Thanks for all the tips and encouragement regarding my scheduling issues. You peeps rock! Since there were some great comments and questions, I decided to address them in their own post.
FYI - Pat came home last night and informed me that he could care less if the bed were made every day. Once in a while is good enough for him. Thank-you, Lord, for giving me a husband who doesn't need what I can't give! He didn't mention, though, how we loves it when I cook mac and cheese and hot dogs for supper (ahem). Definitely gotta work on that meal planning! Thanks for the link, Bobbie.
On another note, I do generally try to get up early for my prayer/Bible time. Unfortunately, it seems that the rest of the household is getting up early, too. I am working my way towards getting up earlier so that I actually have some quiet time to accomplish this. Hope said she's up at 5:30am. Oh my, that IS early! Given that monkey-baby was up at 6am every day of the past week, I may be right there with you, girl.
Exercise...sigh. I'll be renewing my gym membership on Tuesday and going first thing every Mon/Tues/Thurs. Over the years I've discovered that at-home, self-motivated exercising simply doesn't work for my weak-willed self. I need to spend a bit of money and do it out of that money-guilt-gotta-make-it-worth-it drive.
Housework. Ugh! This is the bane of my existence. You know, it's not even that I dislike doing housework. Really, I don't mind most household tasks (with the exception of laundry). But it seems so overwhelming to clean the whole house that I end up just putting it off for another day. I appreciated Hope's suggestion to do pick 2 days to do laundry and go till it's done (I may need to pick 3 days, but I think that could work for me). I also just loved anonymous's idea for splitting the housework into two days. Way more manageable! I don't know why I haven't thought of this?! Everyone said - get your kids to help. You're right. They do - sometimes. I've put off giving them regular chores to do because of the 'training' involved. But in the long run all I will have accomplished is lazy people who don't know how to properly clean a bathroom.
There were a couple questions about the time I spend away from family...specifically ministry. I cannot answer that question in a brief paragraph, so keep your eyes peeled for my next post. :)
Hey girlfriend! I hadn't had time to comment on the other one, so I thought I'd just pop my ideas here.
ReplyDeleteI read a book called, "Breathe" and that really helped me in this area. YOu can't describe it in a comment, but I highly recommend it. I eliminated a lot in my life and more importantly, my focus changed so I can regroup when needed.
Get those kids cleaning! ;) I find I prefer a little each day and then if I miss a day, I can hit it the next. I'll be posting my new cleaning schedule soon - revamped for this house.
I do laundry in ONE shot...ONE LONG LONG DAY - that usually goes into 2 or three, but then I feel like I get a break. But I only have 3 kids.
Keep God as a center! Good for you for making a quiet time yoru priority. I have struggled to find a good consistent place for that in my life right now.
Okay, here are my comments based on your last question in your Working it all Out Blog: With effective planning and time-managment, can I fit it all in? ...Yes you can. I think that you're juggling a lot of balls - but you always have - and you'd be bored if you weren't. I think a very useful starting tool would be one of those large desk top calendars. Start out with a one day calendar page and fill in what one week looks like. Write in everything starting with quiet time/devotions, include every detail from making lunch to laying kids down to nap - in fact, maybe just journal your daily activities for a week and then you've got your first calendar done. Then break your tasks down into "musts" and "wants." Lay out the large calendars for the next 4 to 6 months and start scheduling in the "musts", e.g. volunteer at school day, ministry committments, appointments, family night. From there take a look at that first week calendar and start breaking tasks down by day, (also musts) e.g. groceries on Thursdays, two loads of laundry each day - one in the a.m. and one before bed, FF Wednesday, meal/chore planning/budgeting on Tuesday a.m. Finally, you start fitting in other important items that you "want" to do like blogging, attending a non-mandatory ministry event, social activities. Basically you set the guidelines, e.g. "I can be out two nights a week without my family" and if your "wants" push you beyond your boundary you delete it. I think your calendar will be very full - but manageable. The other thing I would highly recommend is that you set a time for ministry related work and let your ministry contacts know that. For example, be available for phone calls or to respond to emails between 1 and 2:30 daily (whatever times work for you) and ask them to adhere to those times. Of course you'll need to be flexible but I think people will work hard to respect your schedule and then you're not feeling your always pitting ministry against family demands. The kids will also learn that this is mommy's work time and they'll know when it ends.
ReplyDeleteHope this helps.
Frieda
Moms always give the best advice! That makes some very good sense. I'm gonna give it a try, incoporating some of the handy ideas for breaking up my housework and so on...
ReplyDeleteSince I've an unusaul affinity for list-making and such, I'm going to start plotting it all out right now! Wait - after I put dinner in the oven. LOL. :)