Being busy is the name of the game, particularly once you have kids. I think about this quite a bit, though. Before kids, I somehow also considered myself busy. Looking back, though, I wonder what on earth I did with all of my free time.

These days, the schedule for the day is a big ol’ hamster wheel of meetings, obligations and bedtimes. From the time I wake up (usually courtesy of my four-year-old), the day feels like a constant race against the clock.

When I get overwhelmed with things to do – as I have recently – I fall back to my usual cure-all: I Google. After all, I’m sure someone else has dealt with this before and put something online about it. I found there were actually over 12 million results for “time management tools for moms” floating out there. Then I panicked about how I was going to have time to search through all of these results. (I’m only sort of kidding.)

When I sat and thought about it, though, I realized there’s a couple of things I haven’t been doing the last few weeks that have been helpful to me in keeping the “to do” list under control. Some of the things that have helped me these past few months include:

1. Make a plan. (And be prepared to adjust it!)

I think organization is so key to maintaining any semblance of sanity these days. When I get up in the morning, I visualize my day from beginning to end. This includes when I’m going to unload the dishwasher, which laundry needs to be done that evening, and what projects at work need to be accomplished that day. I also steel myself to the reality that the plan I’m envisioning may need to change. Kids get sick, work projects shift, and nothing ever goes exactly as you planned it. If you aren’t flexible in your planning, you’ll end up even more stressed when things don’t go as planned.

2. Pack lunch the night before.

When I fail to do this, it impacts my entire day. It seems silly, but not having a lunch ready to go the next day adds that much of a rush to my morning. Then if I don’t get it packed in the morning, I go without one, which means I need to go buy lunch that day. Ultimately, it means that I end up with a more expensive, less healthy option for my meal that day. It’s a snowball effect that can be easily avoided by taking 10 minutes at night to get everything ready to go. I’m working on it!

3. Make sure everything has a “home.”

I’ve always been opposed to clutter. However, clutter and misplaced stuff can happen really quickly when you’ve got kids running through your house. Sometimes it feels like trying to do disaster recovery while a hurricane is still in full force. However, we always try to pick things up in every room at the end of each day. To make this easier, I’ve tried keep a basket in each room for the miscellaneous items that may not belong in that room.

Those are just a few of the things I need to get back on track with to try and break this streak of feeling overwhelmingly BUSY. Do you have anything you do to help keep you sane and calm in the midst of the day-to-day routine? Please feel free to share!

Renee Bonjour is director of development and marketing at Group Health Cooperative in Eau Claire and a mother of two. Her blog, “Ordinary Adventures: My Mommy Experience,” can be found at group-health.com/Parenting/blog. Group Health Cooperative is a community launch partner for Chippewa Valley Family.