"How do you stay on top of everything?"
- aubreykmclaughlin
- Apr 1, 2019
- 3 min read
I think this question is asked to every mom at one time or another. We are all, at one time or another, absolutely crushing this mom thing and inspiring the people around us. I get this question a lot (not because I'm crushing it, but because I have entirely too much to stay on top of) so I'm going to introduce you all to my lists. I LOVE lists. I have lists everywhere. They're posted on my walls, on my mirrors, in my planner, on my phone, on random scraps of paper, on the backs of Brian's paperwork (much to his dismay). I track our bills, our income, our groceries (both what is needed and what we have on hand), appointments, meals our kids have enjoyed, my goals for my business, my goals for my fitness, the books I want to read... it really goes on and on.
Having lists is only as good as your ability to look at them, or remember them, though. I used to sit down at my planner, make it look all pretty and write out a beautiful plan for my day/week/month, and then put it away for a week in the bookshelf and completely forget everything I planned. I could have grabbed the book, or even just improvised, but honestly, I felt lost without a plan in front of me. There are so many things going on all the time, I need to see my plan.
I've now dedicated a portion of nap time to refocusing on my day. I'll sit down, pull out my planner, write down my intentions for the rest of the day, and get back on track if I've missed anything. On Saturday evening, Brian and I will discuss the meals we'd like to eat for the week. I look at my list of "Kid approved meals" for lunches and breakfasts, clear out the white board and make a list of needed groceries for the week.
Brian and I also keep a Keeps Note open (If you haven't heard of it, it's a super handy little app where you can MAKE LISTS, and have co-authors, so we can both edit it and access it). I'm often busy doing one thing or another, so I can just send him a text when he's out in the world (I literally leave the house for fitness only at this point... I need a life), to check the Keep Note, and he'll go buy whatever groceries we need, check out which appointments I've made, look at any social things I've signed us up for, and on and on.
We feed 12 people Monday through Friday, so we need a lot of food. The means we need two fridges. When the boys were little, and I had another 4-5 toddlers under 3 in the house, we would buy 6 jugs of milk a week. Now that everyone is older, we buy a ridiculous amount of produce, various nut beverages, and tons of protein (some of us don't eat meat, some of us are carnivores. My fridge is filled with tofu and ground beef). Having a fridge where I don't often go, the basement, means I need ANOTHER list! If you have an extra fridge, or a deep freeze, or really any "other" spot that you keep food (FYI I have a deep freeze in the garage, and a cold room in the basement as well as the second fridge), I highly suggest keeping some kind of documentation of whats in it. We cleaned out our deep freeze last summer, and there were cabbage rolls and frozen herbs in there from 2009.
I won't show you my last list. The list that I dread looking at, and actually gives me cold sweats from time to time, my budget. It's not so much a budget, as a "this much comes in, this much goes out, so we have this much left for groceries and savings" document, but I'm more than a little ashamed of it. I am terribly impulsive, and have very little ability to save any kind of money, so this is my work in progress. Do not ask me for financial advice!
So I shall end post two on these notes: Take time to plan, make it visible, and talk to your partner about the things you've put in them. All of these lists would be completely useless if Brian wasn't cool with eating the tacos tomorrow night for dinner, or know when the next dentist appointment for one of our millions of children is.
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