The Daily Breakdown....

My week has now been broken down into days with a specific focus. The next thing was to expand each day and breakdown what tasks needed to be done regularly.

I decided to only include things that could be done in 2 or 3 15 minute intervals. If I hadn't, I would have quickly found myself hyper-focusing on something and trying to perfect it for 4 hours.

WD1 - I intentionally didn't build anything extra into this day. For me, beginning my work week without other things to distract me is very important. I use my first day at work each week to plan out work tasks and objectives for the rest of the week. That's plenty, and it just gets everything rolling smoothly.

WD2 - Project Day -
This is the day I make any appointments that need to be made for myself, my husband or our pets. Haircuts, doctors/vets, whatever.
Additionally, I always have projects that needs to be done. (Who doesn't?!?!) I use this day to either develop a plan for a project I need to start, or to work on a current project that is underway. Recently, I got plans together to begin painting the inside of my house. I spent one project day planning it out (colors, materials, cost, etc). The next project day was spent figuring out when to get the project underway, setting the deadline for the completion of it, deciding if I would need help and planning a time to have the help come out. The next project day, I began getting materials together. Then I began to work on the painting project a little at a time. I worked on painting myself during my project days and then finished it up one weekend when my family could come and help.
This is what works for me. Some people may just dive right in and tackle something like that in a weekend. And that is absolutely fine. I like to spread stuff out and do them at a slower pace. It's just how I roll.

WD3 - Office Day
This is my set time each week to pay bills, balance the checkbooks, mail anything that needs to be mailed, file anything that needs to be filed, and keep on top of our household budget.
Piles of paper were killing me. I took time one Sunday afternoon to go thru everything and straighten it all out (It took forever!). Once I did that, I vowed I'd never let stuff get out of hand like that again. Taking my office time each week ensures I get everything done at once, and I don't have to think about it again.

WD4 - I devote this day to my part time job. I get orders ready to ship out, contact clients, work on correspondence and check my inventory. Sometimes this takes more than 45 minutes, so I have to make sure this day falls on a day when I work the early shift.
You can use this day for whatever you need...or for nothing at all!!

WD5 - Planning Day
This is another day that sometimes get shifted around. I try to plan things so it will fall the day before my first day off for that week.
I do all my menu planning (1 or 2 weeks out), shopping lists, lists of errands that need to be run, getting things ready to go to the Post Office, etc.
I also plan out the upcoming week and get prepared for anything that would take extra time later.

DO1 - Cleaning and Errand Day
This day goes hand in hand with Planning Day.
The first thing I do is my weekly cleaning routine. It takes me about 2 hours in the morning from beginning to end. Once my house is tidy, I can move on with the rest of my day and get my errands done.
Since I planned all my errands and shopping the day before, it's just a matter of getting in the car and going.

DO2 - Free Day.
Zip.
Zilch.
Zero.
Nada.
Nothing.

Details....

With a basic plan for each week in place, the next step is to add in all the other details. Homekeeping & chores, menu planning, activities, appointments, trips...anything and everything.

Going in, I knew I needed to designate a day for certain things like paying bills, grocery shopping, etc, so those were tackled first.

WD1 - Nothing extra...get the week started on the right foot.
WD2 - Project Day - Book necessary appointments and work on an outstanding project (work or home)
WD3 - Home Office Day - Pay bills, work on budget, correspondence, etc.
WD4 - This is the day I use to focus on my part-time job (it's one I do from home) You can tailor this day for something that is specific to you and your family.
WD5 - Planning day (in reality, this day moves around to fall on the day BEFORE DO1. Menu planning, planning errands (shopping lists) and planning the upcoming week.
DO1 - Shopping and errands
DO2 - Free day

Next, I broke down my household chores by day. The objective in doing this was to free up one of my days off. I had begun to feel like I never had anytime to do what I wanted to do, because there was always something around the house that had to be done. I felt like I never, EVER, had a day off. The solution was as simple as setting aside time each day to tackle chores. That kept me from having to spend the entirety of a day off cleaning and running errands.

There were 2 key elements that made the system work for me.
The first one was time.
I gave myself a set unit of time to do each chore...15 minutes. I knew I could do pretty much any chore in 15 minutes as long as I didn't get sidetracked or hyper focused.

The second element was breaking down the chores that needed to be done each week as opposed to the ones that needed to be done less often.
Weekly -
Vacuum
Dust
Quick-clean bathrooms
Sweep and mop kitchen
Sweep porches
Clean front and back doors
Change bedding

15 minutes for each item on the list meant I could do everything in less than 2 hours. That could easily be done on one of my days off, or they could be spread out over 4 days (2 chores per day). Some weeks I'm industrious enough to do a couple per day, other weeks, I leave them all to one day. It just depends on the week and what other stuff is going on.

Next up, the daily breakdown...

