps and the kids and I came up with our own plan for a "Loosli Learning Adventures Camp" including some required activities to keep our bodies and brains active and our house clean and plan for getting to our "bucket list" of...
If your home is a whirlwind of activity, but you'd still like to de-clutter your home for spring cleaning, these seven steps will be your best friends.
Do you have a pile of papers on your kitchen counter right now? This simple organizing tip can help you clear the clutter, once and for all.
Before the world of computers and fancy tri-fold poster board, science projects were a cinch. Today's children have a lot more pressure. They need charts and graphs, and well-written hypotheses. It's enough to overwhelm the children and the parents.
Ready to start the new year with an organized house? It seems to be the dream of every mother who currently finds herself knee-deep in empty toy boxes. Get ready to create space in your life for new ideas and projects!
Today’s post was written by Kelli Connell, a Power of Moms Trainer and Mind Organization for Moms Coach. If you’d like to plan your OWN Christmas the way Kelli has outlined below, The Power of Moms has a free PDF download of our Christmas-planning template so you can join in the fun. Scroll to the...
When I find myself impressed by something someone else has done, I think, “What steps do I need to take to accomplish that?" I believe that we can accomplish great things if we plan to do things “one bite at a time.”
How does tracking my food selections and my food portions help me keep track of where my money goes?
I am not a very organized person. In fact, unless acted upon by an outside force (visitors!), most of the time our house gravitates towards chaos. When my sister-in-law came into town, I took advantage to find out what her “secrets” were to keeping a clean.
Two mice are running through a maze. They lace up their sneakers, follow their daily path to the cheese, and eat it up. But, what happens when the cheese has moved?
Being organized in the housecleaning arena is a must for me. I get bothered seeing a messy spot in my house. However, if I know I’ll get to that messy spot on its assigned day it doesn't bother me as much. So, I came up with a weekly cleaning schedule.
Extracurricular Activities are fun and add dimension to a child's life. These activities are a great way to discover and develop talents; but if you aren't careful- they can take over!
Here we are: summer has ended and we’re gearing up for fall. So, why is it that I feel the need to do spring cleaning now?
There are few things more frustrating to a new mother than the amount of housework that comes with a new baby. The big messes can be overwhelming. Now, fast forward through a few more children and you’ve got a bona fide disaster zone.
Before I became a mother, my favorite time of day was quitting time—that most beautiful of hours when I could put everything away, lock the doors, shuck the worries of the office, and head home. I miss that time now that I am a mother because motherhood is a job that never ends.
I strongly believe that organization USUALLY pays off. But as I learned (again) at the grocery store this week, sometimes even the best laid plans don't lead to great success...
I don’t know about you, but I have a pretty strong love/hate relationship with the internet. On the one hand, I love that I can find whatever I’m looking for in cyberspace, as well as take caring of business. But as nifty as the internet is, it’s vastness can create some unique problems.
We all want to live on streets with pleasant names. These are my suggestions for giving more uplifting descriptions to the responsibilities associated with raising children.
Is it really that complicated? As moms, there are simple things we really need to do each day to keep our heads above water.
Confession: I am a neat freak. I used to ask my mom if I could organize her kitchen cupboards...just for fun. You get the picture…I'm weird!
There seems to be a secret code of uniformity in cabinet organization. But, when you have a family of five squeezed into a 2-bedroom apartment, sometimes you have to buck the code. Especially when homeschooling is involved.
This is my go-to book for streamlining and organizing my home!
I've been working alongside my children ever since they were able to swing a Swiffer duster and my children are generally sweet, but up to this point, I've felt like the incessant nag. If you have a few minutes here's how a specific family system can work in your home.
I usually read magazines in the bathtub as I soak my cares away. However, my magazine subscriptions it seemed that my magazine mountain was growing rather than shrinking. The mountain wasn't the problem. The fact that I never found time to read them was the problem. But, I discovered a solution.
Ah, September! It’s one of my favorite months of the year. Not only does September mark the coming of autumn, but it also means back to school. And back to school means back to schedules and routines–a welcome relief to mothers after the crazy, lazy days of summer. At The Power of Moms, we think...
Evenings at home can be hectic. You have probably been dealing with everyone’s problems all day long, and feeling a little frazzled. We’ve all had those days,but if you are frustrated with dinnertime, maybe you could benefit from a dinner planning system.
Today’s post is based on Mind Organization for Moms, a GTD®-based system developed by April Perry at The Power of Moms. The fact is that there are more things to do in life than time to do them, and whenever I’m feeling overwhelmed, it’s generally because I’m trying to put too much on my plate. I understand...
I’ve always loved organizing tips. It’s fun to learn new ways to sort, process, and complete tasks and projects, but once I became a mother, nearly every piece of organizing advice I received left me feeling frustrated. What worked for most people simply didn’t work for me because my children seemed to be the ones...
I love getting emails. Notes from friends, newsletters, invitations, project updates, blog comments . . . sometimes my email inbox feels like my portal to the “real world.” However, when my portal starts getting crowded, it drives me crazy to dig through (and stress over) thousands of messages–some marked with stars, some needing a quick...
I love schedules. I love making them, I love writing them, and I love checking things off of them. When you have a big family, things have to be written down to get done! I think it is because our active brain capacity is maxed out after the second child. Once you have to maintain...
I need to face it. My kids are going to grow up. And that’s already happening way faster than I feel ok about. I guess that’s why I latch on with all my heart to ideas I hear or come up with that will help me cherish the moment while they’re young. Some of them...
A few nights ago, I collapsed on the couch after tucking my children into bed, and I thought I’d look through a few blogs before heading out to a baby shower. As I looked through a seemingly-endless stream of perfectly-decorated homes, darling crafts, and breathtaking photography, I started to feel like an absolute zero. ...
I have always prided myself on being a great multi-tasker, especially when it comes to housework. I think of housework as a workout with some prize to be won at the end of the day. As crazy as it sounds, I’m often frustrated when my husband helps out. He moves so slowly and carefully...
James Allen has put together a beautiful collection of thoughts and ideas designed to improve the way we think. The book is only 50 pages long, but it is powerful, inspiring, and amazing! The description from the front cover reads, “Throughout his life, James Allen (1864-1912) sought an oasis of tranquility amidst...
As the mother of three small children, I used to waste time and energy moping that despite my desire to maintain a clean and orderly home, I would never have four hours to clean the entire house. Using the 15-minute-a-day approach has brought amazing results! My home is never immaculate, but now it...
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