Organization while the children are little...

Ok, being pregnant can make anyone tired. If you're running around chasing other children that can make you tired even if you're not pregnant! Being a mother is a full time, 24 hour a day job. A job that you usually do not get time off! Weekends means you still do the same job, and holidays-well if you celebrate them, you're actually working harder when they occur!

I raised 5 children, and what worked for me may not work for you...but I still think that if you try the following suggestions...I think they may help!
When you're a mother, you should have some kind of schedule. This means that you should not just allow the day to 'happen'. Have a plan every day.
I planned stuff out-even when I would clean certain parts of the house, when the oil needed changed in the car, tires rotated. It did not mean I would be doing all of those jobs, it just would mean a way to keep track of when they needed to be done.

I liked to keep track of this on paper/index cards. Mothers today use the computer. Either way is fine. If using the computer works for you, great, I liked having a list that I could check off the items when done, as that gave me a since of accomplishment.
Cleaning: I divided my chores into daily-weekly-monthly-yearly. To get started you will need the following: a file box; dividers listing at the top the following: daily, weekly, monthly, yearly; file index cards; and about an hour of your time. I listed on a separate piece of paper the jobs that I needed to do,including everything from dusting to painting the porch. Look carefully at the list to be sure you have not left anything out, and then beside everything on the list place how often you need to do that particular chore-everyday, weekly or what. Now transfer this information to an index card. One index card per item. This allows you to place on the card the date you did the chore. (I did not do this for daily and weekly chores) Why do this? It gives you a reference of when the oil was changed in the car, or when the windows were washed last. (sometimes they need done again, due to weather-we all know that)
If your on a tight budget, and you only purchase certain amount of cleaning products each year, it shows you a record of how many you used last year-allowing a more strict budget.
This system also works well for keeping tract of health issues. You can have a file section for the families health keeping tract of dentist appointments etc. This is just one way to get yourself organized.

Why do this? Well, for those weekly, monthly and yearly jobs I found scheduling them into my plans allowed more freedom and less stress. I knew such and such job would be done, I knew I would have the supplies together by then and I also knew that I would not schedule too much on the day I was doing those big jobs. And if the little children needed special child care on the day of the larger jobs, it allowed time for me and for the family who I would send them to for that day-for planning ahead.