Remember how last week I vowed to clean up/organize my kitchen cabinets? Well, I probably wouldn’t have gotten around to it otherwise, but because I told you I was going to, I managed to make the time.

Telling you guys my to-do plans is just so helpful.

I don’t have before pictures of all my cabinets because I ended up cleaning more of them than I planned to.  The, “Woo!  Look at how clean that cabinet is!” feeling was getting kinda addicting.

I didn’t take a before picture of this cabinet, but it was a mess. You know how spice cabinets can be.

I’ve cleaned it up quite a few times before, but it gets screwed up again awfully fast.  This time, though, something is different.  See those plastic containers?

They’ve got grouped spices in them…the small one has sweet spices and the other has Italian-type seasonings.

So, when I need to bake something sweet, I can just pull out that container, and the rest of the shelf stays neat.  Marvy-fab.

If I could have scrounged up another container, I’d have put my chili powder/cumin/cayenne type spices together too.

I read about this idea in a Cook’s Illustrated magazine, and I think it’s brilliant.  I have real hope for my spice shelf now!  And I’m happy to have a use for my old plastic leftover containers (I’m a Pyrex girl now.)

Ooh!  And do you see what that is up there on the top shelf??

Empty space.  Oh yes.  I love it when I declutter so well that there’s empty space.

I organized the cabinets above my sink too, so that my baking tools are easier to access.  I do own more Pyrex measuring cups than that, just so you know…there were a bunch in the dishwasher when I took the photo.

My cookbook cabinet is often a cluttery mess because that space on top of my cookbooks is a very handy place to shove papers of various sorts.  No more, though!

The snack-food cabinet was in a things-fall-out-when-you-open it state before.  And my chocolate covered marshamallow snowmen were just getting buried in the mess.  Mustn’t have that.

I’m so happy with this cabinet…there’s plenty of room for my granola container now.  Yay!

(can you tell the sun went down before I finished taking pictures??)

This under-the-counter cabinet wasn’t in super bad shape.

But I did neaten it up a bit.  Plus, since I used some of my plastic containers to organize the spice cabinet, that freed up a bit of space here.

The cabinet I most dreaded cleaning is the one that holds the majority of our food.

I can’t be the only one who gets to this point in the organizing process and then wants to give up.

Yeah.  Dear heavens.

I did manage to carry on, though, and I got everything sorted and put back properly.  I’m most pleased about the tea section…before, I had it all on the very top shelf and it was such a pain to get to.  So of course, when it was time to put the tea boxes away, I just kind of threw them up there haphazardly.  Now that I can reach the tea shelf more easily, I think I’ll be better able to maintain order.

Ok!  So, I’ve gone through all my cabinets now except for two…the one under the sink (yuck) and the one above my fridge.  I’ll probably try to tackle those this week.

I know some of you were planning on cleaning up your cabinets with me this week, so if you blogged your before and after photos, share your link below so we can ooh and aah over your work!

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Today’s 365 post: Baking With Lisey

Joshua’s 365 post: I’m not sure why….

(alternatively known as, “The Post That Will Help You Feel Superior About Your Housekeeping Skills”)

You know how a lot of reality shows are designed to make you feel better about yourself (“at least I’m not THAT dreadful at parenting, or at least I’m not THAT unhealthy/fashion-challenged/younameit”)?

Well, this blog post may work that way for you.  You’re welcome.

There really was SOME floor space in there, I promise.

Ok, not a lot of floor space.  Ahem.

The top of my dryer:

Fortunately for me, I have a top-loading washing machine (you remember it, right?  From when I took it all apart?), so I can’t possibly stack any clutter up on there…I only have to deal with the dryer.

I’m pleased to tell you that after some hours of work on my part (cleaning, decluttering, and organizing) my laundry room is looking much better.

I feel surprised every time I walk in!

Remember the no-floor-space shot above?  Here’s that area all cleaned up now.

Yes, I need to repaint the floors…my old monstrosity of a freezer was larger than this one, so switching them out exposed floor that we hadn’t been able to paint before.

Remember the messy top of my dryer?

I’d really love to have a cabinet/shelf/somekindofstoragethingy for this stuff, but at least it’s more neatly arranged now.

I’m so much happier with condition of the shelf above the freezer (see the next photo).  I have space for my popcorn popper on the shelf now (no room in the kitchen…it used to be haphazardly shoved into a corner of the laundry room.)

Plus, my shipping supplies aren’t a toppling mess anymore (I save them when I get packages so that I don’t have to buy supplies when I sell stuff online.)

Also, I actually have some empty space on that shelf, which makes me very happy.

I don’t think I actually took a before picture of this next area (you can see a bit of it in one of the above photos), but it was bad…piled at least halfway up the wall with stuff.  A lot of it was old clothes I’d saved to repurpose, and since the kids like to rummage through there and find material for their craft projects, it had become sort of disastrous.

I got rid of some clothes I wasn’t going to manage to repurpose (woot for Freecycle!), and organized the remaining ones.  Then I put all the small-ish scraps that the kids can use into an old freebie bag, hammered a nail into the wall, and hung it up.  So, hopefully when they’re wanting to create something in the future, they’ll be able to find their supplies without destroying my neat basket. 

Those of you that have bought my ebook will recognize the skirt in the front. I somehow spilled bleach on it, so I need to re-dye it.

My laundry room isn’t a looker by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s so, so much easier to work in now that it’s cleaned up.  I haven’t done such a thorough job of organizing and cleaning it for a really, really long time, and I’m hopeful that the degree of thoroughness means this change will stick around for a while.

A lot of times, people think that in order to organize, they need to go buy more organizing stuff…boxes, files, bins, racks, and the like.  Sometimes, that’s necessary, of course, but often, it’s quite possible to bring about great change in a space without buying one new thing.

