Sarah Wells of Strawberry Nest is an event planner who had to pivot and focus more on planning in the last year rather than big events when COVID hit. We loved her expertise when it comes to talking about planning a life you love! Follow her advice below, and follow her IG at @thestrawberrynest

• Why: We only have this life to live, so we should make all the memories we can with those we love. This includes making each holiday a little magical for our family, planning vacations together and being present. Example: St Patricks day is coming up, you can plan now to pick up things you will need to make it feel special for your family. I get each of my kids their own box of Lucky Charms cereal for breakfast, I make rainbow jello for dessert that night. 

• How: By planning and writing down the things we need to do we can then make the time for creating those memories. Getting the “have to dos” out of the way gives us time to do the fun things. We are also able to feel accomplished when we see what we were able to get done during the day. Especially during a time that we are still spending a lot of time at home!

• Tips:   
  1. Color code your planner. That way at a glance you will know what you have going on in the future. (I will have my planner to set up with what I use to color code that we can look at, and a page that shows my color coded day)
  2. Each night go over what is in the plans for tomorrow so you wake knowing what the day has in store. You are able to set an alarm if needed to wake earlier, you know when you need to be places and you are able to adjust when things might not go the way you anticipated. You will know when you can add the trip to the store so it isn’t last minute when you need something for dinner. 

• Tricks: 
  1. Manage your time by organizing your schedule to do all of the not fun chores at the same time each day, week, month. This will create a routine that will help you stay on top so the chores don’t become overwhelming.
  2. Make your Monday to-do list the longest. Anything that doesn’t get accomplished gets moved to the next day. And down the week until you have everything done. 
  3. Plan time for fun. Put it in your calendar and make it happen.