How I organize my blogs

Hello and welcome to another blogpost.

Since the lockdown and living with my mum I have been more focused on creating blogs and books.

So to keep these organised I use my excel spreadsheet to organise what I want to achieve each day, check out my blog called Take Control of your life, where I have added in this document for downloading and printing off.

I also use these stationary pads to help keep tabs on my writing.

I would always recommend to organise your writing to keep tabs on what you have written and can spend a day or 10-15 minutes to edit what you have written.

I don't concentrate on how many words I have written as much as I see it that quality is better than quantity, but with writing you find your own system that works for you anyway.

There are blogs where I do tend to write everyday and others than I post 2-3 times a week on.

Here are links to all my sites below:

https://everyonecanbuildacastle.com 
https://theparentingadventurestipsandtricks.wordpress.com 
https://carrieseverydayliving.wordpress.com
https://thewestlondongirl.com
https://buildingselfconfidencetud.blogspot.com/
https://newsletterthoughtsandadvicefortheweek.blogspot.com/

Many thanks for reading,


Carrie X

Dealing with paperwork

Before I begin this blog I just want to ask how many of you get bombarded with paperwork?

I don't know why, but even though I have opted to go paper free, I still get bogged down with paper. 

So what I have done is put it all into a divided file system or I put it into a box folder. 

I will then start sorting it out into category, Finance, health and wellbeing, coupons, to be shredded or household, etc

Then I will sort it out again, separating different statements and companies.

I was at one point scanning them all and saving them all on my computer but doing it that way, means the memory gets used up.

I keep those that are 5 years old, any earlier than that gets disposed of and shredded. 

All things like old bank statements, council tax bills etc should be shredded because of identity fraud. 

I would invest in a filing cabinet system, because it is important to keep all paper work together filed should need to go through it. 

So I hope you have found this blog to be useful and I will blog again next week.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X 

Organizing your life

It is so important as writer, football coach and mum to be organized, as you can become overwhelmed and have unfinished jobs. 

I live by planning and scheduling it is how I keep going.

The easiest way to organizing your life is by doing a Block Schedule, check out this video by Jordan Paige who talks in details about creating a block schedule:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BKuSlstIBM

Then the other schedule I go by is my weekly schedule where I jot down what time I will start my writing, housework, lunch etc, example I start work from about 5am, and so I will write down "Blog writing from 05:00 to 05:30" and schedule other bits in as I go through the day that I didn't write down or the day before.

I would encourage everyone to brain storm or brain dump at the end of the day or in the morning, and then break the tasks up into groups.

There are some really good templates on Excel and Microsoft Word that you can use or use these as a guide to design your own.

When it comes to organizing your life to also do an Action Plan of what tasks really need doing.

Prioritize, the best way to do that if you do brain storm or brain dump, circle the tasks that need to be done first and then have them separated into A, B and C.
A being top priority, B Not so important and C Not important.

What you don't get done, rewrite a new list for the next day.

So lets get organized and use the Lockdown as an excuse to get bits done that would necessarily be put on hold.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X

Getting kids to tidy up

Hi All are you stuck indoors today? I am as I am part of the vulnerable group and so is my son, so we are at home today having some quality time spending time doing bits and bobs.

Today my son on his own accord began to tidy up and inspired to write this post see in link below:

https://theparentingadventurestipsandtricks.wordpress.com/2020/03/23/getting-your-kids-to-tidy-up/

Many thanks for reading,


Carrie X

Organizing your home

I got to say with this everything going on, it is no wonder our homes are bedlam at the moment, especially if you do have a sick friend or family member at home at the moment, so what do you do in such cases,

1. If someone offers to help out then let them, but remember to follow hygiene rules at all times to protect yourself and them
2. Do a space at a time and set a timer on each task, going round with antibacterial products
3. Do a brain dump the night before or during the day of tasks that need to be done, then break them up
4. Create a block schedule which I have on my google docs
5. Create a organizing playlist on Youtube to play whilst you organize
6. Don't just organize a draw but clean up your computer aswell.
7. Organize wires and refer to Youtube for Hacks as there are loads
8. Tidy your fridge, freezer and food cupboards, as no time like the present
9. Re stock on items and stock pile now if you can
10. Have emergency supplies I always do now, of tin food as they always come in handy

So what tips do you have? Please comment below and I will write more soon.

Many thanks for reading,


Carrie X

Organizing my Life

Getting to grips with everything can be tricky so organizing my life is a must especially being a parent.

• The one strategy I follow is have everything ready the night before and wash my sons school uniform during the week and at the end of the week, to get ahead for Monday.

This is the same when going some where for the day and it is good to have items of clothing being a mum, you can grab in an instant.

• Mail should be opened as soon as possible if not right away and then taken to its relevant place, or I will put it on my notice board in the kitchen where it is easily seem.

It can be a hard to juggle but I find the weekends to be the days in which I catch up with everything.

