time management
 

I feel like i'm drowning :P how do you guys do it? between work (33 hrs/wk), and designing (289069643 hrs a week dependent on how things are going :p for instance yesterday i worked for probably 9 hrs and only made my colour scheme/theme & 3 patterns that i didn't delete :p), kid, house, etc.. i feel like no matter what one thing will be lacking attention as I can't manage to balance them all. I'm terrified about what will happen when school starts back up in september :P I already don't have any time! :D:D I obsessively make lists already, but even that barely helps. I'm just exhausted all the time :p what are your tricks for time management-- specifically you know, making sure your house stays clean :D:D:D

My trick is to give up on the house cleaning part. Not very helpful eh?

lol if you saw my house right now, you'd know i gave up this week too. there's stuff that's been waiting to be folded on the couch for days. sad. lol

teach the boys of the house to clean... :P

I have found that I need to put on a timer... so for the next 30 minutes, we are going to clean the kitchen and living room... next 30 we are going to work on math (homeschool)... then the next 30 is recess for J and scrapping time for me... however, sometimes its hard to get out of that scrapping zone... haha... but for the most part this has helped me - knowing that the buzzer is going to go off.

I hired a house cleaning service, and consider it money well spent. (Husband and I both work full-time outside the home.)

John and I were just talking about this last night because a couple areas that I'm usually really organized in have slipped in the process of trying to be better about organizing & staying on top of OTHER things that I usually flounder in. It's kind of like everything in my life that I need to keep under control and managed just won't fit into both arms... you know, like trying to hug too many kids at once. If I want to grab hold of one area better, then naturally another area slips out of reach.

ARGH!

And I don't even work outside the friggin' house!

Sometimes when I need to get my head on straight I'll sit down and make up a list of ALLLL the things I really need to get done in a week, then look at my calendar and work in what I realistically can accomplish. Sometimes I'll map out a day in 1/2 hour increments just to keep me on track. It helps mentally if nothing else.

Housework is the first thing to slip for me too... I just do the bare minimum each week (clean bathrooms, vacuum, keep kitchen clean, laundry). Its just not possible with work, kids and everything else to do any more... And to make even that much work, I have to have ROUTINE. My brain goes into a tail spin if the routine gets disrupted!! So house cleaning and groceries are a certain day, laundry are certain days (that's washing the clothes - doesn't mean they get folded!!), cook dinners certain days so there are leftovers for the next night (i.e. days I work and don't have time to cook), certain parts of the kids' homework on the not so busy days.... + I get breakfasts and lunches ready the night before days I have to work...

Wow! That's a lot!!!

My housework goes in bunches. Rather than being obsessive about it I let it flow. Then I do short little 'room rescues' (from FLYLADY). I also do lots of freezer cooking to make meal prep quick in the evenings. And yeah...it's OK to have sandwiches and a can a soup, or pancakes for dinner one night. I don't need to make a gourmet meal every night!

Yeh- I def need some dinner/meal prep help. Connor and I have been eating a lot of sandwiches lol. I got a lot done today - so I feel a little less terrible about myself, but the craziness starts up again tomorrow :0

Housework is the first to go for me, too. Some weeks all my house time goes to the 2 chores that take up the most time and are most immediate, laundry and cooking/kitchen cleaning. I don't know what the answer is. :( When I finally do have some time, the last thing I really want to do is clean. I'd rather cross other things off my to do list, things that STAY done and don't need to be repeated a few days or a week later. I have the summer off (preschool teacher), but next fall I'll be working a day more than I did this year. Something will probably have to change then--maybe we'll look into hiring a cleaning service, or maybe the kids will have to take on more.

No help here... I work almost 12 hours a day and I have a cleaning lady
My scrapbooking have suffered a lot and on weekends my house is a mess

To be honest I stay home and still do not have enough hours in the day. I also watch a almost three month old two days a week. After taking care of a six year old and one year old I'm exhausted.
I do at least two loads of laundry a day. I take one load out of the dryer and put it on my husband's side of the bed. (It happens to be closer to the bedroom door). Then I do another load, throw it on the bed. When it's time for bed either he does it or I do. Whoever gets there first. I do laundry and dishes everyday. I save vacuuming and washing sheets for the weekend. I dust and mop rarely. I hate doing both of those.

yes. this!

