3 ways to stop flying by the seat of your pants - Part 3

This is a 3 part series.   If you are so inclined you can read the rest of this article here and here.  I hope you do, because these are just little tips that helped me along life’s way.   See I’m a wife and a mom to 4 daughters, 3 son-in-loves, 2 nieces, and 9 grands.   I’ve also held a full time job, along with a side business and volunteer work!  I KNOW what it is like to FLY by the SEAT of my Pants!   Is everything perfect now?  Nope.  No way.  I’m still working at it.   So if you feel overwhelmed, come along with me…let’s see if we can fix this together my friend. 

We left off with “getting” to do something for our family.   It’s all about changing your mindset.  You don’t “have” to make them a meal, you “get” to.   There was once a day when you were so happy to do this sort of thing.  It blessed your kids and your husband and you.  Then life happened.  You got busy and in over your head with laundry and chores and kids and pets.   Sometimes it just took a couple of weeks of everyone passing around a bug to wipe out all of your hard work.   It’s okay.  We just pick up and start again.  They’re your family, such as they are, they are yours. (Once when I was having a fit I called my dear husband a Slob.  He said to me “but I’m your Slob” Lol! Yes he is, and I love him!) 

So back to the planning thing, what is it that you GET to do to bless your family?  Laundry?  Dinner?  (Both right?!)  Don’t put laundry and groceries on the same day.  You don’t have to be a martyr.    Write it on your piece of paper and then do it.   Do you have to clean the kitchen before you cook?  It’s possible to clean and cook simultaneously.  You can put the water on to boil and empty/load the dishwasher while you’re waiting.  And then learn to clean up as you go.   It can happen.  I know. 

At the end of the day, you can look back and say I accomplished something.  If you followed along with these posts then you have 1)gotten groceries into the house 2) spent 30 minutes on yourself  and 3) blessed your family by making dinner!   Now pull out that piece of paper and write the day of the week on it.  Turn it over and write down the one thing you have to do tomorrow.  Do you have to do the laundry? At least some of it?  (You know what I used to do, I used to check my husbands clean clothes to make sure he had enough clean socks, underwear, shirts, etc., if he was getting low I made sure I did his first because I have tons of underwear and socks, I could go a whole month probably!)  Does your kitchen need a good scrubbing?  How about the bathroom?  You get the drift.  You are the one who knows what needs your attention! 

Write it down.  After that write down something you want to do and then another thing you get to do.   At the end of the day, do the same thing.  Keep your papers together and do this for a whole week. Next week you’ll already have a planning system to go by.  You can add and change it up as you get comfortable with having a routine.  Once you’ve gotten it down, it’s okay to pick up a cool planner if you want.  I love mine.  I use a Happy Planner now.  Use the link below to shop at Amazon for your Happy Planner.  Warning though:  you could go down the black hole of planner accessories here… self control!


Happy Planner