The Friday Five!

I've decided to resurrect an old favorite {or something I did, like, the first three weeks my baby blog existed in this online world}. By now, I'm sure you know of my affinity for lists, and as I may {or may not} have stated back for the first FRIDAY FIVE, five is a good number for lists. It offers enough for a quick read without getting too many items on topic to make your reader bored. And I don't want you to be bored. Seriously, it keeps me up at night.

Okay, not really. But still! I'm sure you, dear reader, appreciate my mission to keep you boredom-free. 

Today's re-inaugural FRIDAY FIVE is on a simple topic. It's not one in which I feel I'm an expert because, believe me, sooo many of you have sooo much more to juggle than I do. But it's still something I get asked every once in a while.

How do you stay so organized?

Sometimes, I don't feel organized. But most of the time, I do. I pretty much know 90% of what is going on in my life at all times. And, while I don't have children, I have a plant, and that's pretty much the same thing, right? {Just kidding, OBVIOUSLY...also, when did I last water that plant....}

But, I digress. I'm about to let you in on some super-crazy-amazingly-wonderful secrets that keep me organized. Get ready to take notes because this is some pretty amazing stuff. 

#1:  MY CLOTHES

This school year, I decided to follow some advice I'd read on another teacher's blog. I can't recall which, or I would totally give them a shout-out here. Every Sunday evening, I glance at the cursory five-day forecast, and I pull out my clothes for the week. Now, in all honesty, it's really only three outfits because A) Fridays are jeans and a Raider shirt day, so pretty easy and B) Wednesdays are jeans and Bucket Filler shirt days...again, consists of a t-shirt and jeans. Pretty easy to handle. 

But, thanks to this fancy black rack in my room, I have the ability to pull out three outfits and have them hanging for easy access. My shoes are in my closet, and I don't have enough of those to warrant any particular method to that madness. The shelf {which yes, contains a pink yoga block} gives me the space to pile up my jeans, t-shirts, leggings...anything that I don't keep on a hanger. And then in the morning, I just grab an outfit and go! I don't ever worry anymore about stuff not looking right or being too cold or hot, because I've taken the guess work out of it. I put a lot of faith in my Weather Channel app, and so far {knock on wood}, it hasn't failed me yet. 

The other great thing about doing this is it keeps me from wearing the same outfits over and over again, and also the same types of clothes. I know Sunday night if I need my black leggings or brown tights or nude bra and can either A) make sure they're clean or B) alter my outfits so I don't need those items and don't have to run around in the morning looking for something that got put in someone else's pile or is still wet in the washing machine. Seriously, a HUGE time saver!

#2:  MY PLANNER

Oh, my planner. How I love thee...let me count the ways! My planner has been my lifesaver this past year. Again, I've made a lot of changes in the last school year, and this is another huge one. First of all, let me start out by saying, my planner is not fancy. It is not one of those crazy amazing planners from Etsy or anything. I actually got the pdf free online, printed it at home, and then took it to Office Max to have it bound and covered {less than $5}. My planner for next year is equally free, but slightly more exciting and colorful and fun.

I do my planners from July to June because lots of things in my life revolve around a school's calendar. My job, Sunday school, music club...a lot of my "years" don't actually start in January. Plus, I like not having to switch planners in January and write down half of my school year's events in one planner and half in another. 

As I've said, it's fairly simple as far as planners go. I've got 2015 and 2016 "Year at a Glance" pages in the front {always handy}. Then I've got each month on it's own page. I try to use different colored pens for different events. As you can see on this month's page, I use blue for school things, pink for music-related events, orange for tv show start dates {very important}, and black for church events. Yellow just kind of ended up being Scholastic Bowl this month...it tends to move around. Then I have a few blank note pages for things that don't fit in this year's planner but need to go in the next one, along with other ideas and things that come to mind. Finally {and perhaps most importantly}, I have pages devoted to my blog posts. Again, it just helps to get ideas down and have everything in the same place. I can point you toward some great free printables for this sort of thing if you're interested {check out my Writing Pinterest board}.

