Ten Tips for Making your Life Easier!

While my last post was about how to make your holidays a little simpilar, this post is about how to make your life a little simplilar. Its hard not to remember that things are not really as complicated as they seem. I often find myself making huge deals out of situations that really aren't so bad. Because it really doesn't take as long as I as think its going to to do most tasks (even if they look like they will take forever). Here are some of my tips on how to make our busy lives a little simpler

1. Clean as you go: This is something that I struggle with, but when I do this, I find that my life is so much neater! I do the dishes while I'm waiting for the rest of the food to cook. I clean the kitchen while I feed Annabella breakfast and wait for the coffee to brew. I run my errands while I do my laundry
2. Write it down: Buy yourself a planner, and write down EVERYTHING, take that library calender and write down the dates you wanna go so that you have a quick reference in your planner. Check it everyday. It helps so much to see how your week looks and it makes it easy to see areas where you will be busy and even easier to schedule  BREAKS!
3. Three Meals A day: If you have a full belly, then you are less likely to snack  (which means you won't gain extra pounds) Also when you eat your meals it keeps your head clear to think and get the things done that you need, and if you plan it out, you can avoid eating fast food while shopping!
4. Feng Shui: clear the energy in your house and you will be able to focus easily on what you are doing. Tibetan Prayer flags are an easy way to clear some energy. Also a crystal hung in a window not only bounces rainbows all over the room and make you smile
5. Hang your shirts: Its so much easier to have all the shirts hung up in the closet so that you can easily see what you are trying to get, they are hardly ever wrinkled so you don't have to worry about ironing them either!
6. Let your toddler do the work: Plum Organics Baby Food makes pouches of fruit and veggie blends that are BPA free, these are AMAZING for the back of the car when you are in a hurry or when you need to get some work in during meal time and don't want to have to worry about clean-up! They are super healthy, I have a friend who's son is super picky and she swears by these!
7. Folderize your e-mail: My friends are always telling me how jealous they are of my organized mailbox. I have a folder for my receipts, I have a folder for my blog work, I have a folder for my travel info, one for my school info. This has made my life so much easier especially when I am trying to find messages that I need!
8. If nobody will help you: make them ;  it took me a while to learn this one, but for real, when Annabella's father just doesn't help enough I take an 'extended' trip to the grocery store or to my mailbox, on this trip I stop downtown and wander around the stores for a while, or make phone calls that I want to. Its nice to have a breath of fresh air and I can go back in the house feeling better.
9. Car-Bag: I always keep a bag in my car full of wipes, diapers, extra clothes (for both of us), some snacks, granola bars, a bottle of water, and some toys.  When I am in a hurry I love knowing that I have a bag out in the car so that if I forget something I can know that its back there. (Sometimes I keep a Starbucks gift-card back there if I have one, but currently the last one ran out)
10. Spend some time with your baby:  When you are busy doing other things, sometimes its easy for me to make Annabella wait for me to read her a book because I'm working on a cute dress for her. I notice that if I take a break from what I'm doing and spend a few minutes playing with her, she is calmer and I can easily finish my project or task.

Remember to relax, most of the time you probably feel more busy then you really are. Turn on some mellow music and do your chores to that, you'll most likely get lost in the tunes and realize its not so bad after all! Lots of times I notice that when I start to feel overwhelmed!

Hope these can help you

I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Oral-B blogging contest, making me eligible to get full-sized Oral-B Glide products and a $30 Target gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.