How I stay organised as a mum of two

There’s a lot that goes into organising home and family life, and for me, if I’m not organised and on top of everything that’s happening, things don’t get done, which means I need to be as organised as possible.

Luckily I love everything to do with organisation, but just because I love to be an organised mum, doesn’t mean that it’s easy, or doesn’t require work, it really does.

Here are the things that I do to help me stay organised as a mum of two, and that really help to prevent mum burnout and overwhelm.

Use a calendar

Using a calendar is the number one way that I stay organised as a mum, which I do by writing everything down into it, from reminders, appointments, lists, recurring events, birthdays – everything and anything.

If you’d like to start using a calendar, there are different types calendars that you can use to suit your needs, from family calendars, digital calendars, wall calendars, and even combining digital and paper planners, but my calendar choice at the moment is Google Calendar.

As well as helping me to stay organised, using a calendar also enables me to move things around if I’ve overloaded a day, or I can no longer commit to something.

To do lists

I love to do lists, and often make them to ensure that my calendar entries get done.

For example, if there’s a school trip coming up, I’ll make a list of what’s needed for the trip like returning the paperwork, paying for it, what I need to pack, and what the pick up arrangements are.

I will then put reminders into my calendar for each to do list item to make sure that everything gets done before the day of the school trip.

Habit stacking

I love habit stacking as a way to stay organised, which means stacking, or adding a new habit onto an already existing habit.

For example, to be more organised when it comes to packing my son’s school lunch, I pack his lunchbox as soon as the kitchen is clean at night.

In this example, my daily habit of cleaning the kitchen at night reminds me to do my new habit of packing my son’s school lunch for the next day.

Prepare at night

Another way that I stay organised is doing what I can the night before something’s needed.

For example, every night I get the boy’s clothes for the next day and put them in the living room, so I don’t have to worry about it in the morning.

Another way I do this is getting things ready for a day out the night before, by packing snacks and spare clothes in the bag we’ll be taking out, then making lunches, putting them in the fridge, and then packing them in the pre-packed bag just before we head out.

Doing as much as you can the night before you need something saves time, and helps you to get out the door on time.

Decluttering

Decluttering helps me to stay organised as a mum of two by making sure I have fewer things to take care of or organise.

Things that I regularly declutter are toys, which I do once a month by taking toys out of their storage boxes and throwing out broken toys, or selling or donating toys that my boys no longer play with.

Decluttering can be something you do whenever you need to, and it doesn’t have to be a huge project, it can be as small as clearing out a drawer that’s been bothering you.

Meal planning

Meal planning is a great way to stay organised as a mum, one of the benefits of meal planning is the amount of time it saves you by not having to think about what to cook each night.

If meal planning is something you’d like to do, here is a guide on how to make meal planning easier, and even how to meal plan for the week, so it doesn’t feel so daunting.

Storage

I love storage, it means that I can group similar items together so I know exactly where things go, I know where to find things when I’m looking for them, and it also helps my kids to put away their toys on their own.

Hand me down storage

Another type of storage I use is storage for hand me down clothing, so I don’t have to buy much clothing for my youngest son when he’s gone up a size.

How I handle hand me downs is:

• I have multiple large containers in storage for different sizes of clothing, for example one container holds clothing for 2-3 year olds, another for 4-5 year olds, and so on
• I label each container with the size of clothing it holds using a post it note
• When my oldest son grows out of a piece of clothing, and if the clothing isn’t damaged, I place it in the container that holds the clothing’s size
• When my youngest son is ready to go up a size, I rewash all the clothing in the container that holds the new size, and stock his wardrobe with it

If there are any pieces of clothing that he still needs that weren’t in the container, then I’ll purchase them for him.

Staying organised as a mum of two does take some work, but after doing these things a couple of times, they’ve become normal parts of my mum life, and I don’t have to overthink them too much.

Do you have any organisation tips that you’d like to share?