how do you manage??? organize tips please

[suze]

okay so I've completely overwhelmed myself i think

With the new year ending and the birth of my daughter and the fact I'm a sahm I keep seeing projects that I want to do. That I'm getting to the point that I can't prioritize them....

HOW DO YOU MOMS DO IT!!!

i see so many that do multiple cts, create tons of projects, work through all the forums, and do project 365, run blogs, ect......

I need some major organization tips please!!!

my blog states it all!!! I have this huge list of things I want to do for the new year, but I keep overwhelming myself to make sure I get everything done that I want.

I want to do a daily journal
do project love me
do project life/project 52/or project 365
do the log your memory challenges
do the one word from Ali Edwards
im creating an altered album
I want to create a 12x12 layout story book
i want to be on creative teams
do the portfolios or as many challenges as I can
I want to keep up Project Em Blog................



I feel like I can't do all that with a 3 month old and keep house work up and work 2 days part time......... so many of you do way more than this!!!! you are just more organized than me lol

[jorgies5]

Well, as a mom of 4, I don't do it. I just can't without neglecting my family. Looking at your list makes my head spin. I would be lucky if I could accomplish one of those items on your list. So my advice would be prioritize your list and work on what is the most important and then don't worry about the rest. For me, my Sugarbabe CT is all I get done most of the time, but it keeps me scrapping which I don't want to ever give up.

Good luck!

[carriesmom]

I think first of all, you got to come to the realization that there are simply not enough hours in the day to get it all done in. No one gets everything done, some are just better at faking it. I'm not a SAHM but I am self-employed so I have a semi-flexible schedule and my list looks alot like yours. I find you need to prioritize what you absolutely want to do and put the rest on a backburner until you get more time.

I find that things like my housework often fall to the wayside until the weekends when DH is here to watch the kids a little better. I don't get to keep up on my blogging as much as I want to. (It is part of my growth plan for 2011.) I don't get as many "projects" done but I try to lump them into my CT duties. Same thing with challenges. I do most of my scrapping at night when they go to bed.

You will find a balance and I think when your daughter gets older you may find more time. My girls are 3 1/2 and almost 2 and they are just now getting to a point where they can kind of help themselves out. So I'm not constantly getting interrupted (but still quite a bit).

I wish you the best on your projects and I hope you get them all done.

[kristijoy]

I pick and choose what I want to do. For myself, I don't have an professional scrapbooking 'ambitions' so I scrap only for myself, DH, and my son. I try not to create alot of 'extra' projects because I want time to actually play with my son!

[Milmomma]

I know I don't try to do it all, just the ones I really want to. Blog once a week, gonna try p365 again, but with my iPhone this time. Do chores and CT work during the evening and play with my kids during the day. Mine are 3, almost 4 and 5. So one goes to school most days and that kinda helps. Weekends are super busy with husband home, if I'm lucky and kids home. We travel those days. Gives me something scrap. If we didn't have all the fun things we do each day, we would have nothing to scrap!

[Chantal Miller]

Prioritise and accept that there will be days, weeks or even a full month where you wont want to do it all. Make lists. and remember that with a baby schedules are just guidelines.

Simplify the scrapping - templates, scrap by kit and take pics in bulk.

REST,a year from now, you'll need all the energy you can find!!! trying to accomplish anything with a baby is a peice of cake compared to trying to do it with a toddler

[ColleenSwerb]

Not a mom, but I wanted to chime in.

You. Can't. Do. It. All. No one can. I have no kids, and I still don't get everything that I want to get done. Everyone you see doing stuff that you wish you could do, is letting something else slide that you can't see. As women, we always want to do 83902895043 things, and naturally all of them have to be perfect too. We want to be perfect moms, perfect wives, have a perfect house, etc etc etc. It's unrealistic, and it tends to give us low self esteem issues because we think we're failures. But in reality, the only person we're failing is ourselves by setting up so many unreachable goals.

You have to set realistic goals. Of those things, what is the MOST important one that you want to have done. Prioritize that list. Work on the important things first, and if you have time and it isn't going to make you crazy, then work on something lower on the list. Look at your life and your responsibilities as a whole. Yes it would be awesome to do everything on that list, but then your house will be an absolute mess and you'd be living out of take out and fast food containers. Everything in life has a trade off, you just have to decide what makes the "worth my time" cut, and what doesn't.

