Don't put it off until it gets you down.

You may have picked up that my family and I are emigrating to the United States at the beginning of August. We have already done two international moves, so this isn't too big a deal for me. However, this is the first time we have moved with our kids at school age, two pets, and all our stuff, to a place where we have no connections (except the new ones we have already started to make!).

Can you imagine the to-do list?

Well, my problem is that I haven't even known where to start making a list. Usually I'm pretty good with stuff like that, but this has been way out of the box for me. I have been handling the move on a "first thought, first action" basis. In other words, by the seat of my pants.

This has not been great for stress levels, and a new blogging friend of mine inspired me with her post to actually do something about the nebulous feeling of ought-to and better-do that was weighing me down.

I put it off no longer. I made a list.

This is my Life Book which is a wonderful planner designed just for busy women. I went straight to the monthly planning section at the back, and wrote down all the things I need to get done by the end of June. There was a lot. Then I did July.

After this, I went to my calendar and made a list of things I have to do every day (including housework, emails etc) and the time I needed for that.

Once I had worked out my daily load, I fit in one of the big tasks from my June to-do list onto each day where there was space for it. I left some days free, like Sundays, Father's Day and the three days before the movers come to pack the house.

It's all in there, now all I have to do is take each day as it comes. Wow, what a relief! And the best part is, I know I can get it all done on time.

So here's a quick recap of the easy way I got everything off my chest and onto my calendar.

1. I did a "brain dump" of all the things I could think of that I needed to do, and wrote them down on the month I needed to get them done. I also wrote down how long I would need to finish each item.

2. I did a list of the daily jobs I needed to do and how long each would take. (Grouping these to Home, Computer, Town, etc helped so that I could do them all in a block of time in the one place).

3. I got my weekly planner (which already has commitments written in it) and worked out how much time on each day I had (after my daily jobs were done) to get a job done from by "big" list. Then I slotted in just one item into the day that had time, making sure there was some free time too! Scheduling it meant I could relax and forget about it until the day came round, knowing I would still meet my deadlines!

Have you got any strategies for getting through big events, or seasons of change in your life? Comment and let me know!

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