Summer Vacation: A Refresher in Efficiency and Organization

Posted by Charlene Prince Birkeland

Summer vacation is in full force at the crazedparent house. My five-year-old son, Nol, started his summer camp today and like another mom in my hood, I'm already feeling the pain. It's not that I'm exhausted from driving Nol back and forth from school, or planning our post-school day activities. I actually look forward to all of that because it's quality time with my little guy. And he needs a little mama-spoiling right now.

The pain I'm feeling has more to do with the organizational extravaganza required to keep our entire family in check. When I feel like chaos is about to ensue, I go through a mass organizational fest from closets to calendars. And I start repeating the saying, "A place for everything and everything in its place."

As an independent contractor, organization, efficiency and routine are critical to survival. Just when you're getting a little too comfortable, a little kick in the arse from say, you're child's summer vacation, comes along to add a little discomfort to your flowing work days.

Okay, it wouldn't be honest of me to blame my summer working mama woes on my son's summer schedule. The truth is that on top of his reduced school hours, I'm also adjusting to my husband's new travel schedule and um, did I mention our new puppy? (An entirely separate story, of course). Tack all of that onto one busy work week and well, you've got one mom with a brain that's on overdrive.

While I've already pulled together a summer schedule for my boys, I hadn't taken the time to reassess what my summer routine will be given Nol's new camp hours and bonus time at home...and everything else going on.

Over the weekend, I mapped out the next three months on a day-by-day basis to cover schedules for both boys, my husband and myself. It made me feel better to look at our world at a glance. But I also knew that I needed to delve into some nitty gritty work habits to eek out a more efficient routine.

I pulled out my copy of The Anti-9-to-5 Guide by Michelle Goodman for a little refresher on how to get myself on track for summer vacation. Michelle's book is a fantastic how-to for anyone looking to leaving "the cube" so to speak, but it also offers really valuable tips that you can use daily to be better organized...something every working mom struggles with at some point in her career.

And it's always in the little things that make a big impact. I'm focusing on three areas that need some help in my world. Here's what I'm doing, based on Michelle Goodman's book, to tackle my new summer schedule:

-Establishing a new and realistic routine with different "business hours" to accommodate Nol's new school day. And being vigilant about sticking to it. I normally keep track of my workday on paper, but I'm going digital. I downloaded this cool widget for my MacBook called The Daily Grind, which is helping me track all of my hours down the second. 

-Cleaning house, or rather, my office. I'm "pimping out" my workspace to get even more organized so that I have a space for everything. I feel completely overwhelmed when I'm surrounded by clutter. Ikea here I come.

-Tackling administrative duties in one-fell swoop once a week. It's so easy to get distracted...you see a receipt, you want to file it immediately. You see emails popping into your in-box every few seconds. But once you switch gears, even for a minute, it's hard to get back into your groove. Even for the best multi-tasker. So I'm setting aside time once a week to handle my filing, invoicing and any other "admin" duties that are required for my job and family (e.g., bill paying).

And while I know that I'm a slash/mom who works from home most of the time, I'm sure all of you working moms out there with kids at home for the summer are facing your own challenges. What do you do to get back on track?

Comments

[michelle]

so glad i could inspire ya...