You’ve probably already got into the planning scene. Printables, planners, markers, and post-its, oh my!
But planning is far more than what kind of washi tape you use on your favorite, just-right, it-took-me-four-years-to-find planner.
So pull up a chair, grab a mug of something hot, and let’s streamline the real work of planning. Because you’re the family CEO, and you deserve the bottom line.
Shall we?
No need to reinvent the wheel
Here’s your first time-saving tip: Try to re-use as much as possible from week to week.
Don’t type (or write) everything out from memory day-to-day, week-to-week, or month-to-month. Use templates for that!
Save your brain space for something really important – like problem solving how you’re going to get family dinners on the table with piano, gymnastics, and three sports teams this semester.
What this looks like: I don’t mess with planning my week from scratch. Since I’m digital, I just copy/paste last week’s schedule, chore list, and extracurricular outings into this week’s planner space. Then I start moving and deleting to match the canceled piano lesson or one-hour-later team practice.
Use the Rule of Three
But if you find yourself making too many tweaks to your standard routine, here’s what to do:
If you’re going to face more than three weeknight practices/late mornings/altered routines, make a new template for it.
That’s it! You’re allowed to come up with new versions of your most productive week to suit yourself.
The whole point of planning is to support you, isn’t it? Then why are we feeling like we ought to always work off that one perfect week we had three years ago?
Templatize your now, and be done with it. (For a while.)
What this looks like: Keep your standard week’s activities – but save a new copy (or insert an extra page) and make a new one.
Title it “Play Week” for your drama class kids, or “VBS Week” for summer, or “New School Year” when everyone’s having a hard time getting back into routine. (Just make it something you’ll instantly remember next time you look for that busy season template.)
Then each week, choose the proper template from your pre-written handful.
- Is it a fairly normal week? Go with the regular.
- Are you in the end-of-school year rush? Copy that one.
- Is it holiday season? Borrow from last year’s notes.
And you’re off to the (planning) races, tweaking and adjusting with the best of them!
Lists: both you and the kids
Tip three: Think through what everybody needs to be doing when.
I know you’ve got your schedule down – what about what the kids are supposed to be doing? Do you need to add “set a timer for the girls to be ready for school” to your Monday morning list?
You see, sometimes our planner looks all nice and calm, but nowhere do the kids have everything they need to do to be on time written down. (Plus, the three-year-old can’t even read.)
So you need a reminder system that catches everybody in your household, not just yourself. (I know it’s not fair being the brain for everyone, but sometimes often that’s #momlife….)
What this looks like: Add another section to your to-do list or planner page – one that’s strictly for the kids’ chores, outings, and reminders. Tag it by time of day, name of kid, or whatever makes sense to you.
This way no one will forget to collect library books before book return day – because it’s already noted in your planner, under their name. You just have to remind him (or her).
The point of planning is to make your life easier, not to lock you in to a way of doing things.
Time to double check
Fourth, always double check with your calendar (or wherever else you keep notes to self).
You probably have a few different reminders floating around – make sure to grab everything you need when you sit down to plan.
‘Cause there’s nothing worse than humming along in your day, serenely confident that everything’s been accounted for, and then realizing you forgot to thaw the meat for tonight’s meal because it was on a physical scrap of paper, not your digital calendar, and thus got missed.
Take my word for it and transfer all reminders to one system (digital or print), or check both systems each time you sit down to plan.
What this looks like: I make my paper plan for the week first, but before I print everything off as ready-to-go, I check my physical calendar. Just to make sure this week didn’t have a sudden cancellation, different Grandma Skype time, or doctor’s office appointment pop-up.
Then I make all necessary changes to my day, chore list, and meal to account for however much time that moved appointment takes, and hit the print button.
Make it a little bit better
Lastly, here’s what I want you to do next time you sit down to plan.
Next week, repeat whatever’s working.
AKA, go back in there and delete any reminder that wasn’t useful, necessary, or heeded.
If you don’t want to do it when reminded, there’s something else going on. So don’t make your planner a guilt-trip container.
(Pro tip: If you cross out that reminder every time it comes up, that’s your sign to delete it from your main schedule!)
What this looks like:
- If supper at five works wonderfully, leave it! Don’t bother trying five-thirty when you’ve got something that fits with the bath-and-bedtime schedule.
- If your kids are loving the two park outings a week, keep it at that.
- Everyone looks forward to spaghetti night once a week? Great! That’s one less meal you need to come up with every week.
The point of planning is to make your life easier, not to lock you in to a way of doing things that takes three hours to put together, requires tons of deletions, and makes you hate your mom-CEO role. (Can’t someone else write the grocery list?!)
So what do you need to fix about your planning process?
- Is it the basic template for your week that’s off?
- Do you need a couple of variations?
- Would it really help you out to have some kid reminders sprinkled in?
- Do you typically forget what’s on your calendar? (Add it to your to-do list that day with time and place!)
- Are there things on your weekly sheet that need to be permanently deleted ‘cause you don’t use them?
Let’s get in there and streamline that plan #allthethings chore. There’s no reason not to take all the shortcuts!
