
Life with busy kids takes me in all directions constantly. In addition, I work two jobs, help keep up with our farm, help with church activities, along with managing the housework, pets, and endless errands. There are many tools I have utilized to help manage the chaos. Here are 5 tips I use to help organize your life.
1. Keep an updated/ongoing calendar

This can be calendar on your phone or a traditional calendar. I prefer a traditional calendar that hangs in the kitchen. I write in different colors according to each kid event, church stuff, appointments, and school calendar days off. Color coding helps me always see what I have going on and my family can easily see what they need to. My calendar also has extended family birthdays and Anniversaries that I can keep up on/plan for. Other things on my calendar are, dog flea treatments and changing the Furnace filter.
2. utalize a Planner

My all-time favorite planner is The Old fashioned on Purpose Planner by Jill Winger. The 2025 Old-Fashioned on Purpose Planner is here! This planner helps me keep everything organized in one place. I can keep tract of: calendar events, weekly to do lists, shopping lists, dinner menus, livestock care, gardening, and budgeting all in one place. The lists may include daily weekly and monthly lists/goals. When you have a place to put all the things floating in your head in one place, it makes your life much easier.
3. Make a meal plan

Planning meals helps make life easier in many ways. This can be done on a weekly, bimonthly, or monthly basis. I’ve attached my monthly meal plan below. If you’re on top of tip #1 then it will be easier to figure out what you’ll want to make each night according to what is going on that night schedule wise. One example of this, is if there is a busy night on the calendar then you’ll want to have an easy meal prepped and ready like a crockpot meal. This tip is also successful when you do a tip #4 which will save you money and time on extra grocery trips or fast-food stops. I have a dry erase board in my kitchen that has our weekly menu for everyone to see. This board also gives me a visual of what meat I need to thaw or throw in the crockpot etc. I like to put breakfast on the board along with lunches during summer with the kids home more. This helps everyone know what we have to eat each day. Making a Monthly Meal Plan
4. Keep an ongoing shopping list

This tip is helpful to help save time and money. This helps avoid extra trips to the store, which can kill your grocery budget, because you end up grabbing extra unnecessary items. I have started putting my list on my phone since its always with me, then I never forget anything. This tip is good not just for food and household items, but also things like a birthday gift for a kid party, classroom snacks, new knee pads for volleyball, or new winter gloves. If you stay on top of things and anticipate what you may be getting low on, you avoid scrambling at the last minute to get things when you’re in a time crunch. Tip #1 can help with this when you can plan ahead for upcoming events, you’ll need to buy such as a retirement gift, church potluck. These will all give you a piece of mind when you go to bed at night, knowing you are prepared for the week ahead.
5. Break down household tasks/to do lists

There is nothing worse than a messy, cluttered house where things get lost, dirty on the floor, or its just unpleasant to come home to. Though I am constantly working on this, it makes the week more enjoyable and less overwhelming, when things get done on a regular basis. I used to have a day a week I would clean and get all the laundry done, along with other farm tasks or errands. I found that as my kids got older, and life got busier that my housework went by the waist side. I was always overwhelmed and stressed to get everything done. To help organize household tasks, I started a to do list. I make a daily, weekly, and monthly to do list. Tip#2 can help with this as I use it to keep my ongoing lists updated. The list will help me not forget about anything, and it’s a manageable list to do. My kids also have weekly chores that they help to get things done on a regular basis such as: cleaning their rooms, empty the trash and take it out, changing their sheets out to wash, and vacuuming. Some examples of my weekly tasks are:
- Doing 1 load of laundry a day washed, dried and put away.
- Cleaning out the fridge prior to grocery shopping on Saturday
- Cleaning the bathroom on Tuesdays
- Cleaning the kitchen on Monday
- Dusting/washing windows on Thursday
- Running errands on Saturday
- Preparing breakfasts on Sunday Some examples of some daily to do lists include:
- Run the dishwasher
- Make a funeral dish
- Fix the whole in a shirt
- Make dinner
- Do Son’s laundry
- Send birthday card
- Clean the kitchen
Some examples of Monthly to do lists are:
- Change the furnace filter
- Give dogs heartworm pills
- Wash shower curtains
- Get daughter basketball shoes
- Make recheck Dr appointment
- Plant root vegetables in garden
There are many other things that can be on a to do list. Hopefully these ideas will help you organize some things floating around in your head that need done. I hope all these tips help you organize your life and take away unnecessary stress and worry.