Any Books or sites for time management?

[calanagear]

I'm sorry if I posted this in the wrong area ( forum newbie) but I was wondering if anyone can suggest some good books ( or ebooks) or blogs for time management. I am feeling utterly swamped as to what to do when, I am NOT GOOD at organizing anything and was never taught to cook or any homemaking skills. I also work for home and help my husband's site out with marketing stuff, so this coupled with being an unschooling mom and just a moron with organization in general makes me feel lost, and I never get everything done.

I have Tsh's book, Organized Simplicity, and recently joined a site called List Plan but am looking for other ideas. :)

[Brees_Mama]

These might help http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1324744/resources/0_40

What I do is keep my home picked up so that I can clean it in under an hr. Do a good deep clean (I clean mainly at night) and that way once you get it really clean, you can keep it that way and it won't be so overwhelming. I'm not so good at organizing so I de-clutter a lot. If I don't have room for it and it's not something we absolutely need then it gets sent off to Goodwill.

[calanagear]

THANK you that is exactly what I needed to hear because I prefer to work and get stuff done at night, I had assumed people 'normally' clean in the wee hours of the morning, and I am not a morning person (lol). DO you happen to do meal planning? If so how, do you make like a grocery list based off of recipes? As you can see I am clueless at homemaking.
 

[mamapenguin]

I am no expert on meal planning, since I just started 2 weeks ago, but it has already made a huge difference for me in terms of time management and life enjoyment:)  I came up with 10 dinner ideas and wrote them out on index cards - each one has a list of the ingredients needed.  Most are not actually from recipes (eg. for burritos I need beans, tortillas, tomato, avocado etc.).  I pick out 4 at a time and make a grocery list off of them. This way, I only grocery shop every 4 days (instead of every day), and I know what I'm making for dinner when I wake up in the morning, which had been causing me stress.  There are many people who are far more organized meal planners, but for me this small step has made a huge difference already, and didn't seem too overwhelming to implement.  I might try to stretch it to a 7 day plan at some point, but for now the 4 day plan is woking well (especially since we eat a lot of fresh fish, veggies etc. that I don't want to have sitting in the fridge for too long).  

[mkksmom]

mama penguin, what a great idea. I like the every 4 days idea. I think I'll try that with the index cards too.

I used to keep a list of meals that I like to make and a grocery list with everything we ever buy and check it off as I go. Lately, I have been just going down sections of the store- produce, frozen, cereals and breads, etc. I start with breakfast and just have a general idea if we have enough options in the house. Then I jump to dinner and buy 2 or 3 meats for the week. We end up scrambling for lunch.... eating a lot of sunbutter sandwiches and cheese. I keep a lot of frozen veggies on hand so I can just cook whatever we feel like having at the time.

Some people like Flylady for helping you get organized. I liked her at first, but not so much now. There's motivated moms also that people like. I keep a basic list in my head that I just try to make it through and then start over when I get to the end. Stuff like dusting, vacuuming, steaming/mopping floors, bathrooms, etc. I try to do a load of laundry per day when I am really in a routine. I find I am much happier with a routine, but I rebel against them so much that I end up quitting.

[Brees_Mama]

Originally Posted by calanagear 

THANK you that is exactly what I needed to hear because I prefer to work and get stuff done at night, I had assumed people 'normally' clean in the wee hours of the morning, and I am not a morning person (lol). DO you happen to do meal planning? If so how, do you make like a grocery list based off of recipes? As you can see I am clueless at homemaking.
 

I have recently started meal planning. I make up a dinners menu for a week at a time then get JUST the groceries needed for that menu (assuming you have stuff on hand for bfast and lunch). I use Pinterest a lot for recipes. Here is my board http://pinterest.com/redfishbluefish/wheat-free/  that I put a lot of ideas on. I try to make new foods and leave my notes on there about whether we liked it or not.

Here's a helpful thread http://www.mothering.com/community/t/1352267/may-meal-planning/0_40  my meal plan is at the bottom w/most recipes being on my Pinterest board (above).

And you're welcome! I'm not a morning person either, lol.

If you have a local farmers market, you can go there and stock up on fresh produce and sometimes meats and eggs. It helps stretch our food budget a lot. I got two huge (1lb each!) zucchini's last week for $5 total.