Staying organized during the school holidays can be tricky as you do tend to lose the sense of routine for a bit, but it is easy to bring it back once you are back and let them know of the change.

The key to staying organized is to.

• pre-warn first if you have kids and get everything ready again a day or so in advance.

Be consistent and the more organised you are the more confident and ready you will feel for the days and weeks ahead.

So how do you organize your life, please comment below. You can keep up to date with all my posts at:
https://www.carriesblognetwork.squarespace.com

Many thanks for reading,



Carrie  X

Parenting organisation

Becoming a parent not so long ago, giving birth to a baby boy in November it is so important even more now to be organized.

It can easy become frantic and have everything everywhere, especially when your baby begins to scream which at first can make you panic and suddenly you have milk everywhere, baby clothes in piles, washing piling up and can be never ending.

Since being a mum for the first time the one piece of advice I would give is, if someone offers to give you a helping hand, take it. Having a new baby is an exciting time, but also a stressful time too, because of all the things you have to remember, and having a premature baby can add to the anxiety of being a new mum or dad too. So let others do the house chores whilst you enjoy your baby and getting some well deserved rest, and it is beneficial even though I am sure you new mums have read over and heard this trillion times before, but do sleep when your baby sleeps.

If your mum like mine offers to help with taking care of the baby some nights or days giving you a night or afternoon to catch up on some sleep or you want to go out but don't want to take the baby outside yet, then let mum or dad take care of the little one, as giving yourself time helps you to recuperate and get that time to yourself back.

The one thing I have created which has helped is a changing basket this has everything from spare clean babygrows, vests, bibs, nappies, cotton buds, baby wipes, nappy rash cream and nappy bags. I would not go without this and it has everything I need so when it is time to change my son Henry, it is all there ready, and no frantic panic because I have to leave the baby on his own to go upstairs should his baby grow need changing, and trust me babies do need there clothes changing a lot.

Here is my changing basket I created:



The basket was purchased from Amazon for £20.00 which included delivery and is perfect size and very light to carry. I also would advise if you like myself have your baby sleeping downstairs during the day and upstairs during the night and you change your baby in those places have 2 changes mats one for upstairs and one for downstairs so you don't have to keep transporting one all the time.

Also invest in a travel mat very handy when changing baby in baby changing cubicles when out. Mine came with my changing bag and very useful, worth paying the extra just for this.

In the basket I have used my spare toiletry bags to keep certain items in. The spotted toiletry bag (see full details of this in picture above and the two below) this was also bought some while ago from Amazon and I keep all spare vests, socks and bibs in.

In the bottom compartment I have spare bibs and vest suits.



In this picture above is the top compartment of the toiletry bag and has more vest suits and a pair of socks.

I keep spare babygrows, another spare baby vest, baby tops and bottoms in this spare bag to your left which originally carried another product I bought but no longer use, so used it for other purposes for holding toiletries but now very handy for story baby clothes and has string attachment on it so easy to open and access quickly.

Here is a picture of some of the items I keep in this bag, these were lovely items the baby vest suit was a Christmas present for Henry which came with a matching blanket too from my brothers family, and a babygrow which was a present for Henry, for when he was born. It was bought by one of my mums work colleagues and I will post more details on these gifts on my other blogs http://theparentingadventures.wordpress.com/ and http://cazzachalloner40.wordpress.com/

 I keep my nappies, cotton wool buds, nappy rash cream and baby wipes in a hello kitty toiletry bag, which I bought from Avon, and great as I can just take this out with me and store in the compartment underneath my pram so very useful. (See photos).

I do also keep a spare packet of nappies in basket so I can refill my hello kitty bag whenever this runs out or runs low with nappies.

This helps save me a lot of time and is always there ready to use when I need to and I can easily transport it from upstairs to downstairs and visa versa.

I keep spare nappy rash creams and baby wash  in a little see-through bag in basket aswell which I bought with my changing bag from the baby show and great as I see exactly what is in it.

I would recommend that if you are expecting a baby or just had a baby to create yourself a changing basket or even use a bag, just keeping everything you need together.

It is worth planning and preparing before your baby but do also prepare for when the plans don't workout exactly to how you wished for them too. Our son didn't take to the Tommee Tippee bottles we bought as he couldn't get on with the teat so we had to buy instead Avent bottles which were better, so try as much as you can not to get frustrated if things don't workout as originally planned and do ask for help if you need to. It is an overwhelming time being a new mum and dad, and the easier you can make it for yourself the better.

I will posting more about parent organization and posting on my other blogs which I provided links to above aswell, as I keep you posted of my new learned parent dilemmas and skills. If I can help others as I learn to be a new mum too, then the better it is for you and myself. If you want to get in contact with me for a chat online as some support or advice I can help with then please do leave a comment in the box below this blog.

Many thanks for reading,

Carrie X