Conquering lateness + an awesome giveaway
[This is a sponsored post from BlogHer through Citi, which includes an incredible giveaway opportunity. As always, all opinions are my own]
I’d always been one of those “late for everything” kind of people. I know it’s rude, it’s embarrassing, but unless it was a job interview, you could pretty much guarantee that I’d show up at least 15 minutes after the event time. It’s in my blood. I thought that having a baby would make this exponentially worse, but on the contrary, I’m usually on time now.
Why? It’s forced me to become more organized. There’s no time for last-minute fashion crises or failing to map out our event location. With everything I need to pack and take with us, it can be more difficult to do it with an active toddler at my side. Instead, I prep ahead and do as much as I can in advance.
Here are some of the things I’ve found to help:
-Make snacks and drinks the night before. I’ll pack up snacks for both of us -mama gets hungry too!- and drinks in the fridge so that I can grab them in the morning and go.
-Pack the “hit and run” bag. I used to carry a giant diaper bag around, but realized that it was loaded with heavy things we no longer needed and… crumbs. Lots of crumbs. So now, I put our snacks, a few diapers and sunscreen in a small lululemon bag that we tote around with us. It’s not fancy, but it works
-Have outfits planned in advance. Even though I don’t set them out (let’s not get crazy now, haha), I have an idea of what we’re each going to wear and where they are.
-Waking up before she wakes up. This was a hard one for me, as I’m not a morning person, but it’s the perfect way to get in a short workout and some work before we start the day. She’ll usually be up between 7 and 7:30, so my alarm will go off at 5:30 to do what I need to do. As much as I dislike waking up early, I love that I’m able to get in some quiet time, maybe a sweat session, and also get dressed and ready before she’s awake. If I have a head start on work stuff, I’m able to be more present while we’re hanging out and save the work until she’s sleeping.
I’ve found that as our family continues to grow, it will be important for us to stay organized. With all of the upcoming fall events, I’m doing my best to remember everything, be where we need to be (on time!) and pick up appropriate gifts for upcoming weddings and holidays.
Some of our current organization strategies:
-Our magnetic calendar. On our fridge, we have a dry erase board where we write work schedules, the Pilot’s flying schedule and any events. This way I know if he’ll be working late (and Liv and I will be getting hot bar for dinner…) and important events on the horizon.
-Alerts on my phone. Birthdays are set on annual renewal, and if an event is coming up, I’ll have an alert go off a day or two beforehand.
-Setting up automatic bill pay. Back in the day, it was hard for me to keep track of all of our bills. They all had different due dates, some companies wouldn’t bill us regularly, and with everything going on, I’d space it. Now, I have a spreadsheet with our monthly finances, our savings goals, and our bill due dates.
Many of them I have set up on automatic bill pay, so all I have to do is check the statement to make sure we’re being charged accurately.
With the holidays coming up, the last thing we want to do is waste time or money dealing with late fees, and the Citi Simplicity card makes it much easier to accomplish this.
Some of the details:
–Citi Simplicity is the only card to offer no late fees, an annual fee or a penalty fee. Ever.
– Citi Price Rewind searches retailers’ sites for lower prices when you buy and register an eligible item with your Citi credit card. Save your credit card receipt each time you shop. If Citi finds your item at least $25 lower than what you paid within 30 calendar days, you can get the difference in price back, up to $250. The average refund is $80.
-Your Citi Simplicity card offers discounts on travel, shopping, restaurants and gift cards, too with Citi Easy Deals.
Another reason they’re awesome? They’re giving one lucky Fitnessista reader a 16GB Mini Tablet LOADED with financial apps to help you stay organized this fall. Enter the sweepstakes for a chance to win.
Here’s how to enter:
Sweepstakes
The Conquering Lateness Sweepstakes (“Sweepstakes”) is open to legal US Residents, age 18 or older. Void where prohibited. Sweepstakes ends at 5pm (PST) on October 24, 2013. More details are available here. No purchase necessary.
Only two entries per participating blog per household; if the same or substantially similar comment (as determined by the Sponsor in its sole discretion) is posted twice, it may only count as one Entry. Eligible persons may enter this Promotion by taking any of the following actions, each of which counts as one entry:
1. Leave a comment in response to the Promotion prompt on this post (how you conquer lateness and stay organized)
2. Tweet (public message) about this Promotion, including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: “#SweepstakesEntry”; and leave the URL to that Tweet in a comment on this post.
3. Blog about this Promotion (including a disclosure that you have received a sweepstakes entry in exchange for blogging about this Promotion), and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post.