I didn’t purchase anything, and my laundry room looks far different than it did before.  I just got rid of clutter and stored my remaining belongings more efficiently, and the cost for that is simply time.

P.S. It’s worth mentioning that even if you DO buy organizing stuff, you’re still going to need to invest the time!

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Today’s 365 post: A pea coat and flip-flops

Joshua’s 365 post: Getting our Christmas tree! (a multi-picture post to make up for a few missed days)

Last week, I shared how I’d gone away for 24 hours all by my lonesome not lonesome self, and that I’d used some of that time to rethink our schedule.  A number of you wanted to take a peek at that, so this post is for you!

I’ll share my actual schedule in a minute, but first I’ll share how I came up with this plan.

Last fall, I bought Amy Andrews’ ebook Tell your Time (right now it’s on sale for $9), which introduced me to the whole concept of time budgeting.  She suggests approaching time the same way a lot of us approach budgeting.  When we make a budget we write down how much money we have and and then we list all of our expenses, and figure out which can stay, which can go, and which can be reduced.

Time is a limited resource, much like money is (well, at least it is for most of us!), and so budgeting it is a really brilliant idea!

So, to begin with, I figured out how many hours I had in a day.  Mr. FG leaves for work at 5:15 and we go to bed at 8:30, so that gives me about 15 hours to work with.

Then I made a list of the things that I need to do each day (things like school, laundry, cooking dinner) and the things that I want to make time for (like spending time with Mr. FG), and assigned hours or half hours to those tasks.  I also scribbled down some ideas I had about areas where I could do some smart multi-tasking.

Now, that was a good start for me, but I know myself well enough to know that I function better when I make a more detailed schedule for myself.  I need to see where I can plug these hours and half hours into my day so that I can see what works and what doesn’t.

So, I took a piece of paper and put all my tasks/activities into a hourly schedule, which looks like this.

In case you can’t read my chicken scratch on that piece of paper, here’s how my day breaks down.

5:15-5:45-read Bible and pray

5:45-6:15-shower, get dressed, put on makeup, tidy up my room, and start a load of laundry

6:15-7:15-blog, read email, etc. (the kids’ alarm goes off at 7:00, at which point they get up, make their beds, get dressed, and read their Bibles)

7:15-8:00-breakfast, breakfast cleanup, think about dinner (i.e. does something need to be thawed? Started early?) Often during breakfast, we listen to and talk about music from a particular classical composer that we’re learning about.

8:00-8:45 (really, this has become more like 9:00 most days)-Joshua and Lisey practice the piano, I supervise, some days more than others, and I do some odds and ends type of chores.  I often fold laundry, dust, or do some kitchen cleaning while they practice.

9:00-10:00-school with Sonia and Zoe.  During this time, I am unavailable to Joshua and Lisey because it is waaay too frustrating to be interrupted multiple times.  If we focus for an hour, we can get all of Sonia’s necessary schoolwork done (that’s because homeschooling is pretty darn efficient).  In that time we do math, flash cards, handwriting, reading practice, catechism, science, and we read a nature library book plus some kind of fiction book.  Zoe’s not officially doing school yet (she just turned 5 last month), but she does math, flash cards, reading practice, and she listens to everything I read out loud.

10:00-11:00-I check the schoolwork Joshua and Lisey have gotten done in the last two hours and help them with anything they’re stuck on.

11:00-12:00-lunch and lunch cleanup.

12:00-12:30-we work on our geography together.  We’re doing a study of the 50 states currently and all four kids participate.

12:30-1:00-quiet reading time for the kids (Zoe just looks at books since she’s not able to read much other than Bob Books at the moment). They can read pretty much whatever book they want…the important thing is just that they’re reading.  I’m pretty much the world’s biggest fan of the educational power of recreational reading.

While the kids read, I try to use the time to get a quiet task done, like updating my Quicken files, moderating blog comments, or working on a montly money email.

1:00-3:45-this is the most unscheduled part of my day.  I wrap up school with Joshua and Lisey, do dinner prep (important on the days that I go to the gym), make sure the kids clean their rooms after school, and I usually have some time in there to spend on things that aren’t entirely necessary or that don’t need to be done every day, like decluttering a drawer, working ahead on blog posts, taking pictures, planning a menu, and so on.

3:45-4:45-I go to the gym.  It takes about an hour to drive there, work out, and drive back home.  I only go 3 days a week, though.

5:00-6:00-I finish making dinner and try to get it on the table before 5:30.

6:00-6:30-dinner clean up, pjs and teeth brushing for Sonia and Zoe

6:30-7:00-family worship.  We sing, read the Bible, pray, and read through a novel out loud (right now it’s The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe).

7:00-7:15-get Sonia and Zoe tucked into bed.

7:15-8:15-free time to spend with Mr. FG.  Sometimes we play music together, sometimes we read together, sometimes we decide to go to bed nice and early , or sometimes we get distracted and end up doing separate things during that hour (sometimes Mr. FG has stuff he needs to get done or one of us gets a phone call or something).

8:15-8:30-get ready for bed, and hit the hay.  Because that pesky 4:40 alarm comes all too soon.

Putting it all that down on paper was really good for me, just like putting a budget down on paper is good. For instance, the paper schedule told me that I cannot expect to get my morning tasks done if I stay on the computer any later than 7:15 am…that’s just a fact.  It’s a lot like looking at a budget sheet and realizing that you really cannot expect to pay your mortgage if you get takeout twice a week.

I know some people can’t abide a detailed schedule (so you should do what works for you instead), and I’m certainly not one to freak out if we eat lunch 15 minutes later than I planned for us to eat.  But having a goal time in mind for certain activities/work helps to keep me on track.

