I find balancing work, life, relationships, and being a mom, all while trying to find moments of personal time, to be a constant struggle. During any one week I’ve mastered one and failed miserably at the other. I’ve actually found it’s getting harder as my little one gets older and there seems to be less and less hours in a day. Not only does my little guy need, and want more of my attention, but since I have such little time with him during the week (maybe 45 minutes in the morning and 1.5 hours after work and before bedtime) the weekends feel like a mad dash to tackle my ever growing to-do-list and spend time with my family. Does any of this sound familiar? Can you relate? While I certainly don’t have any of this work/life balance thing figured out, I’m always trying to find ways to simplify my life and streamline where I can. A few tips and tricks that have helped to keep me organized:

{Staying Organized}

I know this probably seems like a no brainer, but the more organized I am, the better I feel. If I can get ahead of anything, I do. I use Evernote to keep track of all my to-do-lists and notes.  It’s great because you can embed and upload images to your notes, which is great if you are like me and constantly taking screenshots to remind myself of certain things. I also keep a small notepad on my bedside table and a notepad in my bag at all times. The sticky notes help in case there is anything I need to do/remember first thing in the morning. 

{Plan Ahead}

I mean this in very general sense because often the day-to-day stuff is impossible to predict and manage since unknowns (e.g. sick kiddo) will inevitably happen. So, for upcoming birthdays, celebrations or events I always try to plan a month ahead. For example, I make a list of any birthdays or celebrations the month prior and I’ll buy all the cards at once and get the gifts in advance. I always remain fully stocked on gift bags, wrapping paper, and ribbon because it’s one less thing I have to worry about. The gifts and cards are ready to go!

{Managing Mail}

Junk mail, and managing mail in general, is such a chore for me. I used to let it accumulate on the dining room table and attempt to tackle it on the weekends, which was a bad idea. It would most likely still be sitting there come Sunday night, and then you add to the pile another week of mail and soon it would result in a mountain. I now deal with the mail every single night and I’ve made it part of my nightly routine. First, I use this site to minimize the amount of mail that we actually get by unsubscribing to catalogs. This site has absolutely reduced the amount of mail we get on a daily basis, whicht was the first step in my pursuit to less mail. I’ve also enrolled in electronic bills (I set-up auto-payments for all reoccurring payments) whenever possible and for any random bills that we get in the mail, I pay them that night and toss the bill immediately. Invitations or anything we need to keep goes on a board in our kitchen and then anything we need to keep and file is stored here or here. No more piles and nothing left lingering at the end of the night. 

{Establish a Routine}

I used to dread evenings, really the post-bedtime chores as I call them (e.g. cleaning bottles, now unpacking lunch containers, sippy cups, cleaning up toys, etc.). Now I have it set in my head, once our little guy goes down, my husband will usually start dinner, and I use this time to gather up my son's gear for the week, clean up toys and get his bag together for the next day. I’ll make his lunch/snacks the night before, these containers are the best, and have everything ready to grab and go in the morning. I also pick out my outfit the night before (sounds crazy, but it has truly given me back some extra time in the morning which I need). Once his gear is ready, and I’ve picked up around the house and pulled together my outfit and stuff for the workday, dinner is usually ready and this is when I finally let myself sit down for a bit and relax. One other thing that I do every Sunday night is that I pull together my son's outfits for the week (this drawer divider in his top drawer makes it easy to keep things separated). It takes all of 10 minutes, but it’s one less thing I need to think about in the morning and it’s now part of my Sunday routine. 

How do you stay organized? Any tips and tricks to share to help streamline your weekly routine?