Organized Living

I think I've discovered the key to success as a working mom. Organization. And lucky for me, I happen to excel at this. After all, I am the girl who got a label maker for Christmas. And it was one of my favorite gifts! (Seriously, if you don't own a label maker take the plunge. It will change your life.)

Some of the keys to our success:

1. Menu planning. I go BIG grocery shopping every 2 weeks. First, we make a list of several meals to get us through that 2 week period. I then make my grocery list based on those meals. The list of meals hangs on the fridge - that way a quick glance will tell us what we can prepare without making a trip to the store. It takes the stress out of deciding what to have for dinner (the choices are right there on paper) and saves time and money by eliminating daily trips to Dillon's.

2. Prepare the night before. Getting out of the house with an infant takes twice as long as you think it should. Especially when you have to be out of the house by 7:10 am and are still functioning on very little sleep. They key - have as much done the night before as possible. Drew feeds Jackson his evening bottle so every night I take that opportunity to prepare for the next day. I make and pack Jackson's daycare bottles with the milk I pumped at work that day. I pack my lunch. I decide what Jackson and I are going to wear in the morning. I clean my breast pump and set it out, along with any other odds and ends that need to go to work or daycare. The less I have to do/decide in the wee hours of the morning, the better. Although it's painfully early, our morning routine is actually quite smooth.

3. Stay ahead of the housework. I try to do a load of laundry every night. We rarely go to bed with dishes in the sink. These sound like small things, but staying ahead of the housework makes a huge difference. I'll be the first to admit my house is not spotless like it was pre-Jackson. But it's not a disaster either.

Now that I'm back at work, our time at home as a family feels so limited. The last thing I want is for it to be full of stress because we're running late, low on groceries or have no clean underwear! Instead, we're able to enjoy our time together and spend our evenings (relatively) stress free.

So there you have it. All it takes is a little discipline and some organized living!