If I know that being done with blogging by 7:15 will help our morning to go smoothly, I’m motivated to be efficient with my computer time.

If I know that I need to get dinner on the table between 5:00 and 5:30 in order to keep our evening on track, that helps to organize my day.

And if I know that we need to start family worship at 6:30 if I want to have an hour to spend with Mr. FG, that keeps me from wanting to go get sucked into the internet vortex after cleaning up dinner.

It’s about choices, really, and putting it all down on paper helped me to see those choices more clearly.

The other large benefit I’ve seen is that when I budget time for things, I’m less likely to be distracted and/or crabby about having to spend the time (and that’s so similar to the benefits of a monetary budget for me).

For instance, since I know I’ve budgeted the 10:00-11:00 hour for helping Joshua and Lisey, I don’t feel irritated when they have a pile of questions for me.  A financial budget does the same thing for me…if I set aside money for a date night or for a vacation, I don’t feel uncomfortable or worried about it like I would if it wasn’t planned and budgeted.

Of course, not every day goes according to schedule…things like grocery shopping, doctor/dentist appointments, and piano teaching (which is just one day a week) all throw us off to some degree.  Despite that, having a plan in place and goals in mind has most definitely helped me to be more efficient, and it’s also helped me to make more room in my life for things that aren’t urgent but are important (like time with Mr. FG, time in prayer, and so on).  I highly recommend giving it a try!)

(disclosure: After I bought Amy Andrews’ Tell Your Time ebook and found it to be helpful, I signed up to be an affiliate.  If you buy the book though the link in this post or through the ad in my sidebar, Amy shares a percentage of the sale with me.  As always, though, I only recommend products I personally find to be valuable, and I would only encourage you to buy the book if the $9 price fits into your budget. )

Today’s 365 post: This is the coveted Yesercise mug

Joshua’s 365 post: This might be true!

I know I said I was done with the series, but as I predicted, I have a few more thoughts to share.

Mostly, I want to make some clarifications, because it was obvious from the comments on last week’s post (Don’t Waste Your Leisure) that I was unclear on a few things, and managed to give you a completely wrong idea about how I feel regarding “me” time, and TV, and some other stuff.

Whoops.

So, this will be sort of like a productivity version of the miscellany posts I do.  Ready?

Do we have to think about leisure?

One reader wondered if trying to not waste leisure time sort of defeated the whole purpose (“Isn’t leisure time about not thinking, and just relaxing?”, she wondered.)

I don’t think that thinking about this defeats the point, obviously (or I wouldn’t have written the post!).

I think the point of leisure is to be refreshed, and I know when I “waste” my leisure time, I am not nearly as refreshed as I am when I engage in leisure activities that are not a waste of time for me.

When I spend two hours aimlessly surfing around on the web, I don’t feel particularly refreshed afterwards. When I spend two hours scrapbooking, playing games with my family, sledding with my family, or doing some other such activity, I DO feel refreshed.

So, the point is not so much usefulness and productiveness as it is refreshment. Leisure that is truly refreshing will leave us more ready to face our work than we were without it.

And because of that, we do ourselves (and other people in our lives!) a disservice if we waste our leisure time.

TV, TV

One reader pointed out that there is some good stuff on TV, and I totally agree with that.  Mr. FG and Joshua enjoy watching hockey games together, my kids enjoy MythBusters episodes, and they also enjoy IMAX and National Geographic shows.

Care needs to be exercised with TV, though…it’s designed to suck you in and keep you in your spot on the couch (that’s why they roll out the first part of the next show on the heels of the previous one!), and because of that, it’s really, really easy to watch more of it than is good for us.

So, don’t necessarily write TV-watching out of your leisure time, but do give some thought to how much you’re watching and what you’re watching.

Varied Leisure

One of the points I made that a few people seemed to miss is that good and bad leisure activities will vary from person to person. One person might be refreshed by spending a few hours doing garden work.  Another (like, um, me) wouldn’t find that refreshing at all!  One person might feel fabulous after spending an hour flipping channels, whereas I just do not find that to be refreshing.

So, don’t get stuck on the particulars of what constitutes wasted or valuable leisure time for me.  The point is that you should make sure that you are spending your leisure time in ways that refresh you.

Me time

A number of people seemed to get the impression that I am opposed to what we tend to call “me” time, and that’s definitely not true.  As I shared in my sleep post, leisure and rest are necessary for productivity because a properly rested person will be better equipped to be productive than a person who has been run ragged.  And sometimes, it’s good to have leisure time alone.

In order to keep myself in optimum shape for serving God and taking care of my family, I need to be responsible and take care of myself too.  This is why I go to bed on time, why I try to eat properly, and why I joined the gym.

And it’s also why I make time to do things that are fun and relaxing to me.  Each morning after Mr. FG goes to work, I have a couple of hours all by myself…I shower, read my Bible, pray, read blogs, and read email all in complete peace and quiet.  I also go to the gym all by myself 3 times a week.  And though I’m not by myself when I take pictures, photography is definitely a fun hobby for me, and I derive great joy from it. Also, now that the kids are older and the days of nursing babies are gone, I often get to go out and run errands by myself, which is delightful.

Along those same lines, in my post I was not saying that women and mothers need to solely identify as wives and mothers.  Being a wife and a mother is exceedingly important to me, but I don’t at all feel like that is the sum of who I am.  I’m also a photographer, a pianist, a piano teacher, an optimist, a scrapbooker, a blogger (duh!), a baker, a friend, and a sister, among other things.

And all of THAT falls under my top identity, which is that I am a child of God, loved unconditionally because of what Jesus did for me on the cross.

