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Time Management

I am bad at time management.  The life style of a stay at home mom is a lot of self management and self control.  I know I waste time with Facebook, phone apps, Pinterest, etc.  The ways in which to waste time are numerous. I decided to print out a 24 hour time management activity log.  Just for kicks.  I started it today and plan to do it for a few days.  Here is what I am finding on day one.

  • I miraculously have not had time for Facebook or phone apps and games.  
  • I seem to be more productive if I write down what I am doing. 
  • It is like the opposite of a list. (I hate lists) 
  • It is making me think about what I really want to get done today and when to do these activities
  • Before I even started to write things down (yesterday) I thought about getting up earlier.  
  • I think it will help me plan out when I can do the things I love like writing and blogging.  It seems that we are finished with homeschool about lunch time so the 1 to 2 hour might be my best time to write.  Which two of my kids are still in school at that time and one not needing me for answers or direction, it might just be my hour of writing. 
  • I didn't talk to my mom for an hour or more this morning on the phone, knowing I had to log my time I was on the phone.  
  • I am thinking about how to use my time differently.  I usually read in car line, I like quiet reading time but maybe that is when I do social media and phone games and read with the kids at night.  Lead by example.  Do as I do, not as I say.  This way my social media time is limited to that hour or less and my reading time could double.  

I knew writing out what I did during the day would change what I actually do during the day.  There is some psychology there but I am not going to Google it and waste my time to figure it out.  The internet is a slippery slope for me.   

I am having the fear of missing out. FOMO!  It's real and STUPID!  Why do I care if I miss something on FB?  I mean if it is really important I will know before too long.  The instant gratification is sickening.  I want to get on to check things out but then I don't.  Not sure how long my FB fast will last.  I do fill my time on Pinterest so it is half a dozen minutes here or a half a dozen there.  

Another task I am trying to accomplish is a house cleaning calendar.  Daily to do list.  I would ideally love a clean house and not spend days spinning my wheels getting nothing really clean looking. I have a bad habit of starting something in the kitchen and ending up on the computer or in a different room doing something completely unrelated to the kitchen.  At the end of the day I did clean a ton of things but the kitchen isn't completely clean.

Time management and a cleaning schedule the exciting life of a stay at home mom/homeschool mom/PTA mom and most important on the list, wife.  Because when they all leave it will be an empty castle with a king and queen left to amuse ourselves.  

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