Organized and Spontaneous. Those are my two favorite words. They almost seem contradicting but when done right organization can actually let our family be so much more spontaneous. When Nate and I were young we did whatever we wanted whenever we wanted. It was amazing! Spontaneous fun was the foundation of our relationship at that point. However after having one child, and then two more, and a dog, and a home, and, and, and.... we soon realized that spontaneous life was going have to be put aside. We hated the idea. So I got determined to get organized so that we could continue to be spontaneous and I could stop filling my days from start to finish with no room for fun. I have a binder that holds lists, charts, and dry erase sheet after dry erase sheet. One is for our grocery list divided into categories, a meal plan sheet, a sheet for each day of the week and what house cleaning needs done, schooling ideas and plans etc. I keep everything in my binder from books I want to read, to gift ideas and a calender of where we are going when. I could tell you exactly when I am cleaning my couch each month, what day is dusting day each week, and what book we are reading as a family three months from now. Between my binder and my computer I have my life (almost) completely organized and I love it. But the great thing about my organized schedule is there are two days off each week and no day is completely filled. So at any point in the week I can say I don't want to do that today...and just throw the items on a different day or I can completely switch things around for school and change things from one month to another. I used to tend to focus on everything that I didn't do instead of what I did do. This provides me with a nice little reminder of what I actually completed (and what I didn't can just get transferred to the next day). By getting things organized we actually have a lot more free time to do whatever we want. We also keep a bag in the car with three blankets, five sweatshirts, three changes of clothes, hats, sunscreen, towels and bug spray, so if we decide to go to the beach and the kids want to play in the water or hike a muddy mountain there is nothing holding us back. We have everything planned out so that at any point we can just pick up and go do something fun. By knowing that things are caught up and what is coming next it is easier for us to embrace the fun side of life whenever the spontaneous mood strikes us. Who knew that organization would be the key to help this, on the go family, be even more spontaneous.