All of that stuff is are part of who I am, and it colors, enhances and infuses my mothering and wifing with a flavor that is uniquely me.

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Okee-doke!  I hope that cleared up any misunderstandings about last week’s post.  Of course, if it didn’t, you should leave me a comment, and I’ll do my best to respond.

Today’s 365 post: Blog Post Planning (the low-tech way)

(for those of you that are new: this is a continuation of a series we started back in November. It kind of got derailed over the holidays, so we’re finishing it up now. If you’re interested in catching up, you can read the earlier posts, which are Get Thee to Bed!, Plan Ahead, 3 Ways to be Efficient, and Cut Schedule Clutter.)

I know that sounds like a weird thing to say, but I firmly believe that there is a vast difference between true leisure and wasting time.

For instance, aimlessly surfing around the TV channels would qualify for wasting time in my book, whereas sitting down with my kids to watch a particular show or program together would not.

Surfing around the internet reading whatever happens to catch my eye is wasting time. Sitting down at my computer and writing emails or reading worthwhile blogs is not.

Reading gossip magazines and most women’s magazines is, in my book, a waste of time. Reading well-written books, though? I don’t count that as wasting time.

How do I determine what is a waste of leisure time and what is not?

Activities that are not in line with my ideas and beliefs and goals are a waste of time for me.

Because everyone’s ideas and goals are different, the way this plays out in my life is different than the way this would play out in yours, but here are two examples of how this works in my day-to-day life.

I want to spend my days and hours in a way that glorifies God. Among other things, this means that I want to grow in my walk with Him, and that I want to serve my family.

Because of that:

I hardly ever watch TV.

The reasons for this are many…much of what is available is not remotely helpful in my walk with God (quite the opposite, in fact), exposing myself to constant commercials isn’t good for me, and a lot of the fare that’s offered inspires discontent (Your house should be better!  You should cook more fabulous meals!  You should be more stylish!  You should get plastic surgery!).  And reality TV programs only serve to make me feel superior (“At least I didn’t have to wonder which of these 5 men was the father of my baby.”  “I’m not as dumb/ugly/low-class/fat/lazy/spendy as those people.”).

Suffice it to say, most TV programming doesn’t fit in with my ideas, beliefs, and goals, and so for the most part, I’d count TV watching as a waste of my leisure time.

On the other hand, when Mr. FG and Joshua sit down to watch a hockey game together, I don’t think that’s a waste of time.  They’re sharing an experience, rooting for a team together, enjoying each other’s company, and they don’t even have to watch commercials since they watch the games on a streaming service.

(as an aside, I firmly believe that one of the reasons I have time to read, exercise, bake, sew, blog, and do all the things I do is that I don’t watch TV.  TV can be an enormous time suck and waste of time, so if you’re lacking time to do all the stuff you say you want to do, take a hard look at how much TV you watch.)

I try to read, and I try to read good stuff.

In my mind, reading good stuff definitely qualifies as an appropriate and helpful use of leisure time.  I’m sure you know all the benefits of reading, so I won’t trot them out here.

But, some reading is a waste of time for me.  Blogs, books, and magazines that keep me from growing in my walk with God, that encourage me to be selfish, that tempt me to discontent, or that glorify things that shouldn’t be glorified are a waste of time.

So, I try to read well-written material that encourages me in my mothering and wifing, that encourages me to grow spiritually, that help me appreciate the gospel more, that help me to serve my family better, and so on.

Romance novels?  Nope.  Jane Austen?  Yes.

Women’s magazines (with their promise that I can be thin, gorgeous, stylish, rich, confident, mother-of-the-year, crafty, and have fabulous hair and a clutter-free, beautifully decorated, spacious home)?  Nope.  Cook’s Illustrated (which helps me serve my family and shop smarter)?  Yes.

Gossip blogs?  Nope. Blogs that inspire me to better and greater things?  Yes.

I try to engage in activities that are not isolating.

I so understand the pull to hide or to not engage.  I’m very capable of being social, yes, but I can also be very, very happy by myself for hours on end.

This is not entirely bad or wrong, but sometimes, this temptation comes from my selfish desires (I want to do what *I* want to do!) or my laziness (dealing with people is work!).

And, at least theoretically, one of my goals in life is to serve my family.  Some alone time helps me to do that well (yay for my quiet mornings and for gym workouts!), but too much alone time doesn’t.  Spending all my leisure time by myself is a waste because it doesn’t help me accomplish the goals I have for my life.

So, to that end, Mr. FG and I read through books together.  We sing together as a family.  We read the Bible and other books with the kids (recently, we read Dangerous Journey, The Prince’s Poison Cup, and The King Without a Shadow
and are now reading an Alistair McGrath children’s book on the Kindle, called The Chosen Ones .).  We pray together. We play Scrabble (and CandyLand) together.  When the weather is warmer, we bike/walk/rollerblade together and play catch.

And you know what?  Every time I resist that urge to withdraw and do something by myself, I inevitably end up being happy that I did.  Engaging takes more effort (plopping down in front of the computer is way easier than going outside to play catch!), but it’s very rewarding.

I’m not saying that I never do leisure activities on my own…I like to scrapbook (this does serve my family because my kids love to look through our scrapbooks), I like to sew (again, my sewing projects do usually serve my family, but sewing is something I do on my own), and I like to read.  None of those activities are a waste of time in my mind, but I want to be careful not to spend all of my leisure time doing activities all by myself.

Be Intentional About Leisure

I touched on this a bit in an earlier paragraph, but wanted to say a bit more about it.  If I am not intentional about how I spend my free time, I find myself wasting it.  When I am not purposeful about how I spend my time, I often end up isolating myself.

