In this series, Elise Boyle - Mother of 4 and Co-business owner of Sunshine Coast Blinds and Shutters - and I sit down and nut out what it looks like to be organised and discuss practical ways to organise your life and your family’s life. In part 1 we looked at preparing for the week ahead and meal planning.Today in part 2 we talk about how to deal with feeling overwhelmed, preparing for the day ahead the night before, and morning routines. We also discuss the pressure of punctuality and how it can be a real stressor in our life and choosing to be gracious with ourselves and our children when we are running late.Dealing with feeling overwhelmed:Think about what do I need to do? Focus on one thing at a time, one foot forward. Sometimes taking a moment to step away from the kids and breathe.Mess and stress. Remind myself it’s ok, they’re kids, they’re going to make mess. Manage one room at a time.Just make a start. Even if I feel really tired and overwhelmed. I can pick up 3 toys - tricking my mind to make a start. Breaking the task down into little steps. Get it down on paper and out of your head. Write lists. Number them in order of priority. “Even if you can just keep one room of the house child free, that helps.” For Elise it’s their bedroom. Preparing for the day ahead, the night before:Elise makes the lunches whilst cooking dinner if it’s doable. But sometimes after kids go to bed.Puts washing in machine and sets timer for the morning so that it starts at 6am or 7am and she can put in a 2nd load before she heads off to school. Hangs out when she gets home. Choose what you're wearing the next day. Folding washing at night. Elise washes every 2nd day and folds on the same night. Usually 2 loads on that day. Results in “washing free” days!Tidy house for a fresh start for the next day.Morning Routines:Elise tries to get up before kids and gets herself readyGives each child a task that they can handle to help out ie. putting dishes away, stacking dishwasher, getting themselves ready - it’s their own responsibility.Punctuality - Progress over perfection! It doesn’t help our kids for us to be stressed about being late. Mel - “I focus on trying to be relaxed.” It’s ok to be late. What is most important in our children’s lives is that they remember us being loving and calm. They won't remember being late but they will remember our attitude toward them as we hurry to get ready for school. We hope you found this helpful! Tune in Thursday 19th September to hear us talk about housework and how to fit that into our life, we discuss after school routines and Elise and I share our after school snack ideas  Also, remember I’d love to hear from you. If you have some tips and tricks for being organised please share them with us! Jump onto our Facebook page The full life podcast with Melanie Lynam or find me on Instagram, @mel_lynam. Thanks for listening! Talk to you soon xxSupport the show (http://paypal.me/thefulllifepodcast)

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