[daisyprincess98]

Originally Posted by carriesmom

No one gets everything done, some are just better at faking it.

This. Exactly.

I showed up at MOPS one day and one of the greeters said to me "I'm so impressed, you always have it so together!" I almost laughed her off the face of the planet. Instead I smiled politely, said "thank you" then reflected back on alllll of the things that I had NOT done and had gone wrong just that morning. Sometime the image people project is not reality, whether the intend to project that image or not!

[heathergw]

ummm... I don't know any mama who does all of that... I try to combine some of them, like combining CT layouts with the portfolio or the LYM challenges or even see how the LYM challenge can fit into the portfolio and stuff like that. And just because I want to do them all doesn't mean I get them all done... I haven't completed the LYM challenges, I think I might have done one last year. I made it thru March with P365 which is usually about when I realize that I'm not doing it for fun anymore and it becomes a chore instead of it's original intention. I did the December Daily this month but that meant not doing the portfolio. Oh and my blog has been totally neglected lately and my house is a mess, lol.

[KateD]

What they all said

I have a ton of things on my "want to do" list and never get them all done. My priorities shift around - one month I may concentrate more on scrapping, another on crafting and sometimes I have to just put all that aside for a while and take care of myself and my family.

I do have a tip, though. Flylady. She has a website (www.flylady.net) and sends out e-mails to help folks keep up with the daily living kinds of things (clean house, meal prep, etc). She's helped me a lot with keeping the everyday living things running smoothly so that I have more time to spend on the creative things I want to do.

[MamaBee]

I would love to meet this super mom... Even though, I suspect one of my good friends to be this... but if you listen to what her hubby says when she isn't around... maybe her and I aren't much different...

Just take each day at a time... create lists and every day revise those lists given what is going on. This house pretty much runs on J's schedule which is actually pretty routine. I scrap when he is down for afternoon rest or at night... and housework is thrown in around pockets of time when kiddo is busy playing or most of the time I can get him to help me... thank goodness for 3 year olds who WANT to help.

Just don't take on too much and miss out on your beautiful little girl at each stage... I did that when I first became of SAHM, trying to do it all and now I look back (even if it's been only 2 years) and wish I spent more time living in the moment and just enjoying babyhood. Now, kiddo is 3, will be 4 in a few months and I'm like... Yikes!! Where the heck did the time go... so this year, I'm focusing more on him and less on what projects I want to accomplish...

[Stacey42]

Prioritize. No one can do it all every time but you find you can do things here & there with a little planning. Accept it isn't all going to happen this year or next. Combine things. Your list has a lot of potential overlap in it. Prioritize what works together. You could do a photo project about Em and use the photos for the blog & for challenge layouts this year. If you get on a ct you can do those layouts for the challenges with the photos. 4 things with 1 photo!

[adrianka]

See, I would never be able to manage all that even though I'm single and childless... Unless they prolonged the day by 10 hours and kept the working hours at the current level. :-)

[scrapperjade]

Honestly - there is no way you can do it ALL. I'd pick a few things that are most important to you off that list and let the rest go. Maybe 2 or 3 things at the very most, otherwise you will feel stressed and completely overwhelmed.

Looking at your list, you can probably combine a couple of your items, such as a daily journal and P365. The CT's I would limit to 1, maybe 2 CT's at the most.

Honestly, looking back at my now 3 year old, I wish I had just taken a break and spent more time with her. Kids literally grow SO fast. It's incredible. Last week she was a tiny bundle, and now she is 3 years old! You won't look back in 5 years when she is starting kindergarten and think "Wow, I really regret not doing P365, having a word of the year, being on CT's, and spending enormous amounts of my time on the computer, feeling stressed, pulled in 1000 directions!". Nope. If you try to do too many things, they are all things that you will regret DOING, not NOT DOING, kwim?

Take time to enjoy you're baby. Mark down milestones (perfect time for the daily journal AND P365), and enjoy her. When your life isn't so full, take the time to SLOWLY branch into a new project. Jumping in with both feet will gaurantee you to drown.