That’s because wasting time is easy…if we don’t think much about it, that will probably be the default mode we slide into.  So, if you want to redeem your leisure time and make it line up with your stated goals and beliefs, you’ll need to be a little more alert.  Don’t just slide into the couch in front of the TV every night or mindlessly hop onto the internet.  Instead, when you’ve got some leisure time in front of you, think about what you’re hoping to accomplish with your life, and find a leisure activity that’s in line with that goal and purpose.

Note: Some of the ideas in this post are gleaned from Jeff Purswell’s message on leisure from the Sanctifying the Ordinary series.  All 4 messages in this series are available for free, and I highly recommend them.  The audio on the leisure message is funky, but I think the content is so good, it’s worth persevering through the sound issues (try turning down your treble settings to make the annoying sound less noticeable).

I think that’s all I have to say about productivity for the time being, so this post officially concludes the series.  I imagine that more productivity thoughts will occur to me over time, though, so occasional productivity posts may pop up here and there.

I hope this series has been helpful to you, and I hope that you’re able to take the principles contained in these posts and apply them to your own life.

Today’s 365 post: Play-Doh and Pennies

Joshua’s 365 post: Coloring

disclosure

(for those of you that are new: this is a continuation of a series we started back in November. It kind of got derailed over the holidays, so we’re finishing it up this month. If you’re interested in catching up, you can read the first two posts, which are Get Thee to Bed!, Plan Ahead and 3 Ways to be Efficient.)

People who read my blog often wonder how I can find the time to blog or the time to bake or the time to read or the time to paint furniture, or the time to do any of the stuff I write about.

Part of the way that I find time for these things is that I plan ahead, I work efficiently, and I get enough sleep (which gives me energy to help me work efficiently!).

But another secret (well, it’s not really a secret!) is that I try to cut clutter from my schedule. Simply put, I try not to fill my life with things that don’t matter to me or that don’t mesh with the overarching beliefs and goals that shape me.

Maybe you’re wanting to read more.

Maybe you’re wanting to spend more time with your spouse/kids/family/friends.

Maybe you’re wanting to have time to craft/play music/write/paint.

And maybe you’re thinking, “I don’t have time for any of that stuff!!”.

And to that, I would gently suggest that if you’re wanting to do something and “can’t” find the time, you might be cluttering your life and schedule with things that are wasting your time.

(I don’t know every person’s life or schedule, of course. There are stages and phases of life that are just really, really busy, and nothing can be done to reduce the busy-ness. If you’re in that sort of situation, my advice will not apply to you.  Hang in there, and may your life calm down soon!).

The things that are cluttering your schedule will probably be really different than the things that are cluttering another person’s schedule, but the point is that you need to take a good hard look at what you’re really spending your time on and then consider whether those things are what you really want to be spending your time on.

The best way to do this is to keep a time diary for a few days (a week would be great).

You can keep this very low-tech…a pencil and a piece of paper will work fine. Every day, write down, in a list format, what you spent your time doing the whole day long.  Including the actual time spent on each activity is optional, but can be helpful.

For instance, my morning so far would look like this:

4:40-woke up, made bed, ironed Mr. FG’s clothes, packed his lunch

5:00-read email, checked Twitter and Facebook

5:15-read Bible and prayed

5:45-showered, dressed

6:15-read email, blogged

You can do in in less detail than that if you want.  The point is just that you want to see where your time is going.

You may find that the simple act of writing it down will alert you to your time-wasting habits and will make you want to do something different (writing down that you spent an hour on the Internet doing mostly…nothing?  That’s painful!).

Once you’ve got several days’ worth of time diaries finished, look them over and see if you are spending time doing things that don’t really matter to you.

You might see a lot of TV-watching.  You might see more texting/tweeting/Facebooking time than you’d like to see. You might observe an inordinate amount of phone time.  You might notice that you’re running around to an activity every night.  You might see that you’re spending more time on the internet than you are with your family.

Whatever it is, odds are good that you’ll see some things on your schedule that aren’t really in line with what your goals and desires are, and when you do, you should think long and hard about cutting some of those things out.

If you say your children are your number one priority, but you’re spending most of your non-working hours online, you should change something.

If you say that you really want to keep your house cleaner but your time diary says you spent 3 hours watching TV over the course of a day, you should change something.

If you say that you really want to read your Bible every day but your time diary says you spent an hour on the phone every day, you should change something.

If you say family time at home is a high priority for you but your time diary says you are never at home with your family, something needs to change.

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I want to share some specific ways that I cut schedule clutter and also how I try to use my leisure time wisely instead of wasting it, but since this is getting kind of long already, I’ll do that next week.

So between now and next Thursday, could I encourage you to keep a time diary? I’m going to do it myself because I am pretty sure that I am checking my email way more often than I’d officially say that I am, and I may be wasting time in other ways without even noticing it.

Schedule clutter can be as sneaky as household clutter, and so keeping it at bay requires the same kind of constant vigilance.  Clutter of all kinds has a way of creeping in, and I want to keep an eye on the time clutter that might be worming its way into my days.

And if I am brave enough, I’ll share the results of my time diary with you next week. 

Today’s 365 post: Pudding made Beautiful

(for those of you that are new: this is a continuation of a series we started back in November. It kind of got derailed over the holidays, so we’re finishing it up this month. If you’re interested in catching up, you can read the first two posts, which are Get Thee to Bed! and  Plan Ahead.)

Though I’m not one to shy away from hard work, I am always looking for ways to work smarter, not harder.  And I do mean always.  In fact, in the past few months, I started an experiment in grocery shopping every two weeks to see if doing so would save me time (I think it is so far!).

