How to Identify Small Changes That Can Make Your Day More Efficient

    Disclosure :: this post is sponsored by Toyota

    How to Identify Small Changes That Can Make Your Day More Efficient

    Hopefully you’ve seen the inspiring video about how Toyota shares their efficiency and streamlining processes to help non-profits and other businesses meet their goals and improve productivity that we posted last week. Toyota creates and cultivates more efficient work by using the “Toyota Production System” in which small, continuous improvements drive high quality work and competitiveness. Toyota Effect Post 2Toyota shares this process because they know that when good ideas are shared, great things can happen. Isn’t that so true of life and motherhood as well? Life is just better with a village.

    No matter what their situation, all moms are busy moms. In order to get everywhere we need to go, take care of everything we need to take care of, and make sure everyone is happy, healthy and fed in the process, we’ve got to develop routines and methods of making our lives run smoothly. Each family develops their own system of priorities and organization to figure out what works for them.

    We can’t do it alone. These days, it’s easy to find technology to assist in making our days easier, but I’ve found that asking other moms gets me important and unique perspectives that have real life application. By sharing and learning what works without judgment, we can put the Toyota Effect to use in our motherhood journey.

    To see what other busy moms were doing, I polled a large group of moms of twins and triplets. Here’s what they’re doing to make their lives easier:

    • Family Calendars :: From good old fashioned paper on the fridge to Google calendars that sync onto each family member’s phone, a color-coded family calendar was a must-have for all of the moms polled.
    • Meal Planning :: Even if it’s just a general idea of what you want to cook, meal planning saves time and money. Find a simple template online that has a side for groceries and a side for planned meals and you’ve got an all in one mom’s helper.
    • Pre-Made Homemade Lunches :: Make sandwiches and other meals for the week on Sundays and freeze them. Put frozen sandwiches in their school lunch, and they defrost by lunch time.
    • Routine Switch-Up :: Sometimes, giving the kids their baths in the morning, waking the grumpy kid earlier so they can have more time to adjust, or putting toyota effect veggiesoff homework until after dinner can make unexpected differences.
    • Organization :: A letter tray for each kid to hold all the papers they bring home from school, and one for mom and dad for papers that need to be signed and returned helps keep the school paperwork mountain in check.
    • Technology :: Whatever online tools you can find to help life run smoothly, use them. Online delivery and subscription service, and online store pick up orders at local big box and grocery stores where available are helpful time savers. Phone alarms can be used for all kinds of stuff, such as weekly reminders for when library books need to go back in school bags, or when certain forms need to be returned.
    • Party Prep :: Stay stocked on cards for every occasion, and keep some standard birthday gifts on hand for the age range of your kids’ friends.

    When we take the time to listen to the success stories of others, we can often find ways to implement positive change in our lives. The process might be a little extra work, but the payout can be an amazing thing. That’s what The Toyota Effect is all about.

    What processes do you use on a daily basis to streamline your job as a mom?

    Lindsay
    Lindsay is a native New Orleanian, displaced only by her years at Mississippi State, where she earned a B.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries and a minor in English. She came home shortly after Katrina, to work as a zookeeper and be a part of the rebuilding of her beloved city. She dragged her husband Drake, a Tennessee native, along with her. Their son Bennett joined the family in 2010, and in 2014 they welcomed identical twin girls, Genevieve and Kellen Clair. She now works full-time as an Environmental Scientist while working on her Master's and serving part-time as NOM’s resident Jill of All Trades. Powered by espresso, cake, and craft beer, her happy place is on a beach or in the woods. Need to identify a plant, tree, or animal? Lindsay’s a wealth of random knowledge. She loves to cook and sprinkle a little glitter on everything.

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