Following a daily schedule: my latest organizational conquest!

As I've written about on various occasions, one of the goals I've set for myself as a new mom is to become more organized and efficient. A few months back, I was feeling pretty out of control but I've made some key strides since then with the biggest being menu planning. (I'm proud of myself for (more or less) sticking to the process and it has *definitely* resulted in time and cost savings, healthier eating and a reduction in wasted food!)

My latest "conquest" has been to create and follow a fairly consistent daily schedule. In addition to the overarching goal as stated above, there are a couple main motivators for this. First of all, S has been a crapper. (A crappy napper. Yes, I just made that up, and yes you can feel free to use it yourself. :) She naps irregularly and for very short periods of time, and it's very difficult to settle her for a nap in the first place. Second, now that she's on solids, we want to feed her meals at regular-ish times which is quite a change from the demand feeding non-schedule we were on when she was EBF.

Some of my favourite mama bloggers have written great content on daily scheduling/flow which has motivated me and helped me build my own schedule. I encourage you to check out the following terrific posts if you're in the same boat as I am, looking to build some structure into your days:

• How Rhythm Keeps Me Sane by Hybrid Rasta Mama
• A Day in My Life by A Mommy's Blessings

Also check out the recent post Ten Time-Saving Tips to Make Life as a Busy Mom Easier by Shining 2 Save - some good overall organizational tips!

So below what I've drummed up for our own li'l family. I'm not expecting nor wanting this to be an extremely rigid schedule (as this would be limiting in various ways) but rather a guideline for when basic events/tasks should happen over an "average" day. Of course, there will be those days when we essentially throw the schedule out the window - such as this Saturday when we're planning to attend 3, count'em, 3 birthday parties. Whew! And, obviously, the schedule will need to adjust accordingly as our daughter's needs change and other big life events take place (e.g. me returning to work, having additional children, etc.)

One more thing. Items with a * beside them are daily happenings which we cannot fully control (for example, S waking once to feed in the early morning - something she usually does, but not always), so we'll need to be able to adapt when one of these things does not happen as planned.

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5:00 to 6:00 AM: S wakes up to feed; nurse her back to sleep. *
6:30 AM: Wake up, shower, coffee, "do my thing" for a bit (emails, news, tidy, etc.)
7:00 to 8:00: S wakes up for the day. * Change, play a little bit.
8:30: Make & eat breakfast (for Chris and me). Clean.
9:30ish: Nurse S
9:45:  Play with S. Toys, books, etc. Go outside if it is nice out.
10:30 to 11:30: S morning nap. *
12:00:  Make & eat lunch (for all of us). Clean.
1:00: Play with S. Big chunk of play time here so use some of it to do some easy/quick chores (e.g. fold laundry)
2:30ish: Nurse S
3:15: Take S for a walk. (She almost inevitably falls asleep during this.)
3:30: S afternoon nap. *
4:30: Play with S until Chris fnishes work.
5:00: Make dinner. Chris has time with S.
5:30: Chris feeds S dinner
6:00 to 6:30: Chris and I eat dinner
6:30: Chris spends more time with S; I clean up
7:15: S bath
7:30: Chris changes S into night dipe & PJs, reads her a couple books or other quiet play time (if she is in the mood)
7:45: Nurse S
8:00: S to bed *
8:15: Chris and I have separate "me time" (I blog, he plays games, watches sports, catches up on a little work (if necessary), etc.)
10:00 to 10:30: Head up to bed; Chris and I spend some time together (watch part of a movie, show episode, talk, "other" ;)
11:00 to 11:30: Chris and I go to sleep

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Question for my readers - do you schedule your days as well? I would love to hear any scheduling or general organizational tips which you've found particularly helpful!