A lot of people lately have been asking me how am I able to be a single parent to four young kids and keep it together so nicely. But really, I don't keep it together all that nicely. I am human just like the rest of you. I have my daily challenges with myself and each one of my kids that throws something off schedule. And for us, that can mean many, like all four kiddos, having meltdowns because of whatever it might have been. So really, what is my secret?
I'm here to tell you that I have 4 calendars. I have my trusty daily planner. In which I right out our routine. When each kid goes to school, when each kid comes home from school, what time we eat breakfast, what time we get dressed, brush our hair, brush our teeth, go potty, have snacks and meals, quiet time, bath time and bed time and then appointments when necessary. I then, after all of that is written out for the month (yes I do some things on a monthly basis), I pull out my handy dandy notebook!! Wait, sorry, we've been stuck on Blue's Clue's lately. I pull out my handy dandy smart phone and put reminders in my calendar AND my reminders app (I have an iPhone so its an automatic app) so that it reminds me of when to do these things. Because like I've said, I'm human and forget things a lot. I then sit down and do my chore calendar. It hangs in my kitchen and tells me when I'm supposed to clean my house, do laundry, change my water jugs and have me time. After I have that all set up, I again go to my trusty smart phone and set reminders for all of those tasks so I actually remember to do them. Last but not least is my meal calendar. I plan out every meal we eat. Breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner. It's all planned out down to how much of a certain item I need at the store for the week. Not only does this help save money tremendously but it saves me when I have a human moment and forget what I was supposed to make for dinner.
You might be thinking to yourself, holy shit, that's way too much for me to handle. It would take me FOREVER to do all of that!! But there is a method to my madness. I set aside one evening a week or a month to do all of this. And sometimes its a couple of evenings depending on what kid needed me when or when grief strikes and makes me not want to do anything. So when I have my phone buzz at me, I feel important and then go and do whatever I have been reminded of and then I feel even more important because I adulted for that moment of time! And lets face it, adulting can be really hard sometimes.
I usually also sit down each night as I'm drinking my calming juice for the night (it really is juice guys!) and go through what is needed to be done the next day and add any errands I need to run or extra thing I need to do that has been added from the previous day.
My entire routine is ever changing as well. One thing I always leave room for is adjustment. If something isn't working after a couple of months, I switch what ever it might be around. And I do this until I find what works. You can ask anyone who knows me. I am always changing things until they work the way I need them to. Feel free to comment with questions too! If I can help you get better organized to be the best human you can be, I'm all for it :)
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