Organizing Challenge, Week 5

Time Management

Let's see, I'm still a mess. ;-) Every day is different and I'm trying to learn from my successes and failures. Yesterday, for example, I succeeded in showering and taking T with me to Walmart. But by mid-afternoon, I felt like crap (IBS cramps) so I napped. {Then I was able to buck up and make lasagna for dinner so it wasn't a total loss.} Therefore, today I planned to nap first thing this morning because that seems to be less disrupting. (Yes, I'm learning I need a daily nap. How pathetic is that? I'm getting 8 hours of sleep per night, pretty religiously going to bed by 10:30. Sort of.) But T was clingy and it was 9:15 by the time I laid down. And when the timer went off at 10:00 (I have also scientifically figured out I need 45 minutes of rest or I won't get up), I couldn't get out of bed. 15 minutes later I did rise, thanks to T screaming for me to start a new show. I had been debating which errand to run (the choices were post office-grocery combo or Target) but I got up feeling like the morning was wasted and said "screw it--no errand." And then I decided to run through my whole To Do List. Which I did and was mostly done in 45 minutes.

I started laundry before my nap, so I switched it to the dryer. Unloaded then reloaded the dishwasher. Changed the sheets on both kids' beds. And wrote and mailed a bday card to my sis. I took a quick break (yes, I kept it quick) then started writing thank you notes. Finished 4 out of 8--yeehaw!

Great, so in order to be productive, I must ignore my kids and not go anywhere. Yeah, that's not a super duper plan. Thus, time management continues to be a huge work in progress.

Decluttering

Last week, I did do some organizing of my desk. I'll post before and after pics soon. Basically, we'd been using a basket to corral our various pieces of paper (junk) and it was overflowing, so I had an idea to get a desktop file box. I bought one for the desk and for the foyer table (a future project) and I went through the basket of crap paper, threw out (recycled) a ton and filed the rest. Yea! I can't wait to tackle the foyer table. (I also have more junk on the desk to corral, but it's much better.) {Can I just say, I'm loving my files, so easy to find things!!!}

And my BFF and I have decided to tackle organizing projects together, one per month, since we both happened to work on our home office in the month of January (in fact, I was inspired to do my desk after seeing pictures of her revamped desk). So this month is entryways--she's working on her backdoor dumping ground and I'll be working on my front entry (including messy disaster foyer table). Great to have another source of support and accountability!!!

Worksheets

I attempted to do the pie chart activity, but I couldn't wrap my head around percentages or fractions (don't get me wrong, I can do math, I just couldn't visualize my time and priorities in that way) so here's what I came up with instead:

What I spend enough time on:
-spiritual (it would be great to increase this down the road, but I'm okay right now saying my prayers in bed at night)
-relaxing with Hubby (once the kids are in bed and I make the formula and sometimes shower, we watch Netflix together till 10:15--this is good for my marriage and my sanity, it stays)
-cooking (I handle 3 meals a day, whether Hubby or I do the actual cooking, this is a good system)

What I don't spend enough time on:
-cleaning
-projects
-playing with the kids

What I spend too much time on:
-the internet
-procrastinating
-relaxing/napping

From this exercise, I've learned that I need to take time from the relaxing/internet time and put it toward neglected things like my kids and cleaning and if I'm ever going to accomplish projects like decluttering or making photo books. As I said above, this time-management thing is a work in progress, but this gives me a good guideline.

For this week, we were to cut, combine and delegate tasks. I can't cut anything, I already do less than the minimum. And I can't really delegate anything--my Hubby does a ton of work and right now we have a good division of labor going on that works for both of us. {Although, I would LOVE to have a cleaning service come once per month, that would be awesome, but currently that is not in our finances.} I'm thinking that combining could be a good thing for me (music while I organize, letting the kids sort laundry with me) to help me combine playing with cleaning, and relaxing with projects, from those categories above.

Okay, that's where I'm at this week. Tons of work left to do. Oh another thing I did was buy an extra toilet brush so it can stay in our upstairs bathroom, so I can clean the toilet whenever I notice a ring, without having to make a big plan of when to clean and drag my bucket of supplies upstairs. Haha, baby steps!

This post is linked to the wonderful One Year to a {More} Organized Life on Unsolicited Advice. Go over and join in!