Ten Tips on Managing & Organizing Your Family

Since being a mom doesn't come with a full time assistant, maid, cook, and a personal coach to help keep your sanity (depending on who you are, of course) I would like to share a few quick tips that help me keep my head on straight.

Right now, TwitterMoms and Icon Apps have put together a blog contest to get tips on family organization.

1) Chore List-Yes, that's right. I give myself a chore list. It is so much easier when broken down into small bits each day. I pretty much give myself Friday-Sunday off except for straightening up the house. I break it down into daily tasks, weekly, and daily agenda.
2) Laundry...Every Day- I know, laundry sucks and I swear I loathe the loads. It's the magic act that keeps reappearing over and over that I hate. I do one load a day, including washing, drying, folding, and putting away. If only it would stay gone!
3) Menu- I plan out a menu every week of what we are going to be having for dinner. This saves time and money and avoiding buying things at the store that you end up not using or going bad.
4)Cleaning the Bathroom- Did you know that Alka Seltzer is a great toilet bowl cleaner? Yeah, that's right! Plop, plop, fizz, fizz...it's a cleanin away. Just plop those suckers in your toilet and avoid all of the scrubbing! Let them sit for five minutes and flush away. (If it cleans your toilet so well, makes you wonder what it does to your body, huh?!)
5)Calendar-- I have a dry erase board on the wall of everything that is going on. Doctor's Appointment, Mom Group Meetings, weekend activities, etc. I also have an area on the board to write down the next month's upcoming events. We also write things to remember at the grocery store.
6) The 'Mom's Intuition' App (above- This is actually amazing. You can input your grocery list into your phone and never forget anything. (If only it did the laundry)
7) Prep Dinner in the Morning- I try to get everything out for dinner in the morning, to have ready to go when I start cooking. If anything needs to be defrosted, this gives me plenty of time and I don't have to worry about it later. I also make enough dinner for 4 people to have leftovers for Michael to take to work with him. This also saves money when not buying lunch everyday.
8) Bills- I like to separate the bills, coupons, and all other mail in an organizer which is next to the computer.
9) Baby Food- I still make all of Davis' baby food, which really does not take a lot of time. I make it all at once and freeze everything so he has plenty for a week or more. I label of all his fruits, veggies, and meats with the date on them.
10) Don't Forget YOU!!- Unwind at the end of the day and try and drop all of the chores, bills, etc. After Davis goes to bed every night, it is me and Michael time. We have dinner, glass of vino, watch a movie, or just talk. I need my time, even if it's just a little bit, to unwind from the day.

Disclosure
This post is part of a blogging contest from the TwitterMoms community. There is a chance this post could be randomly selected to win a $50 Target GiftCard, so wish me luck! For more details, you can view the contest page here (http://icomp.ly/IconApps).

To learn more about Icon Apps, a creator of cool iPhone applications that help people manage and simplify their lives, click here!

Do you have any tips or tricks?