Life is too crazy right now for super schedules. Kids, health, and Mark's time demanding job makes for a lot of frustration if we try to micro manage our time. Yet, we find that unmanaged time, leads wasted time and un-pursued dreams.
I want to schedule our time, in such a way that a simple bottle of molasses spilled everywhere or the occasional day of not being able to breath without sharp pains doesn't automatically mean a snowball effect of missed to-do's. Because, no matter how many times I rearrange the schedule, messes, meltdowns, and health frustrations are about the only things I can count on happening regularly.
I usually have a bit of time on any given day, I just rarely know when it will be. So, while we have general time slots for some things to take place, I decided to keep household and evening tasks as daily "themes". With the intensity I go after the tasks, and the specific times I do so, depending on the week/day.
Theoretically, that looks like this:
Monday day - wash laundry + super straighten
Monday evening - fold clothes + M&D show night (right now we are watching Mercy Street)
Tuesday day - bath & bed rooms
Tuesday evening - friends over or household extras
Wednesday day - kitchen + closets
Wednesday evening - date night (out when possible, in when not)
Thursday day - living areas + menu plan
Thursday evening - M or D out (alternate)
Friday day - grocery shopping + food prep (or catch up if switching with Saturday)
Friday evening - friends over or freezer cooking
Saturday - catch up and/or family activity
Saturday's "catch up" is important, because as the day's household theme gets interrupted (as we know it will) then I have time to catch up at least some.
Then, time related goals/semi-negotiable "priorities" look like this:
Early morning: supplements + oil pull
Mornings: school/reading + exercise or write (alternating with Mark)
Afternoon: Val time + quiet time + edit and publish post (alternate with Mark) + cook book
Evening: D cooks while M does homework and checklist + family dinner and clean up
Bed time: Pack and/or prep food for the next day + set out clothes + supplements + reading with Mark
This doesn't include things such as family games, snuggle times (beyond "Val time"), art, detox baths (sound silly, but they help me function on rough days!), etc. because we found scheduling those things just leads to frustration as we can rarely do them when we schedule them, but find time (sometimes because they beat out our scheduled "priorities") to do them depending on how the day goes.
Now, if history repeats itself I will need to re-evaluate this multiple times and probably overhaul it in a few weeks, but for now that is what I am wanting our week to look like.
Anyone want to chime in with how they simplify schedules, to allow for somewhat keeping up while knowing things will happen?
I find the best way to keep on schedule is to take advantage of accountability. I like to have a Bible study in my home first thing Monday morning: boom, the house gets cleaned on the weekend, and I start my week less overwhelmed. A baby sitter comes on Tuesday evening, so the house stays clean for at least two days.
ReplyDeleteI like to make my freezer meals a minimum of 12 each with a friend. This way I know the shopping WILL get done and the meals WILL get made. For some reason I stay on task better for a friend than I will for my own family, and although it should be the other way around, that accountability has helped me maintain a decent schedule.
But the laundry... I've never found a way to stay on task with that. Although, handing off the job of simply changing out the laundry to my three year old has really helped me not get so far behind. Eight less interruptions on laundry day occur now that I have taught her those jobs. And she loves them.
Hey Alicia! We find the house stays so much cleaner when we are having people over regularly. It is great to have accountability. I like the idea of getting together with a friend for freezer meals. I am helping to host a freezer meal workshop, but not sure how many of the recipes I will be able to do, so maybe just doing it with a friend would be a better idea for me.
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