Making your bed

Your bed is more than a place of rest. Your bed is where you dream, you share warmth and love, where you make love and babies.  Your bed is your sanctuary, a peaceful and calm place.

Making your bed is one of the quickest, easiest steps to keeping your bedroom organised. Start your day feeling productive and that you have accomplished a small task by crossing this one off your list.

If you are in need of organisation in your life, this is one way you can easily start to regain a sense of control, feel productive and build momentum for other areas in your life.

Making your bed requires very little thought so you can also spend this time thinking about your day ahead.

As you leave your bedroom, you are now leaving a calm and peaceful environment and one that you will look forward to at the end of your day.

 Do you make your bed every morning or do you often leave your house without making the bed?

Decorating a Cubby House 

After months and months of searching for the perfect Cubby House for our gorgeous Bella, we finally made a decision to buy 'the cottage'. This process felt like we were buying a new family home, crazy isnt it!

This is Santa's gift to Bella and we have the exciting task of decorating it.  My time over the last three weeks has been spent trawling through online sites and browsing through stores searching for decorating ideas. Yes, this has now become a top priority decorating project requiring an organisational plan.

When I was young, I recall my mum placing a sheet over the dining room table and that was our cubby house, so why all the fuss?

Well, I have to say that its like being young again and I love it. Last year I spent 2 hours putting Bella's doll house together.  Most of that time was spent arranging and re-arraging the miniture furniture. This year I have already clocked over 3 hours in IKEA which is very easily done, 1 hour in a toy store deciding on wether she needed a cleaning set or just a broom (I went for the $9 wooden broom). After this experience I thought this could very easily get out of hand, so as a natural organiser I went back to the drawing board to get me back on track...

Step one:  Bella's personality. What are Bella's favourite things? All kids love their favourite things on display, artwork, drawings, pictures of their friends and family. Bella loves fairies, cooking, her cousins, drawing, reading books and her pre-school friends.

Step two: Taking  step one into consideration, choose a theme.  I started putting together a wish list - chalkboard, magnetic board, rug, cushions, paper to draw on, picture frames, fairy wall stickers, house number, name on the door, plants, letterbox, paint, broom etc etc  I also included those 'must have' accessories to give the cubby house personality.

Step three: Start mapping out the area. I went back to store and sat in the middle of the cubby house trying to envisage the space and how Bella would see it. Movement, storage and space are all important aspects. Keeping the cubby house uncluttered was top on the list. 

I now have a clear picture of the cubby house I want to create for Isabella. Kids don't need much to be happy, so without going overboard and spending a fortune  I have narrowed down the massive list and can create a special space for around $120. The cubby will not only be Bella's own little space but it will also fit in nicely with the rest of our backyard. I have to say that I am loving this project and can't wait for the next few weeks to unfold. If you have any tips or photos, please send them along.

Coping with sleep deprivation

New parents are always easy to spot, the bloodshot eyes, moods swings, uncoordinated and dazed expressions are all giveaways as sleep deprivation starts to kick in.

The birth of your child is one of the most amazing and joyous events you will ever experience and one that will also transform your life forever.

Parents themselves are usually shocked by how exhausted they feel when they don’t get their usual 40 winks of restful sleep. We often believe that we can continue with our daily routines and baby will just fit in - the cooking, cleaning shopping, enjoying a movie, catching up with friends, going to dinner, all on very little sleep. But this is just not possible as sleep deprivation soon starts to impact your wellbeing.

The great news is that the sleep derivation eases once your child begins to sleep through the night. Before then, here are some survival tips to get you through the next few months:

Power naps – have a power nap when your baby is resting. The dishes, cooking, cleaning can all wait. Power naps are great to revitalize your mind and body.

HELP – don’t be afraid to ask for help or accept help when someone offers. This is a great opportunity for you to get some rest so take advantage of it and one day you can repay the favour.

Go to bed early - Don’t stay up, your partner can do the evening shift while you sleep, this way you will be able to cope with the overnight feeds.

Stay organised – keep an agenda of what happening during the week. This will eliminate stress and give you clarity. Make a list of all you to do items and start prioritising. Tackle one item at a time.

Your wellbeing – eating well is extremely important. A fruit smoothie is a quick nutritional drink you can whip up when you haven’t had time to cook.  

Exercise - increase your energy levels through exercise. Your body releases those feel good hormones called endorphins that can result in more energy but its important that you balance this with sleep. A brisk walk with baby or a relaxing baby yoga session may just do the trick.

Your baby’s routine - record and keeps track of your baby’s daily routine with the feeding and sleeping journal. This will act as an easy reference to recall the information in the middle of the night and at your routine check-ups. These questions are often asked by health care professionals to establish how your baby is progressing, so you will have no problem remembering what happened three nights ago or last week.

Make Sunday night your diary night

No matter whether your in a relationship, a new mum, mum with teenage kids, empty nester or just become a groovy grandparent.

We all share one thing in common - trying to juggle work, home, family life and your own personal life.

Lets start by making Sunday night your diary night. Here are some simple tips to get you started:

1. Commit to using your organiser (diary, planner, agenda). This will help you keep all your appointments and reminders in one place. If you are fan of post it notes you can stick these in your organiser.
2. Every Sunday night take time to review your week ahead. This will help you feel in control and declutter your mind of all the items you are trying not to forget. You may also like to include your partner so you are both aware of each other’s schedule.
3. Review each section of your life. Work and personal appointments, to do list, birthday and anniversaries and your kids activities. Make sure you allocate some ‘me-time’ and ‘free time’.
4. Review  your appointments and to do list at the end of each day for the following day. This will help you clearly access what’s new, what you didn’t get around too and what you have planned to do. Well come back to how to prioritise your to do list.
5. Read your appointments and to do list at the start of each day. This will help you get you started on the right track. If you have a busy day ahead it will be worthwhile to review your appointments and to do list in the middle of the day.

Making Sunday night your diary night will set on the right track. You will soon see how more in control you feel and how efficient you become leaving you with time to relax and enjoy life.

Share your tips with us. How do you use your Inner-B Mum Organiser to keep you in control of your life?