#3:  MY WEEKLY LIST

You might notice that when I mentioned my planner above, I didn't mention that it has daily or weekly pages. That's because it doesn't, and part of it is because of my OCD-esque nature. I have received several of those Weekly To-Do List notepads as gifts, and I have to use them up. Because otherwise, they sit and are unused and then what was the point of giving me something I'm not going to use? Exactly. Stop laughing at me.

I use these pages to jot down my weekly things. Yes, I put "school" on my daily list because that means I get to cross something off every day! And isn't that what makes lists great--crossing things off of them? I always try to add in some kind of exercise {not that it always happens}, and I list out other important goings-on, like choir practice or a Scholastic Bowl meet. And yes, once again, I list out the tv shows that are on each night {taped on the DVR because I'm not crazy} so that way I stay on top of things. I also include a short list of things that need to be done over the week at some point {notice that one of the things is "clothes"...laying out my clothes gets crossed out every week}. Just a helpful little thing that gets me through the week without forgetting anything major {and yes, sometimes I even put "call so-and-so" on my to-do list...otherwise I will forget to do it!}

#4:  MY TOTES AND SUCH 

Just a disclaimer:  I promise my floor doesn't always look like this...I'm trying to make a point {okay, sometimes it looks like this...}. Do you know a teacher who doesn't love totes and bags and such things? I don't. And I learned early on that it keeps me most organized if everything has a place and is in its place as often as possible. For that reason, I have bags for every aspect of my life. The pink thirty-one bag is my school bag. The blue bag with the cute pattern holds all of my Scholastic Bowl things. The black bag {with the random boxes on top} contains my Mary Kay paraphernalia. The copperish colored bag that is sitting in front of my phone booth is my Music Club bag {and yes, I need one because I'm now secretary/treasurer}. And the Pink bag contains things I've knitted and not yet found homes for {not exactly important, but I thought I should explain}. Even the light blue reuseable shopping bag has a purpose:  that is filled with things that I need to put away or do something with. Rather than letting them pile up, they sit in that bag until I find a place to put them. Yes, it's a little bit much. But no, it isn't going to stop. It really does keep me sane. If I'm looking for my Mary Kay order slips, I know right where they are. If I need my Scholastic Bowl roster, I can find it quickly. HUGE time saver, trust me!

#5:  MY SCHOOL LIST

Alas, I do not have a picture of this, but it's fairly simple to explain. I used to have a big running to-do list at school of all the things that I needed to get done. But it stressed me out. I mean, "update my curriculum map" just sat there...and sat there...and was never crossed off...and never went away... I couldn't handle it anymore! This is another very simple and yet oh so wonderful idea I found from another teacher's blog {not the same one from above...I think}. Instead of trying to cram too much stuff into one day and staying super late, at the end of each day, I make a list of everything I need to accomplish the next day. If I need to grade, I am specific. I've tried to stop taking things home to draw a clear line between work time and Kaitlin time, and this has helped. I am realistic:  there's no way I can grade 70 worksheets, 25 packets, plan next week, make copies for next week, and respond to all the other tasks that just pop up in one day. Especially when there are days I have to leave school right at 3:00 for Scholastic Bowl meets or I lose all my morning prep-time because of meetings and what not. So I try to keep my list doable. Usually, it's between 8 and 10 things. Do all my papers get graded right away? No, and I've learned I can either stress myself out trying to do that, or I can piece it out through the week. So maybe on my list for Monday it says "Grade 4A Bingo--Copy packet for Tues--Find WS for English--Print letter for PARCC"...and that might be it. But sometimes getting only one of those things done in a day can be a challenge. I mean, you can't stop kids from needing extra help and parents from calling and coworkers from wanting to collaborate. There are just too many demands on your time to try.  

As you can see, some of my "tips" are directed at teachers, but I can't imagine that most of them don't apply to other professions. Planners and lists are just helpful in general, and I'm sure many of you already do the tote bag thing. 

Do you have any fool proof tips for staying organized? Any great insight that I'm missing? Share it, please!

~Stay Gold!