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Stay at Home Moms
bwralc
member
XP: Need Help with Time Management.... (LONG)
bwralc
member
Please share your tips for getting things done. I feel that I'm always chronically behind in getting everything done. I know a lot of this stems from me always volunteering myself to help out my family so I'm trying to cut back but I know I can do better with time management too and I would love suggestions of little things or big things you do to help keep you on track.
Here are some suggestions I got already that I'm sharing:
-My Mom told me to buy all cards/gifts for all of the events for a couple months out so I'm not always running out for the cards/gifts last minute.
-If possible always grocery shop/meal plan on the same day every week
-set house cleaning into zones, such as upstairs, main floor etc. and clean only those areas on certain days.
Here is my current situation though and I'm not sure how to keep up at times like these. DH is working 6 day work weeks lately and most summer weekends both of our days are totally booked so when I need to get things done it's all on me. So like this past weekend Saturday DH worked 7-7 and Sunday was my cousins graduation. I was gone from 10am-8pm b/c I drove to the city to see him graduate and the ceremony was 4 hours then drove to the dinner where DH met up there with DD then we drove the hour home. This week I'm custom making my best friends bachelorette party invites while trying to catch up from the weekend of getting nothing done with the house. I have a million loads of laundry, dishes, no food in the house....UGH. Problem is most weekends are this way and most weeks I have a project and I can' t figure out how to get it all done.....
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Re: XP: Need Help with Time Management.... (LONG)
It seems like you've nailed the problem: you're volunteering too much of your time.
You have a one day weekend. That day should not be booked every week. Furthermore, with projects like the invites, you really have to weigh the value of your time versus how much it would cost you to have someone else make them or just buy pre-made cards.
Every day I have a list of things that looks like this:
Most Important Tasks (MITS):
1.
2.
3.
What's for dinner
XXXXX
To-Dos:
MITS
4.
5.
x
10.
I ALWAYS accomplish at least my MITs. I know ahead of time if I need to take things out of the freezer or prepare stuff for the crockpot because I'm looking at WFD at the beginning of the day. I never schedule more than 10 tasks for myself because at most (on a perfect day) that's as much stuff as I can handle. Now, that I'm this pregnant, I've cut it down to 6. If I don't get 4-10 done, they move up the list into the MITs for the next day.
I also keep a loose schedule 7ish - up for the day; 8ish - breakfast is done, clean kitchen from breakfast; 9ish - etc, etc.
It helps a lot to keep this in front of me throughout the day. I also don't volunteer my time anywhere. I don't have a car, and I have 2 daycare kids on top of my 18 month old and being 32 weeks pregnant. So, that helps. I'm much too stingy with my time. It is MY time, I'm not giving it to anyone else unless I'm sure all of my issues are no longer issues.
I have a cleaning/laundry schedule that looks like this:
M - DH/my laundry, sheets and towels, Vacuum
T- Kids laundry, Sweep
W- Dust/Vacuum, Upstairs bathroom
Th- Sweep/Mop, Downstairs bathroom
F- Meal plan/Grocery shop, kids laundry
Sat- Vacuum whole house (I wait till DH is home to do the upstairs)
I make sure to have my meal plan and grocery list done once a week and do all my shopping for those meals in one trip.
Also, I just bought all the cards I need for things coming up and I like to do gifts ahead of time, so I think that's a great idea too.
Stick to a cleaning schedule and do one main chore a day and keep the laundry on a schedule too. The meal planning is a lifesaver as you can take out what you need in the morning.
I do something like this too. I am waay to disorganized to think I am just going to get stuff done.
I have a year-long planner I write all of my meal plans and to do lists in. It already has stuff in it like "schedule christmas photos" on October 1st so I don't forget to do it. If I get an invite to a party, I write down the party time in my planner, but then also stuff like "RSVP for party," "buy card and present," and "schedule childcare" on different days. Half the stuff on my list only takes a minute (if you do it enough in advance...it takes an hour to find a sitter the day before the party), so if I have a minute, I try to do something that takes a minute.
In situations like the graduation - pick either the ceremony OR the party. You have a small child and little time. Other people can't get that much of it.
One small suggestion for laundry. If I'm short on time I'll wash it at night. Then the next day I can throw it in the dryer an hour before I think I'll have time to wash it. If you use a line to dry then you can hang it first thing in the morning so it has all day to hang.
I used to always be willing to help with this or that and NEVER miss an event for family. Sadly these same people do not share that value for family now that I have a baby. Sure, they had it when their kids were young - just not now. I try not to live my life tit-for-tat but it stings being blown off by people I went out of my way for. These good deeds might not come back to you so don't overextend yourself at the cost of your sanity or family. I'm not saying you're going it to get something in return, just want you to weigh the cost of your time with your DH and LO.
This is a great post and I always enjoy seeing the answers.
I've started keeping a notebook (I got a really cute one so that I'll enjoy looking at it/writing in it) and I have a separate page for each day. I'll write my to-do lists, errands, phone calls I need to make, etc on that day's page (one day=front and back). I also jot down notes or random things I need to remember that people tell me, notes from conversations with my husbands, stuff from phone calls I have with other people, etc etc. It works pretty well for keeping me on track.
I honestly don't have a set schedule for when I do laundry, but I want to do better about this. I just do it when it needs to be done, but I end up getting frazzled and ending up having eleventy thousand loads on one day, and I hate that.
Cleaning ~ I confess, I'm one of those who hires a housekeeper
She comes weekly right now, although we just moved into a pricier neighborhood so I'm thinking about going down to twice a month. We just have too much going on to keep our house as clean as we want to have it, so we gave in after three years of not having her (we had one previous to DD being born but then gave her up after DD came along).