Today is the first day of school and while I’m scrolling through everyone’s back-to-school pictures on Facebook, I’m mentally making a to-do list for the never-ending tasks in my life. My list – like yours, I’m sure – often seems insurmountable. It starts with dishes, then the project that needs to be done, take the kids to… (insert soooo many things here) and on and on and on. The problem is I’m in a perpetual state of feeling like I need more hours than exist in my 24-hour day. In a desperate attempt to find some space in my day, I went searching for some time-saving tips online. I found several tips to help streamline my day. I thought this month I would share them with you, too.
Several of the tips I ran across are tips I have either incorporated for several years or have used before and gotten out of the habit. I’m going to discuss those first since I can speak to how well they work. My number one tip in this section is to teach kids to be self-reliant! Sure, it takes some time up front to teach your child to do their own laundry, cook a meal, and take care of themselves, but the time it saves in the long run is priceless. (Plus, it builds a ton of confidence for your kids)
Another quality tip is to have a home for everything. This saves time in locating items when you need them as well as helping keep things tidy. Everyone can easily help tidy when they know where things belong. Along with this, save time on dishes by having a place to store cups that are in use instead of getting a new cup each time you’re thirsty throughout the day. Another very helpful tip is to cook enough extra to have two meals. It’s so much easier to prep enough for two meals and freeze one for a quick dinner than have to prep it twice. This has been a huge help to our family over the years. Especially when I can’t be home to prep a meal – my family can just thaw, reheat/cook and serve. Here are a few of my other tested tips:
-Ordering groceries online
-Prepping school lunches in advance
-Cooking crockpot or Instapot meals
-Incorporating monthly, weekly and daily to-do lists
-Limiting your own screen time
Meal planning is also helpful. I generally try to plan a week’s worth of meals so I’m not scrambling to figure out meals last minute. It also allows me to make sure I have all the ingredients I need.
We also try to have a weekly family meeting so everyone can get on the same page for the week. This helps me keep up with where everyone is and gives the kids a chance to let me know if they have something going on that I’m not aware of. These meetings also give me a chance to assign chores and meal-prepping help.
In my search for helpful tips, I came across a couple new ideas I plan to try. One of them is setting time boundaries. I tend to fit work in here and there between the other activities and basically every spare second I have. However, I came across some information that said we are more productive when we simply schedule a time to accomplish tasks rather than the helter-skelter antics of trying to always squeeze it in. I think if I actually made a plan that scheduled focused work time for me it would really help. For example, maybe I could squeeze in one hour a few times a week that was designated simply for me to accomplish lesson planning for my classes. An hour that was off limits to questions from the kids, answering phone calls and texts and household chores. I can just imagine how this could help me be more productive in less time.
Along those lines was the suggestion of planning around your peak productivity. Are there certain times of the day or week that I tend to get more accomplished or be more focused? If so, I can plan to work on tasks that require more effort and more focus during those times. Granted, this one is going to require some thought, but I think this will be very beneficial once I figure it out.
One expert suggested I make sure I’m “clear on my why.” Why am I doing this task or that? The thought is that when my “why” is completely clear my productivity should go up and it helps to eliminate feelings of dread or boredom with the task at hand. For example, when I’m putting off folding the laundry it might help to remember that folding the laundry allows my kids to find the clothes they are looking for in a timely manner. It also helps keep the clothes wrinkle-free, so my kids look nicer. Finally, it helps me remember how blessed I am to have a family to fold laundry for. Of course, I haven’t tried this one yet, but the logic makes sense so here’s hoping…
A few other suggestions I hope to try soon are: 1) Never leaving a room empty-handed. This is supposed to lessen the time it takes to tidy up. (I can see how this works especially if I can train the rest of my family to do this). 2) Something called OHIO – only handle it once. The suggestion is that when something comes up if you just tackle it and get it done it will save you time and the mental energy required when you are constantly thinking about it. 3) Schedule time for yourself to relax. I need this one!! Research says if you don’t make relaxation a priority, your productivity level goes down. It’s related to your stress levels, and keeping your stress in check can make a big difference!
My main priority is trying to create space to have more family time. And to be present during that family time and not having my mind focusing on what’s not done yet. I also need more breathing room. I can often feel my stress levels running extremely high, which isn’t healthy for me and almost always negatively affects my family in some way. I’m hoping to re-focus on the tips I know help save time and incorporate the new tricks I’ve learned to create an overall happier lifestyle. I hope some of these tips can help you, too!!
-by Kari Carr
About the Author: Kari doesn’t claim to be a parenting expert, just a mom to her four wonderful children and wife to the love of her life, Mike. Together they move through the ups and downs of raising kids in this crazy world. She struggles through the trials and joys of raising children from the ages of four to 18 years old. Kari received her degree at WKU and taught public middle school music and choir for seven years before opening her own business, Sound Beginnings Musikgarten & Vocal Studio. She lives and works in Bowling Green.
