Organized Families - 5 new articles
2010 mom day planner reviews from the Organized Mom – The Mom Agenda
Today’s mom planner is more then a time management tool. The Mom Agenda Desktop runs through to December 2010 and offers monthly views at the front of the book, followed by a weekly view. I personally am a fan of a weekly view mom day planner. The 7″x9″x1″ size is not to big, but big enough to handle a busy family’s schedule.
For those of you needing a mom planner or mom organizer that is a bit smaller. The Mom Agenda’s Daily planner is a great option. The planner only runs through to August (academic year) but it is already 40% off. The planner is 5″x7″x1″. Be sure to stop by The Mom Agenda Website and grab their free printable pages as well. Click here for free mom mom planner pages, organizational tools, and printable holiday planner. Organization tips from busy mom Isabel Isidro
Another busy mom shares her tips for keeping her family’s schedule and home together . Today’s featured busy mom is Isabel Isidro Mom of three balancing parenting and co running a business. How do you keep your children’s schedules together ?
We have a strict schedule in the house, and the kids know it. The younger boys take a nap in the afternoon. They play or relax in the afternoon after school, and one of their favorite activities is playing Wii with their father. The kids then eat dinner, and take a bath. Then from 7:00-8:30 pm, it’s their study and reading time. I give them the materials they need to work on and practice with, and they choose the books they want to read. By 8:30 pm, they’re on bed and ready to sleep. They’re early risers, and wake up anywhere from 5:30-6:30 am – even on weekends! None in the family are late sleepers. To the extent possible, we don’t do any extracurricular activities during the weekdays, only weekends. School is tough already for the kids, and we’d like them to have time to rest, have fun, play with each other and just be kids. Saturdays, though, are when things go crazy with their schedules. They have various lessons, and by lunchtime, I am tired from driving around the area going from one lesson to the next. However, in the afternoon, we always make it a point to go to the library to pick up the books that they’ll read for the week. Do you use a particular day planner ?
But none really worked for me. I will be “good” and use the planner judiciously for a few weeks, or even a month. And then nada — blank pages after that. For one, I need something that I can carry with me all the time, not some bulky planner that sits nicely on a desk but impractical to be carried in my purse around. My purse is heavy enough as it is with all the kids’ stuff, and having a bulky planner does not work. Do you own a blackberry?
What is you most used ‘time saving tip’ when it comes to running your house?
For me, I need to spend a little time the night before thinking what the family needs to do for the day – e.g. making sure the kids have put their assignments in their bags. Otherwise, I’d forget it! I spend a little time putting my list in my iPhone’s to-do app. My husband has also been extremely helpful in running the house, and I don’t think I can run the house without his help in everything. Because we run a web business, I also rely on a lot of technology to run a home-based business alongside running a household with three kids. When the kids play Wii for example, I sit and watch them play, but I have my laptop with me to enable me to respond quickly to emails or do some web site maintenance tasks. We also have laptops in almost every room in the house, because you’ll never know when you can sneak in 5 minutes of work. My husband tells me that I am “surgically attached” to my computer. I know I need to unplug sometime, but it’s just so hard! Do you have a favorite quick meal for your family?
Even my husband is amazed at how heavy my bag is and what I bring in it. Plus, my husband vacuums and cleans the car weekly so I have no complaints :o) What advice would you give to other moms who feel the pressure of trying to be ‘super mom’?
I just want them to experience as much as they can. Don’t feel you have to do what others are doing – just do the best you can do for your family. What is your number one goal for the year ? How do you plan to reach it ?
Isabel Isidro is a mother of three boys, ages 7, 4 and 2. She is also the co-founder of PowerHomeBiz.com, a 10-year old site for home business owners and solo entrepreneurs, and runs WomenHomeBusiness.com and LearningfromBigBoys.com. She just tries to live and learn each day – not always succeeding, but always trying. Organizing the kids homework
I don’t make it to my children’s school often. I am lucky to live in a small town where the kids still walk to school. However today a lightening storm started 10 minutes before the bell rang so I decided the mom bus needed to be started. What does this have to do with homework ? Well My daughters teacher told me ‘Abbie doesn’t seem to be interested in doing any work at school” guess what that means – we don’t finish our work at school ….. Then Darryl’s teacher says ‘Darryl doesn’t seem to be interested in doing his school work’. Sigh, I have to admit I have NOT been keeping the kids school events and homework organized. I have no homework system or home work routine. So in a hope in becoming the organized mom again I took my daughter to the dollar store to get a system in place for her.