Since most of you probably would like to work smarter, not harder, I thought I would share a few tactics I use to get more done in less time.  These aren’t terribly situation-specific (make phone calls while folding laundry) because I thought that wouldn’t be nearly as helpful as some guiding principles would be.

So, here are 3 principles that help me to be efficient with my work.

Multi-Task (sort of)

Some types of multi-tasking are quite the opposite of efficient, which is why the “sort of” is there.  Talking on the phone while reading your email is an example if this type of multi-tasking.  Most people can’t talk/listen, and read at the same time without performing one or both of those tasks poorly.  In that case, it would be better to talk on the phone and then check your email.

However, there are some tasks that work very well together.  I’ve been doing this kind of thing for years, but it wasn’t until I read The Other 8 Hours* that I understood why my type of multi-tasking works.  The author of that book differentiates between head tasks and body tasks and points out that matching up two head tasks doesn’t work (talking on the phone and reading email) but that matching up a head and body task does work (talking on the phone while folding laundry).

*that’s an Amazon affiliate link, but I recommend that you look to see if your library has the book before you buy it. That’s what I did!  And I would link to the library instead of Amazon, but that wouldn’t be too helpful to you if you don’t live in my county. 

I put head and body tasks together all the time, which helps me to accomplish more than I could otherwise.  I purposely fold laundry or dust the living room while I supervise my children’s piano practicing.  I iron or do some crocheting while Mr. FG reads to me at night.  I listen to sermons or messages when I have to be in the car for a long time and while I work out at the gym.  I pray while I take my morning shower.  If I’m on the phone for a while, I try to do some dishes or some cleaning up.

Look for the times in your life when your body is busy OR your head is busy and see if you can find a corresponding head or body task to do at the same time.

Do things in bulk

That might not be the clearest phrase ever, so let me explain.  Bulk activities are sort of like bulk products….bulk products get you more product for less money, and bulk activities help you get more done in less time.

For instance, instead of ironing Mr. FG’s work shirts one at a time, I try to get them all done at once (usually while Mr. FG is reading to me…yay for multi-tasking!).  This means I only have to set up and take down the ironing board once instead of 5-7 times, and that definitely saves me time.

As another example, when I’m cleaning up a space like my kitchen, and I find something that needs to go downstairs, I don’t take it downstairs right away.  I set it aside, and if I find any other items that need to go downstairs, I add them to the pile.  That way I’m not running up and down the stairs each time I find another downstairs item.  I do the same thing when I need to bring things upstairs…I often have a little pile going at the bottom of the steps!

My two-week grocery shopping plan fits under this heading too, I think.  Instead of doing a full shop every week, I’m doing one larger shop every other week.  This saves me the loading everyone up, unloading everyone, loading everyone back up, unloading everyone routine because I only have to do that once every two weeks instead of twice.

Focus and Finish

One of the downsides of traditional multi-tasking is that it causes you to waste time as you jump from one activity to another.  Your brain takes a little while to get focused on a new task and if you’re constantly jumping between tasks, this focusing time really adds up.

You’ll get more done in less time if you focus on and finish the task at hand before moving on to another one.  As a mom of 4 kids, I know that it’s not always possible to work without interruptions (!), but I do try to minimize them when I can.

For instance, I am much more efficient at getting Sonia and Zoe’s school done if I do nothing else during that time.  So, when I’m working with Sonia and Zoe, I don’t answer the phone, I don’t check my email, I don’t throw in a load of laundry, and Joshua and Lisey know that I am unavailable if they have questions (they just go on to the next subject or next problem and I help them later).

Also, once I’m done blogging in the mornings, I try to stay completely off of the computer until school is done, checked, and corrected, dinner prep is done, and the house is sort of picked up.  The computer is just too distracting and the minutes spent constantly popping in to check my email (and Twitter and Facebook) really add up!

(so that you’re not too impressed with me, I should share that in order to accomplish this, I have to resort to actually shutting my computer off.  Yep, it’s that bad.  I love me some email-checking!)

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I’ll have to check my blog plan for the month, but I think I have one or two more posts to write before this series is done.  And if I’m efficient enough (hee.) they’ll be posted on the next two Thursdays.

Today’s 365 post: “Do you do school in your pjs?”

You knew this one was coming, didn’t you?

Before you schedule/plan haters tune me out entirely, let me promise that I am not going to trot out a bunch of fancy worksheets for you or make you fill out a detailed schedule.

Complicated planning is, well, too complicated for me, so I keep my planning fairly simple (and frugal, of course!).

Before we talk about that, I suppose I should talk about why I think planning is important.

I know there are people out there who seem to manage their lives in a delightful fashion with no planning at all (if you’re one of those, you won’t find this post to be even faintly helpful!), but I am not one of those people.  If I don’t plan my life, I usually feel overwhelmed, disorganized and stressed, and I am not nearly as productive.

Planning helps me to

• manage my life more efficiently
• have a more cheerful attitude (being less stressed makes me much more happy!)
• live my life in a way that reflects my priorities (when I fly by the seat of my pants, the tyranny of the urgent takes over, and my theoretical priorities sometimes fall to the wayside).

So, if you’re feeling overwhelmed, disorganized, stressed, and behind, I highly recommend investing some time in planning.

And it is an investment.  A while back, I read about the 15:4 rule from the business world, which is the idea that 15 minutes of planning can save you 4 hours over the course of a day.  If that’s true, then planning is an awfully fabulous investment.  Where else can you get a rate of return like that??

So, make some time to plan!  I think you’ll be glad you did.

To show you how this works in my life, I’ll share a few ways that I invest time into planning.

Menu Planning

I’ve talked about this at length before (there’s a whole category for posts about menu planning!), but I really cannot say it enough: Menu planning is one of the most important and helpful types of planning I do.

