Organised? That's not me. I am never organised. Never will be. The only thing that makes me better now than years ago is that I acknowledge that being organised is not my strength.
Also, I no longer see it as such a problem.
We don't meal plan around here.
I don't have days designated to house cleaning and grocery shopping.
School uniforms are not always ironed and ready for the next day either.
Mr H works shift work so we can't even organise our social events properly as we just never know when he will be working. It can also make my own social nights a bit hit and miss too. I could just say no to everything, but thankfully I have herded up some great friends who understand I need to be flexible.
When I went to see a movie recently, there was a risk that Mr H would be called out for work. He suggested that I would have to leave the movie and come home to look after the kids.
Do you know how often I get out to see a movie? That would be close to never. The thought of having to leave it (possibly) was simply just annoying. So I found an emergency solution, where the kids would be dropped at my friends and I would pick them up from there afterwards, even though it was a (shock, horror) SCHOOL NIGHT.
We go on randomly announced bike rides to parks and bushwalks in far off places. Just taking water bottles and jumpers and working the rest up as we go.
My washing pile overflows, so I just have a stash of extra school uniforms/dance uniforms/spare clothes in the cupboard that gets us all through to the weekend. I have fruit and vegetables delivered to my door each week to ensure we keep the scurvy at bay and there is always a meal on the table each evening.
Christmas is not always wrapped and ready to go weeks beforehand either. I am a late night wrapper, choosing to pour a drink and sit on the floor surrounded by paper and scissors, sticky and notes and smelling the good whiff of the Christmas tree. It still gets done just as well.
Socially, we check local papers and flyers and facebook pages and we always have something to attend, something to do, some place to be if we want to entertain ourselves, but we don't schedule them in weeks in advance.
Yes, some (ok, all) of our cupboards could be rearranged to look more pleasing. But the secret is to close the door, walk away and not really think about it.
Living an organised life is probably wonderful. You could save heaps of cash on your meal planning and buying in sales and getting good deals.
But it just doesn't work for us. Still, we get everything done, live a pretty calm life, get to everything we need to do and have clean clothes each morning.
I am so organised I drive myself CRAZY - I wish I was more 'seat of the pants...' super relaxed - but I'm not (and I don't think I could cope with that game change). So I guess you go with what works for you...and hope whichever path it is, everything comes together - which it generally does in the end. PS having said all that I don't iron school uniforms either, I might be organised but I pick what I spend my time on - I'd rather line up my nail polishes than iron..lol x
ReplyDeleteLine up your nail polish! Wow, I throw it all in a bag and squeeze it shut.
DeleteI'm not someone that organises everything, I've found that if you do that it's hard to accept when things don't go to plan. Winging it is much better for the soul, and blood pressure!
ReplyDeleteI think this post really needed to be written because so many of us get caught up wanting to be organised and put this extra pressure on ourselves when life just needs to be lived! Great post Claire. :)
ReplyDeleteBy nature, I am a spontaneous person and a fly by the seat of your pants see what happens type. Himself on the other hand - much more needy of the organisation type stuff. This is proving interesting now that he's working casually. Phone call the night before, followed by scramble to find something to do with the children the next day! That's not really the kind of flying by pants seats I am awesome at (really small extended family who have lives of their own, lol. I've been working some peculiar hours lately; but so far, everyone has been where they're supposed to be more or less when they're supposed to be there - although, if there's someone who can duck into mine at 6 am and get the kids off to school on Thursday, that would be brilliant?)
ReplyDeleteI've solved meal planning by writing a list of seven or so meals, making sure there's appropriate vegies to go with them and bunging it on the fridge. So far, it's worked a treat and allows for people getting home late and stops the "I don't feel like the meal you have carefully considered and planned and if you make me eat it, I will, but I will sigh a lot". It never works when I allocate meals to days!
I'm definitely trying to free up time so we are slower paced and free for random. But things like organising xmas gifts etc, I can't let go of that. Most is already wrapped and ready to go under the tree. I bloody hate shopping centres in December.
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