Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant. -Robert Louis Stevenson
Do you have a schedule that you live by? Do you attempt routine and feel as if you always fail? I think I fall into both categories. I love our schedule and attempt to live by it – but it seems since our recent move, my husband’s job loss, and lets be honest here, the baby that was born nine months ago… I feel as though I keep failing at my weekly routine.
I have had the question asked on numerous occasions, how do I organize my time and how do I manage to get things accomplished? I talked recently about taking time to reflect, and how it is a struggle for me to keep afloat oftentimes with so many commitments and even more hobbies. The fact of the matter is, when I live my life with a routine in place – all seems much better in the world. I have come across many wonderful downloads and articles in the blog world on putting a routine in place, however I really wanted something that would fit our family like a glove – so I made my own : )
I think the most important thing to remember is, with any sort of schedule, flexibility is key. If I am not able to move one thing to another day for fear my world will collapse, I have taken a once great idea to a terrible new level.
How to begin?
- Make a list What I did first when sitting down to “figure it out” – is to list it. I jotted down anything and everything I could think of that we typically need to accomplish in a week. You can be as specific or general as you’d like. My list included the following: church, weekly planning, finances, grocery store, fitness, the boys, laundry, and clean house.
- Be a tad more specific Then I narrowed down some of those categories: cleaning house = taking out trash, clean kitchen, dusting, bathrooms, and floors. grocery store narrowed down to = menu planning for the upcoming week, and obviously shopping. The boys = bath time and outings (MOPS as well).
- Delegate Take a look at your list now and decide what items are already attached to a day. Church for example is always on Sunday and I prefer to menu plan on Fridays before heading to the store on Saturdays. Then everything else sort of got tossed around until I found a good place for it.
- Give it a time slot I prefer to make my weekly schedule in sections. Obviously there are days, but I take it a step further and put the tasks either towards the top of the column (for am) and towards the bottom (for pm). This is just easier for me, to glance at it and realize when to plan for it.
- Be flexible Very, very important factor. Flexibility is so important. some weeks I simply can’t get to the floors on Wednesday. That is okay, I just do a little switch-a-roo. Remember this is just a general guideline.
- Print her out! I prefer to see something tangible. So I print my weekly schedule out. This also helps with my daily planning.
Try it out!
Click on the weekly calendar below for your own blank version, it’s free – enjoy!
Over the next few days I’ll be writing about how we make our routine work, breaking it down to a daily thing as well. I hope you’ll join me!
Do you have a routine, or are you a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kinda gal? What works best for your family? I’d love to hear!
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