Organizing My Life

With two little kids, a busy husband and a Mom to take care of, I have a lot of balls in the air at any one time. I come easily to organization but I've had to really buckle down this year. I have my goals for the year which I check-in on weekly. I'm working to remember my word for the year (Simple) and implementing simple processes to make life more simple. I'm still monthly meal planning and all of that is going well but I was still forgetting to do important tasks.

Way back in November or December, I downloaded the Passion Planner pages and I just started using them about two weeks ago to focus my attention. On Thursday or Friday, I start looking ahead to the next week. I fill in our appointments and weekly activities, add in our dinners and then start looking at my to-do list which I keep on my iPhone with the Clear app. They have this great section for personal to-dos and work to-dos. I consider the blog and my Mom's needs to be "work" and things like the 14 week organizational challenge to be "personal". As an aside, the challenge is still going well and I'm planning a check-in soon. 

This new plan has revolutionized my life! My head is less jumbled with should-do's, want-to-do's and have-to-do's. I am able to focus on what is in front of me and move things around as plans change. For instance, this morning my SIL and niece were going to come over to play but my two monkeys are sick so we canceled our plans. Now that the kids are sleeping, I'm working on my to-do list and moving things up so I can spend time caring for them when they wake-up. 

What are your favorite organizational tools? and tips?