So here is our solution for organzing Abbie’s school homework. Total cost: less then $7.00 Large zip locking bag (with a slider because the other ones are frustrating for little fingers and won’t get closed = lost homework organizers). ( I usually have these in my box but I bought 8 for $1.00) One pencil (we had this at home) One pencil sharpener One fun homework bag sign One hard covered blank journal (letter size) The plastic bag keeps it all organized AND helps with rain (this busy mom lives in the North West). Of course now I have to establish a homework routine. Establishing any family routine usually takes some patience and incentive always helps. So I made a Mom’s homework organization bag to help me with my attempt to get the children’s homework and school events organized. A bag to organize the homework items (which belongs to mom to ensure it dosen’t migrate into someones bedroom). It includes a new box of crayons, pencil crayons, three pencils, my highlighter & pen (for writing notes for the teacher), and $6.00 worth stickers (homework incentive). I think I might make a fancy sign for my bag as well. Abbie’s homework agenda or organizer will be used to practise her spelling, write her reading times, send notes back and forth to the teacher, and write about her day to help improve her writing skills. My homework routine means I can expect to site at the table with Abbie and Darryl for at least 30 minutes each night. No one said parenting wouldn’t be time consuming ! Now if you need an organizer for mom -> go check out the MOM AGENDA and get up to 40% off.
Tips from Featured Busy Mom Nicole Budleski
How do you keep your children’s schedules together?
Do you use a particular day planner ?
Do you own a blackberry?
What is your most used ‘time saving tip’ when it comes to running your house?
Do you have a favourite quick meal for your family?
Tell us the truth ? What would we find in your car right now ?
What advice would you give to other moms who feel the pressure of trying to be ’super mom’?
What is your number one goal for the year ? How do you plan to reach it ?
Nicole Budleski is a 35-year-old, married mother of two girls, ages 7 and 2. Nicole’s marketing background and knack for organizing lead to the development of TicklerTags for her daughter’s after school activities and transportation arrangements. You can visit her site, www.TicklerTags.com to see her full line of backpack reminder tags. Mom Organization and family computers
How many computers do you have in your home ? I have five (but I am a self proclaimed mom geek). As the resident geek of my flock I am in constant demand to help my friends clean up their computers. Which I really shouldn’t have to do if they are maintaining their computer. So here are my tips for looking after your family computers and keeping their maintenance up to date. 1) Check your antivirus programs and make sure they are downloading their updates. If you don’t have one, get AVG free. Make sure you only have one anti virus program or you will find your computer will stop liking you. 2) Protect your kids ? Hey PROTECT YOUR COMPUTERS. Kids will visit any and every website on the internet and downlaod all kinds of nice and not so nice things to your computer. So stop right now and get cyber patrol. Know what your kids are doing and keep them from doing things to your computer that they shouldn’t. Save 10% on CyberPatrol Parental Controls with Coupon Code PCSAVE10 2) Run a disk Defrag. Go to Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> System Tools -> Disk Defragmenter *do this every week. Need more ? You need to do this each week
3) Clear your internet cache. You need to do this each week. Videos: Fire Fox Internet Explorer 4) Take your videos, photos, and music off your computer. Most of us don’t have enough memory to store all of these on our computer without slowing down your computer. 5) Remove unused programs using the Control panel add/remove programs. 6) Go to windows update and make sure you have all the latest updates for your computer. 7) Run a registry cleaner. I use Registry Mechanic. Be sure you have all of your driver disks in case you need to reinstall something. Set a day each week to run a defrag and cache clear on your computer. More Recent Articles |