Well hello there! It’s been a while! Navigating Mam life and finding time for me has been a pretty big challenge this year, and now I find myself getting closer to a routine and the structure that I crave.
As organised as I usually am, I’ve been treading water this year – I can’t lie. Everything has been completed right on time, late or added to a list for “whenever I get chance” and I’m forever grateful to my organised self for getting ahead when I could last year and bulk buying things that would save me trips to the shops.
So September… it’s been a pretty peaceful and relaxing month and it’s lead me quite nicely through the beginning of Autumn and into some “back to work” prep, for both Amelia and myself.
For Amelia, we’ve got a childcare routine arranged and over the coming months we’re going to be getting Amelia eased into life without her Mama all day; this makes me sad and happy, I’ve missed being me and my batteries are drained, but equally hate the fact I can’t be here 24×7 for her from January. She’s got some settling in time arranged, and I know she will thrive in her new routine. She is such a clever cheeky and inquisitive little girl, and I keep telling myself that she’ll be okay.
For myself, I’m starting some regular KIT days to ease myself back into using my brain. I’ve batched some admin and food prep which should see us through to the end of January meaning I can maximise the time I have left with Amelia.
For October… I’m going to start thinking further ahead, my first goal is to plan out the next 15 months calendar using my ‘Organise Your Year’ framework – I’ll pop this into a pretty format and share with you guys very soon! (Note: Email me if you’d like to get an advanced tester copy!)
I feel DESPERATE to do some financial planning and forecasting, we’ve sailed through this year by the seat of our pants thanks to being super organised before maternity leave but its left me feeling a little out of control so thats my next October goal. We’ve been using the same excel template since we moved into the house, but I feel like now we’ve become parents it’s a good time to create something a bit more grown up. Lets face it too, the cost of NOTHING is comparible anymore anyway!
My third organisation goal is to finish getting ahead on birthdays and Christmas. I used some of my admin time to create birthday cards for family from now to the end of January as we’re pretty heavy on special occasions at this time of the year. I teamed Funky Pigeon prepayment, topcashback and a 50% off 5 or more cards and bulk bought to save on postage. I reckon we will have saved almost £100 by doing this, and thats without including the time and money of multiple trips to the shops. I’m probably about 60% complete with cards but only about 10% complete with gifts, so I’m going to make myself a little shopping list together and finish making the last batch of cards.
My final organisation goal is a seasonal one. The weather here in the North East of England is really starting to turn – this time last week we had glorious sunshine but today its been bitter grey and very wet. Every year we “tie down” for winter – this is basically us bringing indoors anything that will get damaged outside, tidy away anything that will be knocked around by wind, stock up on stove essentials, swap our duvet and do a big deep clean while we can have the windows open (before the heating goes back on). This year we’re late in getting started so we MUST get this completed very soon before the weather makes it very tricky.
RECAP: October Organisation Goals
- Organise My ‘Year’ (15 months)
- Create and implement a budget template
- Finish getting ahead on birthdays and Christmas
- Seasonal “tie down” chores (ASAP)
Hope you’re all safe and well
Love, Jo-Anne x