Today I am linking up with two of my favorite mom bloggers (is that even what we call them anyone?) Shay from Mix and Match Mama and Erika from A Little Bit of Everything for their monthly link up called “Let’s Look”. This is one of my favorite posts to read from them every month because I feel like all the prompts are things that are useful/helpful tips/tricks/ideas for a busy mom and there have been many things I have read that I started to implement in our own family rhythms. So, I decided in 2023 I would make it a priority to link up with it as much as I can!

So, here goes the prompt for January 2023…how do we organize and schedule our busy family of 5?

A few disclaimers before we get started…

• I have no magic secret sauce, I have just found what works best for our family over the years.

• We have had to adjust and pivot this a hundred times depending on the seasons we are in.

• Little kids are different than big kids. My kids are all in school full time and this all looked so much different when they were little. It also looked different when my husband was traveling for work more.

• If you see an idea here or anywhere and it doesn’t work for you but you want it to, try changing it or tweaking it just a bit and see if it fits better. It doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

Just throwing those out there because, ultimately, I believe that you have to try things a few different ways before you end up finding what works best for your family.

Okay without more rambling here is what works for our family (our kids are 19, 11 and 9).

1. Write it down!

   • This one seems simple but for me, if I don’t write it down there is a 10/10 chance that I will forget and it won’t happen. Whether it is a reminder to send an email to a teacher, schedule a doctors appointment, add something to my grocery list, etc. I write it down.

   • Extra note here - I go between using the notes in my phone and a paper to do list. Something about physically writing it down and checking it off works best for me but when I am out and about and don’t have my calendar, I add it to my notes and all week long I am constantly comparing them and usually adding to my paper calendar. I know what I need to get done every week because I write it down.

2. Use a Calendar!

   • I use a digital calendar for all appointments, sports events, plans, etc. If we have to be somewhere or do something, it is in my Google Calendar and I live by this calendar.

   • Three of my biggest tips here -

     • Everything is color coded. All my stuff is in purple. The kids stuff is in yellow. Family stuff where we all need to be there is in grey. Things that I cannot move (like school pick up and drop off) is in red. This way I can glance at my week ahead and know where I can be flexible, who has what for the week, etc.

     • On Sunday evening I look at my calendar to get a handle on everything for the week ahead so in my mind I loosely know what is happening in the week as a whole. Then each early morning I look to really know what needs to be done for the day.

     • If you don’t do a shared calendar (we don’t because my husband doesn’t keep a calendar) we talk on Sunday evening about what is happening for the week. When do I need help picking up the girls from school. When are my pop ups, upcoming doctors appointment etc so that everyone knows when things are.

3. Limit kids activities!

   • This is a big one for us. We haven’t always held to this one but in the few seasons we haven’t, we have regretted it big time because we felt too stretched thin and frustrated. We say no to things our kids want to do. We say yes a lot but we also say no a lot too.

   • Look, I know especially when they are little they want to go to every playdate, every birthday party and be in every sport/club but truthfully, it’s just not possible to do it all and keep your sanity. We say yes to the parties/playdates with good friends. We schedule family time with other families so they have time with their friends (and we do too) but to random, last minute playdates and birthday parties of kids at school they just know, we always say no.

   • For sports/clubs we typically limit them to one sport each and one school/church club each. Cam is older now so this doesn’t apply to him anyone but at one point that meant 2 activities x3 kids and there are only 2 of us and 7 days in a week. It just isn’t possible to do it all.

4. Say no to things!

   • Kind of one the same lines as above, we say no to things. Whether its a lunch, a school commitment, a church ask, whatever….if it isn’t our best yes we say no. The book by Lysa Tuerkeurst “The Best Yes” totally changed my viewpoint on this years ago. Highly recommend the book if you need help with saying no.

5. Leave white space in your life!

   1. It’s life, things are going to happen. Best laid plans go sideways. Someone gets sicks. Something you forgot about pops up, etc. But the best thing I have done for our family rhythms is to create white space so that there is breathing room in our weeks. When things go sideways, I can adjust without going going going 24/7.

Whew! Okay, that was a lot but I do hope that you found something that can be helpful for you to start implementing! Let me know below if there are some tips/tricks that work best for your family that I can start incorporating into ours!

Hope you have the best day friend!