Time: friend or foe?

The equalizer. Everyone has the same amount no matter how much money you make or where you live. It's daunting at times and a gift at others. It can seem falsely full for me sometimes. As a SAHM, I feel like it's not working as my teammate but as my opponent. Errrr. It's such an enormous blessing to be able to be at home and I want to be a good steward of that gift but I'm struggling!

Here's my frustration: I am a teacher by nature. I'm used to Monday mornings jumping right into a cemented schedule until Friday afternoon. I thrive in that. Now that it's just Eliot and I, I've been all willy-nilly about our time. Eliot's on a great schedule with sleeping and eating but the rest of the day is up in the air! Sometimes there's a spontaneous trip to the bank, sometimes a overdue trip to the post office, etc. The laundry is done when it's piled too high to see anything else and then of course, it takes ALL DAY to complete. I am pretty sure I spend more time thinking about what I should do or want to do than actually doing it. Not knowing what to do with my time sometimes turns into not doing anything with my time and then it's gone. The next day, I'm overwhelmed with all that I have to do and can't believe that I don't have time to accomplish it all. It's as though I live in a place of reacting to daily life rather than being proactive. I do dishes because the sink is full. I do laundry because I don't have my favorite jeans to wear that day. A trip to the grocery store happens because I've squeezed the last drop of milk from the carton last night. I was the opposite as a teacher. Everything was proactive or else it didn't work.

While listening to an Arbonne training by author Donna Otto she was teaching on how to do more in less time. Something she said struck me. When people ask her what a practical way to save time and money was she said it's meal/ menu planning. I thought that was odd until she explained. For families that regularly spend a few minutes planning a menu for the week, including a shopping list, save at least an hour each week and 30% over what they would normally spend on food. She listed a few statistics like for every trip to the store to get one $2.50 item, the average persons spends $14.27. Hmmm. The next one killed me: for every minute in the grocery store over 30, you spend an average of an extra $4.85. My thoughts go back to the trip to the store on Saturday that took an hour and how I was surprised at the amount of our bill from that day.

So, my rough draft has begun. Tuesday is laundry day, officially. Wednesday is grocery store, Thursday is vacuuming and dusting. The daily schedule is in it's rough stage also. Yes, showering is on the list since that doesn't always happen! When to do Arbonne trainings, when to clear out my inbox, when to mop, alongside meeting with people and going to meetings. I probably need to add writing and reading blogs into that schedule, too, as sometimes I spend way too much time on that! Anyone already have a schedule I can steal? Any other moms have a well-oiled machine they want to share? I feel like I did my first year teaching: survival. By year 7, I had most of the day/week figured out efficiently and effectively. I really don't want Eliot to be 7 years old by the time I figure all this out!

Maybe I should start with less time playing with Eliot on the iPhotoBooth...


Hmmm...don't count on it.