[suze]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

Not a mom, but I wanted to chime in.

You. Can't. Do. It. All. No one can. I have no kids, and I still don't get everything that I want to get done. Everyone you see doing stuff that you wish you could do, is letting something else slide that you can't see. As women, we always want to do 83902895043 things, and naturally all of them have to be perfect too. We want to be perfect moms, perfect wives, have a perfect house, etc etc etc. It's unrealistic, and it tends to give us low self esteem issues because we think we're failures. But in reality, the only person we're failing is ourselves by setting up so many unreachable goals.

You have to set realistic goals. Of those things, what is the MOST important one that you want to have done. Prioritize that list. Work on the important things first, and if you have time and it isn't going to make you crazy, then work on something lower on the list. Look at your life and your responsibilities as a whole. Yes it would be awesome to do everything on that list, but then your house will be an absolute mess and you'd be living out of take out and fast food containers. Everything in life has a trade off, you just have to decide what makes the "worth my time" cut, and what doesn't.

thank you.

I do want to be the perfect everything!!! ever since I've became a mom I've put on this whole new feeling.

I want to do everything I can for my daughter, husband, friends, family, I want to record everything so I don't feel like I forget, I want to clean and have a perfect house, I want to exercise and have this perfect body... everything 2010 has been centered around me trying to be PERFECT! I need to remember that I can only do so much and I need to pick whats most important...

my daughter
my husband
my family
my daughters life being documented ( in anyway I choose!! )
my home
my body

honestly everything else may give.

thanks for all the advice ladies. I'm going to stop stressing about having to do everything!

my word for 2011 is REMEMBER! I need to stop and really think about things

[suze]

Originally Posted by KateD

What they all said

I have a ton of things on my "want to do" list and never get them all done. My priorities shift around - one month I may concentrate more on scrapping, another on crafting and sometimes I have to just put all that aside for a while and take care of myself and my family.

I do have a tip, though. Flylady. She has a website (www.flylady.net) and sends out e-mails to help folks keep up with the daily living kinds of things (clean house, meal prep, etc). She's helped me a lot with keeping the everyday living things running smoothly so that I have more time to spend on the creative things I want to do.

thanks I'm checking her out now

[suze]

Originally Posted by Stacey42

Prioritize. No one can do it all every time but you find you can do things here & there with a little planning. Accept it isn't all going to happen this year or next. Combine things. Your list has a lot of potential overlap in it. Prioritize what works together. You could do a photo project about Em and use the photos for the blog & for challenge layouts this year. If you get on a ct you can do those layouts for the challenges with the photos. 4 things with 1 photo!

awesome super mom combo there!!! love it 4 in 1!!

[suze]

Originally Posted by scrapperjade

Honestly - there is no way you can do it ALL. I'd pick a few things that are most important to you off that list and let the rest go. Maybe 2 or 3 things at the very most, otherwise you will feel stressed and completely overwhelmed.

Looking at your list, you can probably combine a couple of your items, such as a daily journal and P365. The CT's I would limit to 1, maybe 2 CT's at the most.

Honestly, looking back at my now 3 year old, I wish I had just taken a break and spent more time with her. Kids literally grow SO fast. It's incredible. Last week she was a tiny bundle, and now she is 3 years old! You won't look back in 5 years when she is starting kindergarten and think "Wow, I really regret not doing P365, having a word of the year, being on CT's, and spending enormous amounts of my time on the computer, feeling stressed, pulled in 1000 directions!". Nope. If you try to do too many things, they are all things that you will regret DOING, not NOT DOING, kwim?

Take time to enjoy you're baby. Mark down milestones (perfect time for the daily journal AND P365), and enjoy her. When your life isn't so full, take the time to SLOWLY branch into a new project. Jumping in with both feet will gaurantee you to drown.

thank you you are so right! I just seem like I'll miss capturing something and I think I'll forget it later, but if I spend so much time doing so many things... I'll miss those moments all together!!!

I need to stop and think whats absolutely important to me. and thats my daughter and loving every minute with her! I know I'll get those photos in, and I know when shes down for a nap I can jot some stuff down on her blog or a notebook, and hey if I happen to do a challenge because I have some free time so be it! and I'll just keep in mind what my true goals are.