When I don’t plan a menu, I waste way, way, way too much time trying figure out what to have for dinner (time thinking of a meal, time searching through the pantry trying to find something to make, time making a run to the grocery store to get ingredients, and so on).

I feel stressed out (needing to decide what to eat for dinner is like a black cloud hanging over me all day!), and I am much, much more prone to giving in to takeout temptation.  I’m also much more likely to overspend at the grocery store because I overestimate what we need.  Of course, this leads to food waste, which is money waste.

This is a topic that’s too long for this post, so I’ll just point to you my posts about why I plan my menu and how I plan my menu. I post my menu plans each Saturday, and there are weeks and weeks of archived menu plan posts you can browse if you like.

Even if you do no other kind of planning, do give meal planning a try!  You can always stop if you find that it doesn’t work for you, but odds are good that you’ll be hooked once you try it.

To-Do Lists

My day-to-day planning method is very, very simple and very, very free.

I just find a piece of scratch paper (the back of junk mail letters, a paper my kids cut up, the back of a drawing my kids don’t want, etc) and list the things I need to do that day.

I usually start by listing the high-priority things (school with the kids, making dinner, supervising piano practice, daily blogging work, supervising my kids’ room cleaning), then the medium-priority things (edit photos, clean out email inbox, make a phone call) and then round the list out with other things I’d like to get done (write an extra blog post, do a sewing project, organize a closet).

Having a list each day helps me not to forget things, but it also helps me to use my time more efficiently.  When I finish a task, I don’t have to waste time wondering what I should do next…I can just consult my list.

And you should never underestimate the mental health benefits of being able to cross things off of your list.  I find that to be quite euphoric, myself…a list with crossed-off things helps me to see that I really did get something done!

Longer Term Planning

Day-to-day to do lists are great, but I also feel like I need more of an overview type of planning (the credit for this idea goes to the Mahaneys, from Sovereign Grace Ministries).

For that type of need, I leave the kids and Mr. FG at home and head to my local Atlanta Bread Company.  I bring a notebook (the paper kind!) or the laptop and I plot out a plan to help me fulfill my various roles.  I think about how I can better bless my husband, how I can serve and train my kids better, how I can grow in my walk with God, and so on.  I write down my ideas and plans and come home refreshed, inspired, and equipped with a plan to live out my priorities.

Other Planning

I do several other types of planning as well….lately I’ve been planning my blog posts instead of blogging by the seat of my pants, and that’s been very helpful (I haven’t missed a single Wednesday Baking post since I started doing this!).

I also plan for Christmas by jotting down gift ideas in an Outlook document, and I plan our finances by putting together a monthly document for Mr. FG.  There are a number of other ways I plan too, but I’m sure you get the gist of this by now.

Getting Started

If you’re inspired now and want to hop on the planning wagon with me, there are two bits of advice I want to leave with you.

Worry less about the system and more about the actual planning. You don’t need special notebooks, a pile of forms, or an electronic personal planning device…you just need to think about life ahead of time.  Devices won’t do the planning for you, so don’t get hung up on choosing a complicated, time-consuming method.  A piece of paper and a pen will do just fine.

Start small. If you’ve never planned a thing in your life before, pick one type of planning to start with.  If you try to make a menu plan, a monthly to-do list, a daily to-do list and a Christmas gift idea list all at once, you’ll be overwhelmed and will want to quit.  If you take it slow and gradually incorporate more planning, you’ll be much more likely to stick with it.

P.S. Please keep in mind that this post and the others in this series are about what works for me. If you have another way of managing your life, stick with it!  You need to do what works for you*.  I am simply sharing the things that help me to manage my life in the hope that these ideas will help someone who is struggling.

*See also: You Don’t Have to Make Yogurt

Today’s 365 post: Mother and Daughter

Today we’re beginning a weekly series on the topic of productivity. This series is coming to be because almost since the inception of my blog, readers have been writing me and asking me how I get so much done.

For the record, I’m very aware that I don’t have this productivity thing down pat…I see the areas of my life that lack organization, and I see the places where I waste time. And of course, I see the bazillion things that I don’t get done.

I do realize, though, that I get more done in a day than some people do, so I’m going to share my best ideas for the sort of imperfect productivity that makes up my life.

Probably the hardest part of coming up with the posts for this series was identifying the things in my life that help me to be productive, simply because those things are habitual for me at this point. I think I’ve managed to identify a few keys, though, and I’ll share one each Thursday for the month of November.

Next to, “Do you include toiletries in your grocery budget?” probably the most common question I get is, “Don’t you ever sleep???”, presumably because readers think my secret to productivity involves late night work sessions and very little sleep.

That couldn’t be farther from the truth, though.

In fact, I usually get far more sleep than the average American. Getting 8 hours of sleep (which seems to be the right amount for me) is a very, very high priority for me because getting enough sleep is essential for productivity. I can’t expect to be on top of my game if I’m shuffling through my day in a sleepy stupor, and you probably can’t either.

I don’t feel too great if I only get 6 or 7 hours of sleep, so when I hear of people consistently getting only 4-5 hours of sleep, a mixture of horror, awe, and pity washes over me.  Dear fellow people!  Why do you torture yourselves this way??

I have a few guesses, and they’re as follows.

1. I’m too busy!

I know you’re probably thinking something like, “I don’t have tiiiiime to be in bed for 8 hours!!!”, but I’d say you probably don’t have time to not be in bed for 8 hours (or whatever number is right for you). Depriving yourself of sleep in order to get things done is like shooting yourself in the foot.

How so? People who sleep for only 4-5 hours may have more time in their day than someone who sleeps for 8 hours, but I’d venture to guess that the person running on 8 hours of sleep is going to get at least as much done as the person who slept for 4-5 hours, simply because the 8 hour person will have more energy.

