Getting Myself Organised
So many of the blogs I read are related to organisation - they already are and they are sharing their wisdom with the world, or they want to get organised and are looking for inspiration. I have been reading them all with interest because being organised is something I always struggle with.
On the one hand I am a bit of a control freak. I like things done the way I like them, which usually means I have my own personal method that no-one else can quite understand or follow! This fits quite well with being organised, but the problem is that I am also lazy. So I really like setting up systems and “order” but where I fail is that I don’t always follow my own systems.
The other problem I have is that although I like the theory of having a routine that helps me to get things done regularly rather than letting it all build up, I also like the freedom of being spontaneous and flexible about the way I spend my time. I’m complex, I tell you. A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in an enigma! 
So, I need to find a way to reconcile these competing personality traits. I know routine and flexibility are not mutually exclusive, it just feels that way sometimes when I think about planning when to do my washing or what to cook for the week. What I need is to find the balance - a routine that’s rigid enough to help me feel in control and less overwhelmed by everything I need to do, but not so strict that it doesn’t allow for a last minute change of plans.
I figure that if I put it on the blog, it might actually force me to follow through, out of shame if nothing else!
I do love lists, so the first thing I started to do to get myself organised is to write a list. And of course, because I am a technophile, I couldn’t just write a list on a piece of paper, I had to find a program to manage my task list for me. I have tried a few others before but the one I have just started using has a free membership and seems to have a lot of useful features. Ace Project is really aimed at professional team task management so there’s quite a few aspects that I won’t use, but I like the fact that you can assign tasks to different projects, and then categorise them further and also attach files to a task. Once you’ve entered everything you can see a weekly view or a monthly calendar to see the tasks that you have coming up. If you wanted to you could record progress on completing the task and other details and then view your progress in Gantt charts etc, but I probably won’t need that for my purposes.
The task management is really only one aspect of getting organised - its great for reminding me of all the little things I need to do for out of the ordinary events - currently my “projects” are:
- Guerita’s birthday party
- All the end of school year concerts and events that will be happening in the next few months (the school year finishes in June here)
- Leaving Mexico
- Our stopover/holiday on the way home from Mexico
- Setting ourselves up back in Perth
These are not everyday things though, so I also need to work out how to get my every day life organised and I guess this means working out a routine. 
Obviously, we already have a certain amount of routine surrounding the things we do regularly like school, ballet and Gymboree, but I have absolutely no routine when it comes to doing washing, what we’re going to eat for dinner and cleaning the house. I tend to work in fits and starts so for example, I’ll have a marathon ironing session and then not iron anything until no-one’s got anything to wear and the pile is dangerously high. *sigh*
You know, I was a lot more organised when I was working, both before kids and when I was working part-time when Guerita was 2-3. I definitely work better under time pressure and I guess I just had to be organised or I wouldn’t get anywhere. When I worked 3 days a week and was home with Guerita the other 2 days I had a shopping routine, I did meal planning and somehow it didn’t seem so hard. Mind you, I wasn’t blogging then, so that wasn’t cutting into my time! 
A lot of people have said it, and its so true, that when you more time than you need you end up being less efficient. Maybe that’s why I leave things till the last minute, like the ironing, because I need the kick up the bum of a deadline to get me going.
I really want get into a better routine, although I keep finding reasons to procrastinate, the main one being that all our routines will change when we move back to Perth. I know that’s no reason not to set some good habits.
So, anyone got any great suggestions for how to set myself a “flexible routine”? Do you keep to a routine? How do you go sticking to it? Or is it more a guideline?!
Hopefully this post will spur me on to sort myself out. I’ll let you know how I go…
Similar Posts from the Archives
A House in Disarray (6 comments)
Getting Organised (4 comments)
Managing Your To-Do List (6 comments)
Comments protected by Lucia's Linky Love.
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Guera, I wish I could leave you some amazing advice here, but really this comment is just about sympathy, because we sound very similar. I’m both structured and spontaneous, efficient and a terrible procrastinator, all of which doesn’t sound possible within one person but … hmm. We are probably reading the same organisation blogs and I wish I could be like those people … anyway my 2 cents is that I’ve recently started using Remember the Milk for keeping my lists (I have a lot of lists …) online - I like the friendly-looking cow and the fact that it’s an Aussie company. It seems to be helping me even though it’s really pretty simple (simple is good, I guess).
The other good news is that for me, coming home to Perth did seem to get me more organised. Something about being in a city where you know how everything works seemed to make a lot of things easier. Maybe the same will work for you?
Amanda’s last blog post..Newsflash: Travel writers can write about music, too!
One word. Flylady. I know I don’t seem like the type to do the whole Flylady thing, and I admit that I don’t read all her emails anymore, but man that is some good stuff.
On a dedicated Flylady group is where I met Lightening, Gemisht and Bettina and discovered the world of blogging.
Kelley’s last blog post..A bit of housekeeping. Or not. But a whole lotta blogrolling.
Thanks, Amanda. Good to know I’m not the only contradictory one! I like Remember the Milk and have tried it but for some reason was looking for something with more features. Now that I think about it though, something simple might be a good idea so as not to overcomplicate things. I have a tendency to do that.
I hope I find our move back to Perth has the same effect on me as it did for you. I know what you mean about knowing how things work at home. Part of my problem here is it takes me a lot longer to achieve simple tasks.
Kelley - I’ve seen lots of people blogging about Flylady and I did try it out a few months ago but it drove me nuts! I think I made the mistake, though, of ticking the option for multiple emails a day instead of just one and I found the 20 emails I was getting daily was just infuriating and became one more thing to do! But, I should have another look at it and give it a proper try since so many people rave about it.
Hi Guera - found you via a comment at Easternmax. I’m also an ex-Perth gal. (moved back there for a year in 2006…so have also had move back to Perth experience!)
I struggle with the whole organisation thing too. Although usually by this time of the school year I have well and truly established a weekly routine of what happens on what days household-wise. This year it’s been slow to get it going. And I love lists. I write lists for everything!
Fairlie’s last blog post..Edwina Scissorhands
The thing with routines is you’re already probably doing one. Take note of what you do in the mornbing, and that’s probably your morning routine. The idea being that once you know what you normally do you can add things in one by one until they become a habit.
For most people (if you’re like my Hubby) your morning routine will look something like this:
Shower
Dress
Make coffee
Have breakfast
Pretty simple right? What if you wanted to add making your bed in there. For single people you can do it as soon as you get up, but if your other half is still in there, you’ll need to do it later. Before getting dressed? after?
Also make a list of everything you want to get done in a day, and work out where it best fits. Eg while the kettle’s boiling in the morning I can put a load of washing on.
Kin’s last blog post..And the winner was…
Thanks for those tips, Kin. I know I need to keep it simple - I just need to sit down and have a good look at what I want my day/week to be like.
[...] posted recently about wanting to get myself organised and about making some headway but the truth is I still have a LONG way to go. I guess its a never [...]
Leave a Comment