Getting Ready for the New (School) Year

The new year is almost here! Well, the new year in my mind anyway. My parents were teachers. My husband was a teacher and is now a law student. So for me, my life revolves around the school year. It's a time when I naturally start to reflect on the past year, what needs to be done this year, and any changes that I need to make. And right now, the new year is nearly upon me!

Although Brett starts back at school in two weeks and the girls in three weeks, I'm slowly shifting gears and trying to figure out what the Fall is going to look like for us as a family. I know I'm going to be busy with running our household, working part-time, blogging, creating crafts for DIY Your Way, and volunteering at the elementary school and with my MOPS group. I know that things will get very busy, very quickly. So, I'm thinking through lots of things to get focused and organized now so that I can hit the ground running.

As I've gotten older, I've realized something about myself. I like to be organized, and I am a bit of a perfectionist. This combo causes some problems for me. All too often, I put off organizing something because I want it to be perfect and I don't have time to make it perfect. So, I end up with partially completed lists and tasks undone. In other words, um, things can get a bit chaotic. I just know that once classes start up, I'm going to feel behind if I don't get things organized now. Here's what I'm mulling over these days:

Simplify for Fall Challenge at Life Your Way - This is one of those things that seems a bit daunting to me -- a full week of organizing my home! I'm not sure that I can realistically do this...certainly not in the way that the perfectionist personality in me would want to. But, I've gotta start somewhere, right? I know that if our house is tidier it makes things easier on all of us. So, I'm going to give it a go and see where I end up. The challenge starts on the 20th, but before then, I'm going to think through and analyze what my trouble spots are in the challenge areas:

• Clothes / Laundry
• Kitchen / Meal Planning
• Toys / School Supplies
• Bedrooms & Bathrooms
• Paper Clutter & Budget
• Routines / Schedules

Organizing Life as MOM - I'm also going to put together a household notebook for myself this year. My sister Jessica at Life as MOM offers a super resource to get the job done. Jessica is in the final stages of revamping Organizing Life as MOM for the new school year, and it should be available soon. (Stay tuned for more details!) She's even going to offer it in a half-page size this year! Since my kids are in public school, I'm out and about a bit more. So, I really am looking forward to making a half-size version that I can keep with my in my purse. I think it will make my life much easier.

So, that's my plan, and hopefully, I'll be sticking to it. I just gotta keep those perfectionist tendencies from derailing my progress!