4. To enter without commenting, follow this link, and provide your email address and your response to the Promotion prompt.
Be sure to visit the Citi brand page on BlogHer.com where you can learn more about conquering lateness!
Happy fall!
xoxo
Gina
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What a great giveaway! I love how easy it is to keep track of everything through technology now. This would be great to win!
I totally need the financial tools that are loaded on there! I am a mess when it comes to finances!!!
You had me at “LOADED with financial apps.” I am always looking for newer/better tools for organizing the finances. I’m a spreadsheet addict!
i am a very punctual person, but i always make sure to set my alarms earlier than i really want to get up just in case i want to lay for a bit more, but thankfully i am a very up and go person! i also set my clocks ahead a few minutes so if i think i’m late, i’m really on time!
I keep an online datebook that helps me stay on track.
Great post – I try to pack my gym bag and pick out my outfit the night before. That way, there’s less to think about it the morning. I also leave breakfast & lunch supplies at work (ie bread, AB + jelly jars, oats, bananas, etc) so that I only have to pack food once or twice a week – huge time saver! (Plus huge money saver – it eliminates me spending the extra cash eating out everyday 🙂
I held onto my big, bulky day planner for dear life until I got engaged. My (now) husband saw how much of a pain it was to keep track of all my appointments and information in the planner, so he took me out to buy me a smartphone (and put us on the same plan, of course)! I now use it for EVERYTHING and can always keep track of time and appointments.
You and I both sister! I’m always late! No matter how hard I try, somehow I will show up few minutes late. I LOVE this giveaway, we are buying a house soon, these finance gadgets would come in handy 🙂
I make a habit of putting everything I need to take with me by the front door the night before. Also I regularly leave my keys in the refigerator to remind me to grab my lunch for work!
I conquer lateness and stay organized by always giving myself PLENTY of time in the morning. I set my alarm for earlier than I need to be up to ensure I get everything done with time to spare before I have to leave.
Every week I meal prep so that way I can stay organized & healthy throughout the week. No rushing making meals last minute.
My paper planner is my savior! EVERYTHING is in it!
I NEED my son to read this too..We are well…HE is always LATE..
I love your blogs. I have always been one of those “early” to everything kind of people. I guess I get that from my mother. What a great give-away! Keep up those inspiring words!
I conquer lateness by keeping my phone with me while I’m getting ready to leave (checking the time every 5-10 mins) and by making sure I have what I need downstairs by my purse. I don’t like it when others are late so I’m usually pretty good about being on time.
I could totally use help in managing our personal finances! I am the ‘family accountant’ and while I do okay at it, when work takes over my life and sucks up my free time (I’m an event planner headed in to event season!), I could use a hand. Or a tablet! Thanks for the giveaway. 🙂
Cleaning and organizing a little everyday when I get home! Cooking meals on Sunday so I don’t have to cook during the week. Making a to do list every single morning with a list of work priorities and a separate list of personal priorities.
I conquer lateness by planning out the day (outfit, food, packed bag) the night before. It makes mornings stress-free when I know I’m prepared in advance!
Anything that help me keep our household finances organized! Thanks for the great giveaway.
What an awesome, generous giveaway!
I conquer lateness and ATTEMPT (key word is attempt) to get ahead of schedule by following the 2-minute rule: If you have something that you want to get done that will take you either 2 minutes to complete or 2 mins to get underway, do it right away. The idea is that many simple tasks (like laying out your outfit or packing your gym bag, setting the coffee maker, etc. the night before) can be done in 2 minutes or less, we’re just often not motivated enough to tackle them! Even if something does take longer than 2 minutes (like a workout), the idea is that you can break it down into a small, manageable 2 minute task to motivate you (get dressed, put on your running shoes, walk out the door), at which point you will probably be motivated enough to keep going.
I SWEAR by this trick and it’s probably the only way I’m able to tackle chores or get out of the house in the morning 🙂
This is a great giveaway on a great blog! I plan ahead, use to do lists, and pack as much as I can (lunch, etc) the night before. It’s a great way to relieve stress and streamline mornings.
I am the total opposite of a morning person, so I have made it my routine to pack my lunch and snacks the night before and set my alarm about 20 minutes before I actually need to get up juuust in case I get a little friendly with the snooze button 😉
I color-code EVERYTHING on my outlook calendar, and ALL of my emails. Because I’m usually running around to meetings and whatnot, I never have time to reply to emails, or archive them, in a timely fashion. I used to have a separate calendar for work and home, but it became SO much easier to merge them.
