Where Does the Time Go?
- Nov 8, 2017
- 3 min read
Thank you for visiting my blog today!
Have you ever sat down and really taken inventory of how you spend your hours on a daily/weekly basis? This is a task that could serve you well. You might be surprised at how much time you waste and how easily it can be to get distracted. Without a doubt, I am easily distracted. With social media it is so easy to lose a few hours in the day. There is no way that I'm as efficient as I could be.Yet, I do crave my down time and my time to not be hustling and shuttling, decision making, or planning! That can be exhausting and a bit hum drum! If you are interested in seeing how you spend you time, you can use this tool I found online DAILY/HOURLY TIME SHEET . You can use it to see how you spend your time and then eventually use it to plan your day efficiently.
This is my breakdown for one week:
Driving kids to and from activities and school (waiting in pick up line at school): 8
Watching sporting kids activities: 5
Grocery shopping (putting groceries away): 3-4
Cooking: 8
Cleaning the house: 2-4 (it used to be more but now I have house cleaners that come every other week)
Yard work: 1-2
Paying bills: 2
Going through mail/paperwork (Click here for paper organization): 2
Homework: 2-3
School activities: 1-2
Exercising: 5-6
Laundry: 2-3
Making appointments/organizing schedules: 4
Taking care of pets: 1
Coordinating playdates: 1
Running errands: 2-3
Working on my business: 20-25
Searching/Researching on the internet (the time suck of social media): 10-15
Total: Roughly 90 hours a week.
As you can see running a household is more than a full time job! For those of you women that do work outside of the home have even a greater challenge to make your days efficient. Organization is a must for those working women/moms! BTW, this doesn't even include social time on the weekends or time for coffee with a friend or loved one!
My goal for myself is to spend less time on my computer falling down rabbit holes, less time watching T.V. I need to fill those hours with more productivity. I want to make my days as efficient as possible so when my kids come home from school all of my daily tasks and to do's are complete. How am I going to accomplish this?
Do a "Mind Dump" or "Thought Download"- write down a master to do list
Prioritize that to do list
Fill in to do's on my hourly planner sheet (there are some great online tools that I have yet to use for my planning and to do list, i.e. Evernote, Google Docs. The great thing about online planning is that you can share your to do list and add to it on your smart phone no matter where you are).
At the end of the day I will move unfinished items to the next day the I can accomplish the to do's.
I do know that I like my routines and I like it when I can get things done without too much thought into what I'm doing. I like being on automatic pilot and being efficient. But, in order to do so I need a routine. I like the idea of stacking my days with as much as my schedule allows. If I have it all written down it frees my mind of mental chatter. All of my thoughts are no longer swirling in my brain. The task of writing things down is such a freeing experience. If you don't already, keep a notepad next to your bed to jot down things that come to mind as you are decompressing from the day. I keep my phone next to me at night to write down in my notes sections things that come to mind.
With the holidays around the corner these ideas can help you have an efficient and enjoyable time.
Until Next Time...
Keep it Sweet and Neat,
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