Time Management and Change

You know what happens when life gets crazy? Things drop off, like blogging. One thing that I’m always trying to figure out is time management. One upon a time when I was a stay-at-home mom I had a system that worked fairly well for us, but now, not so much.

About 16 years ago I was introduced to the FlyLady website and her concept of cleaning. I joined a yahoo group of other FlyLady followers and we supported each other in our efforts to get our houses in order. It was great for a time, but then we moved over to Facebook, our lives changed, and we weren’t as in to it all as we used to be. I still keep in touch with many of those ladies, but not because we are following the same household cleaning system.

I wrote a couple of years ago about my planners. That system worked really well for me for about a year and a half, until I started working full time. Suddenly I wasn’t able to keep track of things at school and at home. I felt divided and my planners just weren’t serving the same purpose as before. I was sad, because I really liked my planners. I liked the satisfaction of putting things in writing and seeing what was coming up and being able to carry it with me, but also the feel of the paper.

Now it’s all on my phone. Small, convenient, any member of the family can add their events at any time, but it’s hard to see the big picture. And my phone doesn’t give me a way to add daily goals like my planner did. Monday through Thursday my days are pretty much the same, but on the weekends I need a place to put my daily tasks. These are things like how many loads of laundry I need to get done and specific loads, like towels or linens. I include things like making a menu and grocery list, cleaning out the fridge, cleaning under the couches, or maybe going through the kids clothes to change seasons. Somehow typing my lists on my phone isn’t as satisfying to me as writing things down and physically drawing a checkmark next to the items I’ve finished.

The most freeing things I’ve learned in the last two years, though, is that just because one system worked amazing during a previous season of life, it doesn’t mean that it will work the same way in a new season of life and that’s ok. It’s ok to change the way you do things. It’s ok to take the ideas and the best parts of each system and then let them evolve into something that fits your life now. Maybe I will go back and figure out how to make a physical planner work again. Maybe I will remember my FlyLady routines and resubscribe this summer when I’m home more. Maybe I will find a new group that will help keep me accountable. There’s a lot of maybe’s, and then again, maybe I won’t. But the one things I know I will be doing is pushing forward.