Time Me!

A stack of books by my bedside, a van with a back full of cleaning stuff and four crazy boys who need some attention. I have really struggled with getting on top of life. Usually I can manage things well. I create a schedule and stick with it to the bitter end, or until I'm too tired to care anymore. But lately I've let things slide and let procrastination take over again. This has been a tough semester at school. My son has visited same day surgery several times for his eye-- luckily one time only involved actual surgery. My husband started a new job-- so grateful-- that threw us into a bind since I had signed up for classes based on the idea that he would be home at night. And I threw myself into Midwifery school to top it all off. I sadly had to accept the fact that I am just not going to pass one of my classes, and need to let it slide. That isn't my favorite thing to do. I hate letting things go, and I hate not doing my best or being on task.

I feel like I'm doing all that I need to. I can't think of one thing I could let go because all of it is necessary right now. I need school so I can get my family to a better place. I need my cleaning business so we can pay the bills which is also why my husband needs to work as well. It drives me crazy, but it's all necessary. But at least I finally came up with a pretty decent solution to help me feel more on top of things instead of always anxious and crazy.

It all started when I was cleaning for a client, and I noticed some laundry needed folded. I never have a chance to get to it at the end of the appointment, but I really wanted to try and get it done. So what did I do? I set a timer. I gave myself 5 minutes in between each job to fold some laundry, and amazingly the laundry got folded and all the other jobs were completed as well-- hopefully the client was happy with everything we did. I was amazed! So I decided to apply it to my life as well.

Normally I would come home from a cleaning appointment and my husband would leave for work. I would then try to get the daily chores done in the house, all the while knowing I should be starting on homework. "I just need to finish the laundry, and the dishes. Now the kids need a snack. Oh, its time to change the laundry over. OK let me just finish folding this basket. Now the baby is up from his nap and the kids need dinner. I'll just do homework when the kids go to bed. OK, kids are in bed, let me exercise really quick and then do homework. I guess it's fine if the kids want to do to exercise too. OK I guess they can just sleep in my bed. Looks like I'm doing homework tomorrow."

Well, now I have changed my method. I now set a timer for 20 minutes. I do homework for 20 minutes. And when the timer goes off I reset it and do housework for 20 minutes. After each 20 minutes is up I reset the timer and keep rotating between housework and homework until homework is done or bedtime comes around. I was simply amazed at how much better things went. I got my homework done, I got the housework done and I even had time to read to my kids at night-- I NEVER have time to read to my kids at night. It was amazing!

So if you find you're having a hard time tackling something around the house try setting a timer. It did wonders for me :).