Time Management???

2 blogs in 1 day....what is going on? Oh well, lots to say today :)


I love the term Time Management. It insinuates that you can control time, make it bend to your will so as to get everything done. As a young single person job hopping in the Admin world, it was a term I loved to use. "Excellent Time Management Skills", "great at managing task in a timely manner", "able to prioritise and organise daily tasks". All those things meaning, I'm good at managing the time.


Well.....how times have changed!!


Now, if I "manage" to get out of bed, eat some breakfast and get dressed all before Miss Molly's morning sleep "time", then I know I might just accomplish something that day, and that to me is time well and truly managed! 


Well and truly managed means leaving the house with clothes on. It does not mean they match or are fashionable (that would suggest I have time to find out what is actually fashionable then find it in a shop...in my size, wash it, hang it up and locate it in my wardrobe to actually wear it! MY wardrobe where Narnia could and probably does exist, you just can't find it under all the mess!). It doesn't even mean they are clean (if I want to leave the house, then I expect the clothes I have managed to find will have baby chuck stains, a bit of weetbix stuck to the sleeve, and maybe a drool trail from carrying bubs to the car). It doesn't mean I found the time to brush my hair, but I at least managed to get it up in a bun where Molly can't grab a hold of it. It means I have managed to get out of the house with the billion things needed for a 5 min trip to the shops to buy milk. I have spare clothes for Molly, and me, nappies, wipes, food, bottle, sippy cup, toys to aid distraction of the fact that she is bored, bonjela, several dummies, followed by a quick trip back up the home road for the wallet and sunglasses that belong to me and got overlooked!


Seriously. When I was younger I thought I was busy. Wow, I used to say. I don't know how I find the time to commute to work each day, go to the gym, get the housework done and have a social life. Well, younger me, I have your answer....YOU DONT HAVE KIDS!!!


Kids are the experts at wasting time. They play for hours, accomplishing nothing but their own amusement. And even worse, they do it in such a way that is totally adorable, drawing us in, in our sleep deprived state, into a trance. Watching, with joy and wonder I admit, at how they play, how they learn the littlest thing, simply by picking up that yellow ball and putting it in the yellow hole, over and over and over again. THIS is where all my time has gone. THIS is why I don't have enough time to get the housework done, exercise, socialise.....


Not only do they occupy your time, they make you so tired, you don't want to "waste" valuable time cleaning, washing, or cooking when you could be doing that wonderful thing called SLEEPING!! 


So now Molly is getting older, I need to find a way to fit more into each day. This is fun, I often laugh at the optimism in my TO DO list everyday... I have several lists, all happily stored on my phone for easy access to remind what I haven't managed to get done in the last week, so I can move tasks from one list to the other, without actually doing them!


There's the must do everyday list:


Dishes
Bottles
load of washing
Tidy toys in lounge/dining/Molly's/our rooms
Make lunch for Molly and maybe myself
Cook something for dinner
Clean Kitchen
30-60 mins of exercise
shower
1-2 hours of sewing


There's the weekly list:


Wash towels and sheets
Vacuum
Steam mop tiles
Dust
Clean bathroom and toilet
Weekly family shop
Clean Molly's outdoor play area
Spend min1 hour quality time with Maddi
Spend min 1 hour quality time with Shane (yes, I have to add these to the list or they don't happen!)


Then there's the Wedding plans, endless errands that seem to pop up everyday, visits to the doctor, banking, the OMG we are out of Milk/bread/my specific brand of deodorant, and no mum I can't just use yours, yuck! trips to the shop. There's the Molly is driving me insane trips out for lunch just for the sake of getting out of the house! So many things to "manage" so little of that valuable commodity "time".


I am not claiming that I attempt to get all these things done alone. Without Shane, there is a very real possibility some days that absolutely NONE of the tasks would get done. I allocate tasks when I can (and being as stubborn as I am, this is not easy!), the rest he will attend to either without being asked or after my subtle suggestions.....yeah, subtle....


So, now I'm off to fill out the weekly plan of things to accomplish next week. I will inevitably forget something important, but hey, who cares when there isn't enough time in the day as there is....


Procrastination has become my most vital time management skill. With it, everything can get moved to tomorrow's list, and today I will just sit and watch Molly and Maddi playing together. :)