The house cleaning gets skipped the most for me, too. I try to keep it somewhat tidy, but I have a housecleaner. I decided that the bit a month I pay for it is worth my sanity. I do not design, but I work fulltime 45+ hours weekly, I have an 8 year old and all his activities, my activities, working out and trying to have somewhat of a social life myself, something needed to give. I forgive myself for not being super organized and try to take care of things when I have time. It helps that I don't have any other adults at home to please with the state of the house. lol

Ha! I like that! I just don't have any helper :( only a 36yo hunsband + 3 dogs!
Well hubby helps me a lot but I always think about how you girls do it specially with kids!
I like Jenn's strategy but I'm kind of sick when house is a mess... my brain just refuses to work! Bleeh

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lol.. getting the boys to clean is more work than doing it myself sometimes

Agreed La! LOL

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So, so true! I try to tell myself that in the long run they'll be able to take the jobs over and it will all pay off, but yeah...not happening right now when I know that doing it myself takes half the time of convincing them to do it and then supervising/teaching. And there's a 50% chance Ben won't do whatever I assign him (he's on the autism spectrum and extremely stubborn about some things; we have to focus on the battles that are most important, and extra housework doesn't make that list). When Ben doesn't do his Jason will get mad about it and talk my ear off complaining, making the whole process take even longer. Bleh. I want a self cleaning house, please. Either that or the ability to clone myself.

With a 1 year old and a 3 year old + working fullt ime (37,5 hours per week) there isn't a lot of time for anything else. After work I pick up the kids, we go home and have dinner then play a little bit before bedtime. When the kids are finally asleep, I have a few hours to get everything done, housework is the first thing that gets cut here too. I think I need to start writing my chores and other things that needs doing, down into my planner and then I'll HAVE to do whatever it says, when it says to do it.

I have a lot people ask me this question. For me, I think the biggest part is I always like to be busy. Not to say I don't get worn out or exhausted, but generally, if I'm awake, I'm going, going, going by choice. I'm also a fairly decent multi-tasker and am always thinking about the most efficient way to do something so I can save time. I don't watch much TV (2 hours a week tops) and I usually aim for 7 hours of sleep. Our house is usually tidy, but I don't get too worked up if it's not. There are plenty of other things I prioritize over housework, lol.

I work full time (sometimes at home and sometimes outside the house) and often I have meetings that run later. I have a few strategies that work for me, but honestly if the house is a mess and I'm busy that is my last priority unless we are having someone over.

1. Dinner- cook once and eat twice. I make double batches of meat and some side dishes. So I cook a couple extra chicken breasts that can be used for tacos, salad, or just another night's dinner with some kind of different sauce on it. I do the same with ground beef and steak- but never fish or shrimp. Same with long cooking side dishes I make 8 baked potatoes instead of just 4. Then we can cut them up and fry fast or reheat and put toppings on for a different night's dinner. Same thing with sides like Mac & Cheese either go with boxed and eat half one night, half another or make homemade on the weekend and then freeze it to use later.

Another strategy is just keeping it simple. When we went low carb our choices dropped. So I do a meat, a veggie (zucchini, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower) and a salad and that's it. I add fruit for the kids and sometimes a potato for them. (The Simply Potatoes brand potatoes and mashed potatoes are a big saving grace here!)

As for cleaning I find that if I give the kids the same chores each week then we have a good routine - so Monday they always do the same thing, same on Tuesday. Also, if we do a big clean becasue someone is coming then if I can have everyone throw in 15 minutes before or after dinner to just clean up today's mess that helps. A cleaning service is not going to pick up and organize. They will just clean and frankly paying someone to just move my stuff over to dust and sweep does not help a whole lot - we get stuff all over the place. The mopping, sweeping,etc has to be done more than once a week anyway - so I'm wasting my money on cleaning services.

Ce is old enough to help out with lots of things including putting dinner in the oven for you if you prep something. Turning off the crock pot, setting the table, doing chores. Put that kid to work (even if he doesn't like it b/c one day is future wife will thank you for teaching him how to do all this stuff!).

The house is always the first to go here too. I swear, since I have gone to work outside the home, all school year my house gets worse and worse then I spend all summer cleaning.

I am so tired of it! I finally came to the realization that MY problem with housework is that we just have too much 'stuff'. So I'm getting rid of it. I am purging like a boss, baby! We have gotten rid of hundreds of bags and boxes full of stuff already... some stuff went straight to the trash (not sure WHY I was holding on to some of that stuff!) and lots of it was donated. We have a small amount left in the garage that we are attempting a yard sale with. I'm down to only having 1 room to work on and then every item in my entire house will have been touched, decided upon, and either purged or kept. I can tell already that I am going to have a WHOLE lot more time when this process is over. What used to take 45 minutes to do is now taking 5 minutes because there is so much less to pick up, put away, wash, etc.

Okay, I was rambling, but I am super excited about this! It started as the 40 bags in 40 days challenge. After that I read The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo and have been using her system to purge even more. :)

As someone who organizes with lists for lists there is one thing you have to do before you can go forward in your time managing...accept that you will not get everything done in one day and that is ok, nothing bad will happen. It's the first step on the road to recovery

That book has been amazing for me! Life is super busy right now but i'm chugging along with the "joy sparking" list. It's been life-changing :D