For the past almost two decades, I have been employed in a project based that role that relies on my ability to coordinate and implement projects, identifying key milestones, daily tasks and due dates along the way. I have also been highly regarded for my ability to project manage. I love mapping out the project on a timeline, colour coding the tasks and assigning responsibilities. It’s a little bit nerdy, but I do love it!
I believed that my project management skills were finely tuned as a professional woman. What I didn’t realise prior to becoming a mum, was that these skills would really be fine tuned and tested once I was managing the schedule of a household, multiple small people, my life and the broader household responsibilities or life admin as I like to call it. I’d like to share some of the tricks I use to project manage our busy little family. Hopefully, this might help you with some inspiration that you can adapt to suit your life!
Project Management software
I approach the planning of my son’s first birthday party in the same way I would approach a new project at work. I actually use project management software, which allows me to access my project board anytime, as I have the app on my phone and the web-based application on my laptop. I can login in from any computer and review and update my task lists at anytime. The project management software I love is Asana. It is simple to use but has great functionality. I can create multiple categories under one project board, assign tasks to other people, add comments and updates along the way, and set reminders to prompt me on upcoming deadlines. There is also a great project timeline which allows you to view the project as a whole, with the key due dates mapped along the way.
You may laugh a little and I agree it might seem over the top to use project management software to plan a birthday party, but anyone who’s planned or hosted a party or event knows how many tasks are involved, and how much you need to remember for it all to come together on the day. Usually, I will break the project down, starting with about 4-6 weeks out, leading up to the day of the event. I then systematically work through the tasks and tick them off as I go. It makes for a much less stressful lead in and helps me to map out what I need to achieve each week so that I am not overwhelmed or caught out. I have shared an example project board, which you can find under the ‘Tools’ tab on the homepage. Feel free to check it out and use it for your next event (sorry these will be live soon!).
I also use this software when planning travel with our family. I have created generic lists that I adapt for each holiday. I have a ‘Domestic’ and ‘International’ project board. When we have an upcoming holiday, I simply duplicate the relevant board and make the necessary changes. I have a project sub-task for each of the family members and additional sub-tasks such as ‘food’, ‘general items’, ‘optional’. This takes so much of the guesswork out of packing and preparing for the holiday, which reduces the stress and makes for a much more enjoyable lead in! I have also provided these as example templates under the ‘Tools’ tab.
Diarise everything
Every appointment, school, social or extracurricular event is loaded into my calendar. I prefer to use an electronic calendar, again because it can be easily updated on the go and I always have it with me (I use my gmail calendar on my phone), but I understand that some people prefer paper based diaries and that’s cool too. The main point is that you need to have it out of your head and scheduled in your diary (with at least one reminder set) so you don’t need to worry about the mental load of remembering everything yourself.
As we have a small business, which hubby takes the lead on, his calendar is available for his staff to book meetings and members of the public can also book appointments that load directly into his calendar. As such, we have devised a system which involves me scheduling any appointments into his calendar that he needs to block out or be aware of. I also use this system to advise him of events that he may not need to attend, but as an FYI e.g. weekly swimming lessons. Again, this relies heavily on my ability to be aware of the myriad of events that need to be scheduled, from multiple sources!
I am also currently in the process of developing a project board for each child, which will highlight recurring appointments and remind me as I need to schedule them. Examples include; six monthly dentist check ups, vaccinations, swimming enrolments etc. My intention is to use Asana and develop a board that will look at these events over a calendar year, with each child having their own sub-project.
We have not yet explored the family calendar yet, as we both also have work calendars to manage and feel it will become too much, but I’m interested to hear if any of you use a family calendar and how it works for you?
Weekly briefing with hubby
Another trick I use to map out my week includes reviewing the calendar on a Sunday with my husband and working out the logistics of everyone’s commitments for the week. A simple half hour chat leading into the week means that everyone’s on the same page and we can iron out any potential kinks before they hit!
I also use this time to map out things like the weekly meal plan and update my shopping list ready for my next online order.
Daily plan
Each night when I journal, I allocate five minutes to jot down my ‘plan for tomorrow’. There are generally 3-4 key tasks that I want to accomplish the following day. I usually include the meal I am preparing in this list. I like going to bed knowing that I’ve already identified what needs to happen the following day. It also helps me to remind or flag anything with other family members or friends who may be assisting with the kids that day.
The above strategies really help to manage our chaotic life, and alleviates the massive mental burden of having to remember everything, keeping my brain clear for other more meaningful activities! If you think any of these strategies might be useful for managing your household, feel free to use them! I’d love to hear more from you about what you do to manage your houses, please feel free to share your hacks and tricks here!
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