How to Simplify and Manage Your Time
My house is bonkers. Pure chaos most of the time. But that’s okay, because I have small tornado children and love it like that. But it’s organized chaos, or at least mostly organized.
My husband and I were talking last week and he said something that struck me. Wise words from a tired dad on an exceptionally hard toddler day. “Somehow I simultaneously want the day to just be shorter, but I also need 8 extra hours to get everything done.” Wow, he read my mind and described exactly how I was feeling in my twisted mom brain!
How can I make that happen? While we obviously can’t make 8 more hours appear, we CAN be more efficient with our time. And this is what I’ve been working on in this last month. My “February resolution” is to use my time wisely and truly relax when that time of day comes.
MAKE A TO DO LIST. When I’m not efficient, I find myself just putzing around the house, not actually completing much of anything. Enter TO-DO lists! I have yet to find an app that I love for compiling lists and to-dos, so I have just been using the Notes app on my phone to type things in and check them off. Put them in order of priority or don’t, as long as you get your tasks written down for the day, you’re more likely to complete them!
Next up, MAKE A SCHEDULE. Know when you plan to workout, do work, do housework, hang out with the kids, make time for your husband, and when you’re actually going to take a minute for yourself.
Here’s a rough daily schedule of mine just to show you what it looks like to work from home.
6:30 - get up with the baby, make coffee, let him kick on the play mat while I check in on notifications, DMs and emails. (This is where I plan to add in workouts with baby boy before toddler girl wakes up. More on that soon.)
8 - Assistant and Nanny show up. I work on online boutique stuff, get organized for the afternoon. This is all time dedicated to working!
11 - Assistant and nanny leave, so I get special time dedicated to playing with the littles. Lunch time, hang out, do an activity with kids (ie library, kids museum, park), get them ready for nap.
1/1:15/2/2:39/3/whatever the heck they feel like that day - Nap time. This is the most variable thing of my whole day, so afternoon and early evening all depends on what happens here. I usually clean up around the house, do some blog and social media work or educational podcasts (nerd status) during this time.
Hubs arrives home during this time too, so we usually get to hang out for an hour or so.
5-6 - usually run some errands with the whole fam or do something like grab food or just hang at the house.
6-8 - dinner and bath time for kids, get ready for bed.
8 - bed time. Thank goodness this time slot is pretty consistent for both kids.
8:30-10:30 - hang with hubs, watch shows, whatever til bed time around 10:30-11pm.
Here’s the kicker. I try to do everything with 100% focus. For example, don’t be distracted by work on your phone while you’re playing with the kids. This is the hardest part for me - trying to keep my brain compartmentalized and efficient. Way easier said than done, but i promise it’s worth it when you make it happen. You don’t feel like you’re doing anything half way because everything gets full attention.
Like I said, it’s just a rough schedule and everyone’s will be different.
I am working on finding the best apps and planners for you ladies to organize and simplify.
If you have any apps or planners that you love, I would LOVE to share them with our community! As always, thanks for reading, you all are amazing!
Love,
Kait
