If this is you, tell me how you do it?

I try, but just can’t cut it when it comes to having an organised household and impeccably turned out children. School-run mornings are a cartoon maelstrom of lost shoes, children eating toast in the car, and getting to school only to realise the vital piece of sports’ kit is at home. I even left a neighbour’s child one day, having forgotten that I’d promised to take her in. So ahead of the new school term I decided to ask the experts how they do it. I picked on my most together friends, the ones who seem capable of whipping up a fortnight’s worth of lasagne before breakfast, and whose children never look as though they could do with a good wash. Here, for what it’s worth, is how they keep it all together.

1. Put out the uniform the night before. At the same time, check the schoolbag to see if there are any notes/invitations/rancid socks lying around. Deal with anything there and then.
2. Give each child a basket at the front door. As soon as they step across the threshold, get them to put in their shoes/gloves/hats/scarves etc. That way, all is in place the next time you need to get them.
3. Organise a fortnightly meal rota, and shop accordingly, preferably by delivery. It might be a bit boring to think, ‘Oh, it’s Monday it must be bolognaise’, but it might also be nice to think, ‘Hurrah, I’ve got a stash of bolognaise in the freezer waiting to go!’
4. Have a present drawer somewhere in the house, with a couple of unisex gifts (paint your own kite, fairytale book, pipe cleaners, Fuzzy Felt are all good choices), with wrapping paper, Sellotape and scissors. You’ll never again spend five hours chasing around the house looking for that elusive piece of string.
5. Eat with the children wherever possible. This will help them have a more grown-up palate, while saving you cooking and washing up time. Soup with cous-cous poured in, and poached eggs on muffins with blanched carrots, are quick and easy teatime standbys.
6. Leave stuff waiting at the top or bottom of stairs, and make sure you take it up or down whenever you walk past. Make a house rule never to go anywhere with empty hands.
7. Use your white goods. Whenever you leave the house, do a mental checklist. It makes sense to get the dishwasher/washing machine working while you’re out, ready for you to empty when you get back in.

There must be loads more little time savers. Please add yours to help me get back to school in some semblance of order!

Tags: Practical but fabulous

1. PippaD says:

   August 23, 2010 at 11:39

   If you do leave your washer running whilst you are out, make sure you are ready for any floods that might happen and please Never leave your dryer running whilst you are out or asleep!

   Something else that is worth making a habit is to make sure you empty the lunchbox after school and if you can make up the lunch for tomorrow! Saves a lot of hassle in the morning!
2. angels&urchinsblog says:

   August 23, 2010 at 18:33

   PippaD – I hope you aren’t speaking from experience when it comes to flooding. And I promise I won’t leave a dryer on. We try not to use one anyway, tho our house often looks like a laundry as a consequence. We only have one lunchbox a week, thank goodness, but I have to confess that I forgot to empty it one week, something that wasn’t a pleasant surprise a week later!
3. Iota says:

   August 23, 2010 at 20:47

   Make packed lunches the night before.
4. Mrshev says:

   August 24, 2010 at 08:28

   1. Make the children sleep in their uniforms. If it’s winter, then coats and wellies as well. Job done.
   2. Make a vat of Spag Bol – the kids hate everything else, so just feed them one thing. Job Done.
   3. Make the children slippers out of mop-heads. House clean. Job done.

   Seriously, my time saving tips are:
   1. Put Swiss Army knives on every set of keys. You never lose them this way and you always have a screwdriver / knife / scissors in a pinch.
   2. When you load the dishwasher, put all knives, forks and spoons in the separate compartments. All the same sized plates together, all mugs together etc. I know this sounds ANAL in the extreme, but I was a pot-washer in a restaurant for a while and this saves so, so much time unloading and takes seconds loading. Honestly, try it. People will think you’re insane, but you’ll have the last laugh…or cackle.
   3. Get up earlier than your kids, do the three s’s (a bloke thing) and then you are ready to rock.
   4. Put the laundry basket in the MIDDLE OF THE HOUSE. My missus was insistent that it must be in our bathroom. It now lives in the hallway and save so much time.
   5. This is a bit random, but: use your petrol cap to wedge the trigger of the fuel nozzle at the filling station and use the 3 or 4 minutes instead – now that you’re hands free – to send text messages or play bedazzled…
   6. My mum was a cleaner and she always said to buy Henry vacuum cleaners as they never, ever break down and go to a decent hardware store and buy a massive, swivel mop head and you can mop a room in seconds. Wax furniture once and polish ten time. Put your scourers from the kitchen in the dishwasher every night.
5. Heather says:

   August 24, 2010 at 12:27

   My aunt used to make a batch of sandwiches on Sunday night, and put them in the freezer. Apparently if you give them some ventilation while they defrost they don’t go soggy. Haven’t tried it must admit. My top tip is to keep a diary with you at all times and write in anything that comes in as soon as it comes in. This helps doubling up an important meeting with sports day, or forgetting it’s the bake sale or dressing up day at school.
6. Twitted by lilyandlime says:

   August 24, 2010 at 12:31

   [...] This post was Twitted by lilyandlime [...]
7. Urban Mums says:

   August 25, 2010 at 13:28

   I wish I could be more organised. I really want to be… ! That said, much improvement from my uni days!!

   I am guilty of putting on the washing machine/dishwasher on our way out… a simple pleasure to come home to dry clothes and clean dishes, but good point about the flooding. Somehow that never crossed my mind!

   Oh time to clean the children’s room now…. it’s BAD.
8. mamacrow says:

   August 25, 2010 at 22:41

   My top tip re school runs and uniform organising? Home educate. Seriously.

   Ok, those were not the ONLY reasons we chose to take the kids out of school but I can tell you one thing, I do NOT lie in bed in the mornings thinking ‘Oh boy I miss the school rush. And man, I wish I had uniform to iron’
9. angels&urchinsblog says:

   August 26, 2010 at 18:56

   Iota – Only problem is that I might be tempted to eat the night-before packed lunch as a midnight feast!

   Mrshev – You are one highly organised dada. Love the Swiss Army Knife tip, very – in the best possible way – a very male solution. As for the dishwasher… Well, let’s just say you are clearly secretly related to my MIL. But it’s a good tip, nonetheless. Does your mother do house visits? And one final question: ever ended up with flammable shoes?!

   Urban Mums – Put those blighters to work!

   mamacrow – Ironing? Nah, uniform is all drip dry and best kept away from naked flames these days. Love the thought of home schooling, though, and will be over to your blog to find out more about it. Thanks for heading over to say hello.
10. Mrshev says:

    August 27, 2010 at 11:15

    My mother is available for house visits, but the coffin tends to create an obstruction in most hallways. Sadly, she passed away a few years ago…so might also be a bit whiffy.

    I have never ended up with flammable shoes…but I have been saved by the fire brigade once (long story – I am thinking about doing a post about random things that have happened in my life…)