Trying to be something I'm not.....

I have been on a life-long (or at least as long as I've had kids) quest to be organized. Sometimes I'm better than other times, but I have never really gotten the hang of it. I have tried numerous things to keep my world orderly, but I usually wind up with a rather chaotic environment a lot of the time. Now, I know your thinking, "She's got 5 kids...she MUST be organized.", but those who know me best know that I do a reasonably good job of faking it, and neat and orderly would never be words to describe me. I also have good friends like Karen G who is very organized and always knows when and where things are happening and she keeps me informed :)

There are a few things (and only a few) that I am a little OCD about, like the clothes in my closet. Granted, there is no order at all to anything else in my closet except my hanging clothes, but there is definitely a specific way I like my clothes hung. I've got all my tops separated by sleeve length and fabric type (knit or woven). All my capris and jeans are in one spot, my skirts in another, and then my dresses in another. And I have a separate spot for sweatshirts and jackets. And ALL of the clothes MUST be on the hanger with the little hook to the left. Yes, James thinks I'm strange, but he gave up trying to break me of it a long time ago. :) You see, it's one very small area of my life that I have organized, and I think I just over-emphasize it :)

For life outside the closet, I've tried all sorts of tools to stay neat and organized. I once tried flylady.com and was quickly overwhelmed! The lady that runs the site sends out countless emails during the day, so all you end up doing is reading emails instead of cleaning and organizing! I've done Once-a-Month freezer cooking, and while I really like the idea of it, I never seemed to get the things thawed out in time to bake them for dinner. It is probably something I will do again, but in smaller quantities (I haven't totally abandoned this one). I've tried lists, charts, ect of all types, but I have decided that I always get caught up in the process and never get things done. So, my tools need to be simple, and I have actually found a few that help (but I've resigned myself to be who I am and work around my disorganized nature).

The first tool that I have been using with some success it the Mom's Plan-It calendar. It has 5 lines that you can write a name on on the left side, so for each day, my kids have a line for their own activities. It also has a pocket on the bottom for invitations, notes, ect, and a strong magnet on the top so it will hang on the refrigerator. It even has cute little stickers with things like "first day of school", "party", "meeting", ect. I also have the smaller spiral-bound Mom's Plan-It agenda for my purse. I wish it were a tiny bit smaller, but I love the weekly format. I have tried getting everything in my phone, but I am a very kinetic person and I just need to actually write things in a calendar I think.



I also use a few websites, one that I've used for years and one that is new to me. The first is The Grocery Game. I've been a subscriber to this for over 4 years now and it is something that I just love. It basically helps you use coupons efficiently and save tons of money doing it. Before The Grocery Game, I was a big store brand shopper, and while I still buy some occasionally, my pantry is full of all sorts of name brand products that I got at a fraction of the cost of the store brands. And it's not only food.....I get toiletries, paper goods, cleaners, medicines, ect at rock-bottom prices and many times for free after the coupons. I will dedicate another post strictly to The Grocery Game later, but suffice it to say that it saves me a lot of time and money and keeps my home stocked with all the necessities.

The next website that I've discovered is E-MEALZ for Busy and Frugal Families. It is a meal planning website that is endorsed by Dave Ramsey. It has a small subscription fee (like the Grocery Game), but in the long run I do believe it will save us far more than the price. You basically get a one page weekly meal plan/recipe sheet and a one page shopping list each week. The recipes are fairly normal stuff too and have serving sizes that will fit my family (although you can get meal plans that feed 2 as well if you don't need as much). They have several options for meal plans based around the sale items at a few grocery stores in Tennessee and Alabama, a list based on Wal-mart sales, and one for any store (which I chose because I don't shop at Wal-mart for groceries). They also have a low-fat plan, a vegetarian plan, a low-carb plan, and a plan based on the WW point system for each of those store options too. It seems to be very complete. I've gotten two meal plans already and I really think that this will work for me....it's simple and everything is laid out, but there is room for flexibility too (which is good for me). BONUS: if you use the coupon code: DAVE you will get a 3 month subscription for only $12.50. Not too bad, and especially if it keeps us from eating out so much! I'll keep you updated with how things are going after I've used it a little longer.

So, if you have any tips or advice for the organizationally challenged like myself, I'd love to hear them!