I also commute a ridiculously long distance, and have to get up really early. I bought all of my work clothes so that everything goes with everything else, so at 5:45am when I’m still half asleep I just have to grab a top and a pair of pants or skirt and not worry about whether they’ll match. When I buy more, I always ask myself: does this go with what I already have?
Along those same lines, I have a coffee maker that I program to start brewing 10 minutes before my alarm, so there’s always fresh coffee when I wake up 🙂
I have a magnetic board as well. As a student, a planner is NECESSARY.
I found that going to bed earlier and getting a good night’s sleep puts me in a great place to conquer the day!
I conquer lateness because it’s in my genes! My parents are always at least 5 minutes early for everything and they passed that along to me. I actually had to learn to be 5 minutes early and not 15. When my fiance and I were dating in college he helped to calm my lateness anxieties, and now that we live together, calendar/alert gadgets help to remind me of appointments. This way I don’t have to keep all the information in my head and arrive 20 minutes early in order to avoid arriving 5 minutes late. 🙂
I am notoriously late also! Lately I am more of a “right on time” girl. I like to plan out outfits in my head, prep snacks for me the kids ahead of time and keep all appointments/work on my schedule on my phone!
Anything to help with organization is desperately needed in this household. The only way that works for me now is a day planner that has a calendar for bills and a spot for each days activities its the best way I have found.
How exciting! My big thing now is getting ready thw night before, lunch, clothes and keep a notebook by my bed in case I need to remember a few more things in the morning.
When my fiancé and I moved in together, I put together an excel spreadsheet for our bills with al the details. Now each month I note when the bill is scheduled and then when it clears our account. It helps me keeps track of everything.
I’m very much a paper planner. Lists are my friend! What a great giveaway!
Eeeeeep!!!! Want!!! My best organizing strategy is color, I color code everything. It’s pretty and effective!!!
I’m old school….I like to write things down. To this day, I still carry a planner even though most people utilize the calenders on their phones. Nothing like creating a list and marking things off!
Great tips! I also like to get as much as I can ready the night before. If I can do a little breakfast prep or get a diaper bag packed that seems to help a lot! This might also seem strange but having the kitchen clean and in order the night before is vital to my morning routine. That way I know where every thing is I know that what I need is clean and we are good to go!
Thanks for the giveaway!
My set of calendars is what keeps me together — I’m trying to switch to all online planning and it’s so hard!
However, I’m typically on-time! 🙂
Love this giveaway! I’m a planner…I plan out everything the night before and have snacks and lunches ready to grab in the morning. I also have a wall calendar with all important birthdays and events are listed so if I forget to tell someone, they can check the ‘wall’. My phone is also set to notify me when birthdays and bills are coming up.
I stay on time by waking up early enough. It’s the only way to not be stressed and running late for the entire day. I wish I were more organized with bill paying, though!
All my clocks are set 7 minutes fast… So even if I’m on time , I’m actually early. It works since i hate to be late.
I write everything down and set up reminders on my google calendar. Very visual person!
I do every possible thing the night before!
having an accounting degree I love financial tools. I have always been late too, I’m a procrastinator and from what I’ve read that comes from my zodiac sign Pisces. I’ve been packing my gym bag at night so when I get up its ready to go, when I was working I would make 3 days worth of salads so I could just throw my lunch together quickly. I try to put my appts on my phones calendar or my ipod!
For #4, which link do we follow?
I’m the complete opposite of you. I used to always be 15 minutes early and since I’ve had my daughter (same age as yours) I’m generally 15 minutes late. I need to work on prepping the night before!
Since having my baby, I’ve been forced to become more organized. I keep lists on my phone of things that need to be done that way when I’m nursing and think of something, I can quickly update the list!
What a great giveaway! I am always looking for new ways to stay organized; like you I use the excel spreadsheet for finances, and alerts on my phone for everything from birthdays to remembering to pull chicken out of the freezer! Another great organizer – a grocery shopping app I have that lets me organize my lists by store (think Toiletries and cleaning supplies at Target, bulk items from BJ Wholesale, Trader Joes, etc.) Makes a world of difference!
I’ve been writing down all of my events and such on my calendar at my desk. Physically writing it down and seeing the events every day has really helped me stay on top of events so that I’m not late.
I set alarms on everything I enter into my iPhone calendar
I’ve become a planner to conquer lateness. I’m usually 10 minutes early or right on time, however my husband is constantly late. I’ve started subtracting 30 minutes from departure time to get us there ON TIME!
great giveaway
I conquer lateness by prepping/planning everything the night before!
I have an erasable calendar in my pantry and I use the Wunderlist app to keep my apts organized. My iPhone is key in helping me balance my life!