A few weeks ago I decided to change up my schedule a bit. I have been cleaning/cooking in the mornings since Jakob started Kindergarten. This has worked great with my schedule. When we get back from taking Jakob to school I put Karter down for his morning nap and Isabelle will follow me around or watch TV. I have the most energy in the morning and I find that I can get a lot done. The rest of the day I get to enjoy a clean house (or semi-clean) and I just worry about picking up messes. I don't feel the stress to clean all day!! I also want to spend 15-30 minutes each evening picking up the house after I get the kids to bed. I love having the house picked up when I go to bed and waking up to a clean house in the morning. I have loved how I have felt when I have done it, but, honestly, I have only done it a couple times!! Most evenings when I put the kids down I'm exhausted and done for the day. Hopefully, in the future this will happen more often, but for now I'm trying to accept what I can do.
So, the afternoons are my time when both of my littlest munchkins are sleeping and Jakob is busy watching a show, drawing, playing, whatever. This is my 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours a day I can really get things done. Before I was trying to break up the time into 1/2 hour to 1 hour parts where I would focus on things that I needed to get done. The problem was I was getting very frustrated with how it was working. If I got interrupted by the kids, a phone call, a baby waking up early, you get the picture, it would throw off my whole schedule. I would feel bad that I was falling behind, not getting done what I should have gotten done in the last 1/2 hour. So, my solution was to assign a focus for each afternoon. This is what I came up with.
Monday - Business/Personal Bookkeeping
Tuesday - Projects
Wednesday - Business/Personal Bookkeeping
Thursday - Organization
Friday - Projects
This has worked out great!! With focusing on just one of these areas I don't feel as frustrated when I get interrupted. Even if I lose 15 minutes, I'm still able to accomplish a lot in that amount of time.
My evenings are still not scheduled. I like the fact that I have time each day where I'm not "suppose" to do anything. Some evenings I'll work on bookkeeping, go run a couple errands, finish a project I was working on earlier in the day, etc. But I spend a lot of my evenings reading, watching TV, or talking with Steve. I would like to use the evenings to work on low key projects that don't take a lot of thinking or brainwork. Something I can do in front of the TV or listening to music. Something relaxing. Like I said earlier, I'm exhausted at night and feel such a need to have downtime. I think it is good for our heads to take a break from feeling like we have to be doing something. Still trying to figure out the evening thing and know I could be MORE productive.
I have felt good about getting some things done these last few weeks!! I thought I would list some things that I have been working on.
- Compiled all info and got it to our accountant for our personal and business taxes.
- Working on purging/organizing our office.
- Moved computer out into the family room.
- Started planning the kid's birthdays.
- Reading new book on organization and started implementing it into my everyday.
- Organized kid's craft area.
- Purged scrapbook supplies.
- Scrapbooked!!
So much more to do!!! I realize that this list isn't much, but with everything else I need to do each day, I feel great to have accomplished these things.