The Next Step

Once the idea of a more structured daily routine started taking shape,it was time to start breaking things down a little more.
In it's basic form, my daily plan worked regardless if I was working an early shift (off work at 5 or 6pm) or a late one (off at 10pm). On my days off, usually a day or two during the week, sometimes weekends, I would try to cram everything else in. Cleaning the house, running errands, tending to the dogs, meal planning, visiting with my family, etc. With my days off being so full of *stuff* I never really felt like I had time to just relax and do something just for fun.

Expanding the daily plan into parts, and sprinkling in a few extra things each day was the answer.

Certain days were designated to certain activities, errands or chores and then everything was broken down from there.

With my days off and work shifts never being the same week to week, the idea of assigning things to Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays wouldn't work. Instead, my days were broken down like this...

Work Day 1
Work Day 2
Work Day 3
Work Day 4
Work day 5
Day off 1
Day off 2

Weeks always began on Mondays to correspond to my work schedule. Our work weeks are Mon-Sun instead of Sun-Mon like on a calendar. The days may not always fall in the perfect order, so the week could look like WD (work day) 1, WD 2, DO1, WD3, WD4, WD5, DO2

From there I assigned things to each day. No matter how the weeks fell, I could still keep up with the things is assigned to do each day. For things that need to be done the day before DO1,(market & errand day), menu planning for example, they just get plugged in on the appropriate day as needed.

Work Day 1 -
Work Day 2
Work Day 3
Work Day 4
Work day 5
Day off 1
Day off 2

Menu planning - day before DO1.

On the last day of each week, either DO2 or WD5...I take 15 minutes to plan the upcoming week. Most working girls utilize some sort of planning calendar ( I will go into this in more detail later)...I am no exception...I LOVE a good old paper planner. I'm old school like that...it's just how I roll. So I grab my planner and check for any appointments, events, or anything extra and plug it into my weekly plan. Then I plug in the rest of my week according to my work schedule.

Once the week was planned out, it was easy to move on from there.

Next up...more details on the weekly plan. Homekeeping, errands, acivities, and free time!!!

Getting started...

As a working girl trying to get all her stuff done, I realized that I needed more structure in my daily routine. At work, I tend to be very systematic and am a meticulous time manager.

At home....not so much.

One day, it clicked. No wonder I felt so out of control at home! I didn't have any systems in place and I stopped managing time once I left work. So I came up with the beginning of what has evolved as my home system.

In a nutshell, here it is:

1. Take a shower at night, and pull together clothes for the next day.
2. In the morning, after getting dressed and ready for work, eat breakfast. It really does wonders.
3. After work, get the mail and deal with it all right away. No more piles of paper.
4. Do 30 minutes of something around the house (I have a list w-of what I do on certain days) I rarely bring work home, and if I do, I make sure it's not more than 30 minutes worth.
5. Make dinner. Menu planning is SO helpful.
6. Clean up dinner dishes.
7. Relax and enjoy the rest of the evening until time for bed.

Once I started working through my plan, time began to appear. Time to relax, read, do yoga, or go for a long walk with the dogs.

As this blog continues to grow, I will outline this plan in more detail. I'll also add the specifics of how I plan out each week, finding time to actually have days off that can be enjoyed, rather than running around like mad trying to catch up.

I hope that you will find this site useful. Whether you work inside or outside the home, you can get it all done, and still have time to enjoy every moment.

Where I began....

There are lots of resources out there to help someone get organized and achieve a balanced, peaceful lifestyle. They are chock full of incredible, creative ideas and motivating testimonials. I've read them and I love them all. In fact, they are what inspired me to come up with my own.

I was having a hard time implementing ideas that were generally geared toward families that consisted of children with stay at home moms. Granted, the role of stay at home mom has to be the hardest, yet most rewarding, job there is and I can completely understand it's need for structure. I just found that most of the ideas and routines that can be so helpful to those families were not as easily adapted in my own life. And I thought, "Surely I am not the only one with this problem!"

I work a full time job in retail and have a small part time business on the side, which I do at my own pace,but devote several hours a week to. My husband travels often for his job, which leaves most of the housework, bill-paying, organizing, meal planning, and shopping to me. With a demanding retail schedule, I rarely have the same days off each week and work a few nights during the week. This ever-changing schedule madeit hard for me to assign tasks to certain days...because the days I would schedule things (like shopping and errands) always change!

Forming new productive habits generally involves doing things at the same time over and over until you are on automatic pilot. Without a set schedule to do things, it became difficult for me to form those new habits. So I came up with some ways to make it work.

About a year ago, I was drowning. I had a house that was in total chaos. I just couldn't get on top of things. I felt really helpless and just overwhelmed by it all. It seemed that I just never had time to do everything that needed to be done. Our financial situation was ok, but not great, and it took a lot to manage it. It began to cause stress between my husband and me. When he was home, he was too tired to help me with things, which made me angry and resentful toward him. And I put all the blame on myself for things being so out of control.

Not good.

Not good at all.

Something had to change. I had to figure out a way to make things better.

So I did.

This working girl found a way to get it all done.