Give it a try and see if that doesn’t hold true for you.  For a week, get yourself to bed on time, and see how things go.  My guess is that you won’t find yourself to be behind in your work, and you might even be ahead.

2. Sleep doesn’t matter that much.

It does, and not just from a productivity standpoint.  Studies have shown that sleep-deprived people are at a greater risk for heart problems, weight gain, and a compromised immune system among other things.  And you don’t need a study to tell you that sleep-deprived people are crabby.  So, why are you still staying up so late?  Get yourself to bed! 

3. But I’m a night owl!

Now, I know that some people are naturally night owls.  I’m not, but I know they’re out there and I’m actually married to one.

If you’re a night owl and your life/family/work allows you to stay up late and get up late, more power to you.  If it’s working for you, don’t mess with it!

However, an awful lot of night owls have life/family/work obligations that prevent them from sleeping late.  For those people, staying up late means depriving themselves of sleep.  If you’re one of those people, stop living in denial and get your booty into bed at a decent hour.

Mr. FG would love to stay up late and sleep late, but it’s been a good many years since he’s been able to do that, mostly because of his work schedules.  Getting up early is not optional for him, so the only path to enough sleep is an early bedtime.  This is not at all his natural inclination, but it’s the most responsible option for him right now.

So, if you’re a night owl, take courage!  If Mr. FG, a natural night owl, can go to bed at 8:30 PM, you probably can get to bed earlier too.

Practical Help

So, maybe you’re convinced that you need to get a decent night’s sleep, but you’re just not sure how to get that accomplished.  Simply telling yourself, “I’ll get to bed earlier from now on!” isn’t usually sufficient.

Here are a few things that help me to get into bed on time.  Though I doubt any of you need to go to bed at 8:30 pm, hopefully some of these ideas will be helpful to you.

1. Turn off your TV/computer/phone/distracting electronic device

Staying up late and actually being productive is one thing, but our electronic devices often tempt us to stay up late without even accomplishing anything!  Turning them off at a set time helps me to get into bedtime mode.

If you need to go to bed at 10:00, turn your TV off at 9:00.  If you watch that 9:00-10:00 show, you’re never going to make it into bed at 10:00.  And you might even be tempted to stay up and watch the 10:00-11:00 show!

2. Start getting ready for bed before you actually need to go to bed.

If I want to be in bed at 8:30, I can’t start getting ready for bed at 8:30.  Instead, I usually start my evening activities around 7:30 (brushing my teeth, taking out my contact lenses, shutting my computer down, making sure the kitchen tasks are finished, and so on).

On nights when we’re on schedule, Mr. FG and I usually head to our bedroom around 8:00 to wind down.  We read our own books in bed before turning out the light, or Mr. FG reads to me while I do some mindless activity like ironing or crocheting (I’ve been making a Build-A-Bear scarf for Sonia’s bear this month).

This way when 8:30 rolls around, we’re actually ready to turn out the lights and go to sleep.

3. Set yourself up for success.

I’ve found that I have a hard time getting to bed at 8:30 if I don’t get other evening tasks early enough.  For instance, if we eat dinner later than 5:00 or 5:30, we have a hard time getting that cleaned up in time to get the kids ready for family worship (in the evenings, we read the Bible and pray together).

And if we don’t have family worship at 7:00 or earlier, we have a hard time getting Sonia and Zoe into bed on time.

And if we don’t get them into bed on time, I can’t start my evening routine early enough to get myself into bed.

So for me, a proper bedtime routine starts before dinner.

I’m sure your life looks different than mine, but look at your evenings and see if you can identify some scheduling problems that are making it hard for you to get to bed. Then think about ways to fix those issues.

4. Remind yourself of the benefits of sleep and the downsides of being tired.

Think about how awful it feels to be exhausted, think about how hard it will be to be patient with your spouse/children/co-workers if you’re sleep-deprived, and then think about how much better you’ll feel tomorrow if you go to bed.

I know how dreadful I feel when I don’t get enough sleep, and thinking about that is usually sufficient motivation for me to get into bed.

So, go get some sleep this week, and next Thursday I’ll have another productivity idea for your well-rested self to apply! 

a couple of disclaimers:

-I’m not addressing sleep problems like insomnia. I’m talking about the run-of-the-mill “whoops, I stayed up too late!” kind of sleep deprivation.

-Parents of new babies are going to be a little sleep-deprived in the best of situations. My best advice for moms and dads in that phase of life is to go to bed when your baby goes to bed if that’s at all possible. It’s tempting to stay up late and enjoy the quiet and peace, but you’ll probably regret it the next day.

Today’s 365 post: Know why this clock paper is wrinkly?

After seeing my messy office pictures, a couple of you asked to see the results of my cleaning spree, so I’m here to oblige! I wouldn’t say my office is perfectly clean now (not like I’d want it to be if I were listing my house for sale), but this is clean enough to satisfy me for daily living.

And this room is definitely cleaner than usual.  When Zoe came downstairs the other day, she put her hands over her mouth and said, “Mommy!  You cleaned da tile!”  She didn’t actually think that I cleaned the tile…no, her surprise was over the fact that she could actually see all of the tile.

I don’t think I posted a picture from this angle the other day.  The desk on the far wall there is mine, and it’s where the majority of my blogging happens. 

This picture is notable because the closet doors are actually shut now. Before, there was too much stuff in the way!

I even swept under the futon, and that doesn’t happen very often. 

So, there you go.  Maybe one of these days I’ll get it really cleaned up and I’ll give you a formal tour of my office, sort of like I did when I showed you around my backyard.

Actually, I’ll probably be doing well just to maintain this level of cleanliness!