Sometimes motherhood will surprise you. Sometimes you’ll be going about your business like normal and your kids will teach you something about yourself. Sometimes it comes in the form of a temper tantrum in the middle of the mall on your birthday.

Yeah.

I turned thirty on Monday. It was a long and at times really annoying day, like any day. To try and turn our grumpies upside down, I decided to take the girls to the mall and get a big fat, sugary cookie (look below and you’ll see I’m not kidding).

We stuffed our faces with sugar, window shopped a little (including a stop for momma to try on bathing suits–uh, never a good idea on your birthday), Sam tried on shoes, and we headed up to Sam’s favorite store, Claire’s.

I let Sam wander around for awhile before I gave her a warning that it was almost time to go. She obviously wasn’t seeing anything she was really in love with. I asked her if she wanted to pop into Forever21 on the way out to see if there were any little accessories she liked in there. That was my first mistake.

If there’s anything that this week’s posts have taught me, it’s that the best way to get organized is using old things in new and creative ways:

(sources: dish stands, toilet paper rolls, paper towel holder, muffin tin)

But when you get right down to it, all of these organization posts I’ve been doing this week are for one reason: I need to organize my life.

Organizing specific rooms in my house will make me feel like I have more control over everything, but what I’m truly looking to do is get my life in order. I need to line up work, balance my schedule, and get into a good routine. Conquering the chaos around me will help me feel one step closer to that.

Luckily, I came across two pretty awesome checklists to get me started:

This first one is from the awesome Anna of IHOD. It’s a free printable that helps you keep your to-dos in check without putting too much pressure on yourself. Hop over to her blog to print it out (clicking the picture will take you to the correct post)!

The second is a free printable from the equally fabulous Meg Biram. This one is a list of all of the places you should clean for a nice, fresh start to the year. I love check lists, because it feels so good every time you can check off another task!

I hope this week of organization has been helpful to you. Shoot me a comment below to let me know what other themes you would be interested in seeing in the coming months!