Organization Shmorshamization

I'm constantly looking for ways to better organize my life. Now, more than ever, I need it. Working from home (here's my business adventure) while watching a crazy monster 2 year old during the day is the mother of all  juggling acts! Right now, for instance, I am blogging & answering never-ending emails, while Will dumps out all of his Mega Blocks & books on the floor, and simultaneously climbing on the back of the sofa like a cat, Oh wait, now he's on my back/head/neck screaming Iron Man... And somehow I manage to wrap up this chaos by 4pm-ish so I can make the house look somewhat less like a tornado ran through it, and make dinner. Good times...

What was I talking about? Oh...organization. While my laptop floats between Living Room end table to my desk in our bedroom, the majority of my paperwork & bills & grown-up nonsense stays in my "office". Here's my "Mom Cave" that happened towards the end of last year.

And then life happened and it looked something like this:

Hello chaos...

A few weeks ago I started to re-organize myself by picking up one of these:

It's compact enough that I can take it everywhere. I can toss it in my diaper bag or purse when I'm leaving the house with or without the kid. It's a pretty pattern with bright colors that is hard to lose. Major bonus! I keep both business & family appointments in this planner. I also coordinate it with this one on the fridge:

I encourage other members of the household (: :cough: :Hubby: :cough: :) to write down anything that is coming up that they need/want to do, so there are no questions or surprises. It's hard to remember to tell each other everything sometimes...this is to help bridge that gap, especially on those weeks when it feels like we see each other for 5 minutes in the morning & 20 minutes at night before we all pass out from exhaustion...

Along with sprucing up my office space and getting things back in order, I needed a calendar I could use JUST for work related deadlines. Since it's in my bedroom, it's the 1st thing I see in the morning, so this way I'm not relying on my unreliable memory for follow-ups & deadlines. I glance in the morning & see "Oh! I need to send out that email this morning". So at the very least, I know I need to do that while Will eats breakfast or takes a nap.

I also need a To Do List JUST for work related stuff. When you work at home, the To Do Lists often mesh into one. The line between Things that will help make me money and Things I need to do to keep my sanity gets blurred when they are under the same roof. Obviously, the stuff on the Money Making list should take higher precedence. So, while wandering the aisles of my second home Target, I came across these from The Board Dudes.

Both are magnetic dry erase boards. Both are lightweight and they come in great colors!

Then, my genius continued as I picked up some of these:

Since my desk is pretty deep, I would have to half-lay on it in order to write on my boards. If I'm going to actually use these boards, I needed to access them as easily as possible. The harder something is to use, the less likely I will use it, or continue to use it. It's science. This stuff is like an upscale velcro for your wall. The nice thing is that when I put the board back up on the wall, there's this "click" you hear to know that it is securely back on! Amazing!

Ta - Da!

Simple. Clean. Inexpensive. Easy. And they look good! I was looking and looking for something a little cuter than the regular thin wood framed dry erase boards, or a cork board...and I'm so glad I waited!