[ColleenSwerb]

Please put yourself before your home. Taking care of ourselves is another thing that most women tend to put dead last, which is NOT GOOD! I'm not saying you have to push yourself to crazy limits to be a size 2, but you have to take time out of your day for yourself. Whether that's a quick workout, or time for quiet reflection, you need to make time each day for yourself. If you don't take care of yourself, you won't be able to take care of anyone else either. I would suggest putting YOU before scrapping and documenting your daughters life too. Keep a notebook on you at all times, and when something happens, write it down. Boom. Now the memory is recorded. If you have a chance to go back and scrap it, so be it. If not, you'll at least have that notebook page.

I've been thinking about all of this a lot lately, sorry for being a little wordy/pushy.

[heathergw]

ITA w/ Col! It doesn't have to be much but you definitely have to take care of yourself in order to take care of your kid(s).

[rach3975]

Like everyone else said, there's just no way to do it all. I don't know what kind of baby your daughter is, but at 3 months old mine took a LOT of time. Two of mine were still up every 3 hours at night at that age, so I was exhausted all the time. Nursing took a huge chunk of my day, as did walking the floors with crying babies (reflux for #2, possibly colic for #3). At that stage I was lucky to get a couple pages a week scrapped and keep the house moderately under control. I remember thinking I should be able to get so much more done since I was now home all day, but my babies took up literally all my time at that stage. As she gets older you'll be able to take on more...well, unless you have more kids, LOL.

Another thing that I have to remind myself of frequently is that although we all have the same number of hours in the day, moms get differing levels of help/down time. My DH is wonderful, but he works long hours, and we have no local family. My only time "off" for scrapping and personal projects is when the kids are all asleep at night, so after 9. (And lately it's after 10, since DD isn't ready to give up her nap fully but can't go to bed early on days she naps. ) Weekends are the same. I'm far from super mom, and trying to do too much in my limited amount of free time stresses me out and makes me unable to enjoy any of it. Like you, I have a million things I'd love to do but just won't ever get to.

My pared down goals for my own time are:

-Keep up with my 1 CT
-scrap 15 or so pages a month, most of which are for the portfolio
-get through a few books (and I really mean audiobooks since I can't fit both reading and scrapping in--I love being able to do both at the same time!)
-exercise a few times a week (I stink at this one, but I keep trying!)

[suze]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

Please put yourself before your home. Taking care of ourselves is another thing that most women tend to put dead last, which is NOT GOOD! I'm not saying you have to push yourself to crazy limits to be a size 2, but you have to take time out of your day for yourself. Whether that's a quick workout, or time for quiet reflection, you need to make time each day for yourself. If you don't take care of yourself, you won't be able to take care of anyone else either. I would suggest putting YOU before scrapping and documenting your daughters life too. Keep a notebook on you at all times, and when something happens, write it down. Boom. Now the memory is recorded. If you have a chance to go back and scrap it, so be it. If not, you'll at least have that notebook page.

I've been thinking about all of this a lot lately, sorry for being a little wordy/pushy.

i'm always put last... and it made my daughter, husband and me suffer in the early weeks of her life. I absolutely gave up everything from eating to sleeping... it ended with me in the er. anyway since then I've been trying...

so I took Ali's one word... and its REMEMBER!! and all facets of the word. I'll remember

you aren't being pushy!! I like it

[nun69]

I totally agree with the other girls...I am a mom of 4 and work full time, but I do alot of stuff after the kids are in bed or when the little ones are napping{I don't sleep much and am one of those people that doesn't really take care of myself }. Lucky for me, my kids do have chores and that helps alot. But we are very much home bodies and really don't go out much as a family, so that means alot of times on the weekend we are just hanging at home and that is when I manage to catch up with everything....I only commited to one project, P365 and that worked for me...but I also used those LO's as part of my portfolio challenges {found a way to incoproprate them somehow} and they also kinda worked as my LYM daily {even though I didn't do LYM}...so I agree with the other girls...enjoy your time with your DD and the rest is just icing on the cake I do have to admit the best part for me was keeping a daily journal in word..this made my P365 project flow fairly easy cause all I did was copy and paste from word into my LO in CS {and I used a template on every P365 LO I did}...