Tools – Useful Only When You Use Them

Our home life is a bit hectic, as you can imagine. Most of our daily schedule is already planned out. However, I was looking forward to this morning as we had a day off from school. I know most parents dread those days because either they have to take time off of work, or have to ‘deal’ with the kids all day long. Days off from school for me, are days that I don’t have to be on my game. I don’t have to have everyone dressed, fed, and out the door by 7:45 in the morning, with cute clothes on, shoes on their feet, etc. In reality, I usually only have the child that needs to be to school by 8:00, dressed, fed, and with shoes on his feet. The other three are usually in their jammies (possibly still with a full diaper), as we all rush to the car and make it to school with two minutes to spare.

Anyways, back to today. I imagined I was going to have a morning with coffee and productivity (the dream right?). It was 10:00 a.m. Some might call it late morning, others early afternoon- either way, it didn’t matter. We didn’t have to be anywhere.

Then the doorbell rang. Eek! Do the rest of you all get that feeling when the doorbell rings? The house was a mess. I, and the children, were still in our jammies. I wasn’t wearing a bra, and hadn’t showered (ahem… in a few days). I peeked out the door to see the lovely ladies (Speech Pathologist and Early Education Specialist) that visit us once a month to check on my son’s progress. Ugh, I did it again. I attempted to keep all the balls in the air, and one dropped.

YESTERDAY, I knew of this appointment. I had looked at my handy calendar that I made and I knew they were coming. But today, I forgot. You see, the tools you have at your disposal are only good when you use them. Today it was a calendar for me. What is it for you? Do you have a website or blog that you’re not keeping up on? Do you have a skill or talent that you are sitting on, but not doing anything with?

I was up late last night working on a line of headbands for a local basketball team. I was trying to get the stitching done right and then the iron-on logos to work (way more time consuming than I had planned). I put all my efforts into my business that I was slacking this morning, and didn’t use my tool to keep me in check.

Previously, we had used to have one of those Shutterfly calendars that had pictures and family birthdays on it. While I loved it and the photos (my father-in-law takes some gorgeous photos of the countryside), it didn’t have enough room in each day to write out all that was happening. For those of you needing motivation to get your calendar up to par with what you have going on, maybe mine will inspire you.

I bought a big desk calendar off of Amazon (pretty much everything I buy is from Amazon, who has time to shop?). I also got 6 different colored Sharpie pens (not markers)- one for each member of our family, and a black one. I plan out 2-3 months in advance and write in all the things that are the same each day of the week/month, and then I have room to write in new appointments, birthdays, or whatever.

Full disclosure, I did not think of this. I borrowed the idea from a friend of mine who seems to have it all together. I loved the idea and made a wall for it, with the reminder to myself- ONE DAY AT A TIME.

This calendar has helped me so much, but only if I look at the calendar IN THE MORNING, as well as the night before.

Need this setup at your house? Here are the exact ones I got:

Calendar:

Sharpies:

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And now, back to the coffee.