Scheduling the week....

I live my life by lists. I don't think I would get one-third of what I accomplish to the finish line if I didn't have my open notebook on the end of my breakfast bar. It isn't fancy but it sure works!
I have typed out a daily agenda. Mine reads somthing like this:

Today's Chores

• Prayer
• Bible reading
• Check calendar for appointments (with blank lines to write them in under this)
• Unload dishwasher
• Shine sink
• Load dishwasher
• What's for supper? (with lines below it to fill in)
• Check all hot spots and put out fires (a Flylady term for cleaning up the areas that seem to be catch-alls)
• 5 minutes room pick-ups LR K DR BR (living room, kitchen, dining room, bathrooms) I circle them after I run through them and pick up clutter and put it where it belongs)
• Laudry for today (under this I have a line for the name of the load -[darks,lights,towels] and then the capital letters W D F P that stand for wash, dry, fold and put away. I circle these as I get them accomplished.)
• Drink 64 oz. of water (then the numbers 1-8 so I can circle them as I drink them.)
• Walk 15 minutes
• Check trash and empty
• Cook Supper
• Write or sew for one hour
• Zone work (I pick a room to concentrate on for the week and do the extras in--like wash down the cabinets, etc.)

To one side of the sheet I have a little sidebar area with my WEEKLY CLEANING in it. This includes:

• Launder and change the sheets
• Carry out all trash
• Dust
• Sweep
• Mop
• Cull magazines and papers
• Polish mirrors, doorglasses, computers and TV screens
• Thoroughly clean bathrooms

I love this list because if I look at a dusty table I can say to myself, ("You'll get your attention on Friday when I dust everything" and then forget it!) You can laugh, (I just did) but this is a major in not carrying around emotional burdens.

Even my lists are my way of not carrying mental and emotional burdens. When I make my list on Monday (and my menus for the week) I am able to leave all the little wool-gathering thoughts on paper instead of asking myself "Now what was that I wanted to pick up at the store? Oh my, what was that I needed to have done by Thursday?" It just eases tension and stress to be able to go pick up the paper laying on my journal where I've listed my entire weeks chores.

The lists I wrote out above are typed and dropped down into sheet protectors. I have a dry erase pen that I write on the sheet protector with and at the end of the day I just wipe the slate clean and am ready for another day!

*Many of my ideas I got from Flylady--check her out, she's awesome on time management in homemaking!

Now for my own little paper list I make on Monday.

On the front of a sheet of notebook paper I write these headings:

KITCHEN/ SCHOOL/ SEWING /COMPUTER/ CORRESPONDENCE /

GARDENING /FAMILY /CHURCH

This week under KITCHEN I had:

• Make pie crusts
• Make pickles
• Make Brasco Broth
• Gary's birthday cake
• 4th of July dessert

Under SCHOOL I had:

• Asher's summer school
• Mail umbrella school

Under SEWING I had:

• Gary's pants (hem)
• Gary's suit pants (zipper)
• Culottes, (JB, Briley, Audrey)
• Baby outfits (embroidery)

Under COMPUTER:

• MP3 player-warranty
• Pickle recipe
• Price digestive enzymes
• Blog (if I have time:)

Under CORRESPONDENCE:

• Send thank-you notes (x3)
• Snail mail (x2)
• E-mails (personalx1)
• Call Oriental Trading Co.

Under FAMILY:

• Play game with kids
• Gary's birthday (special supper, gift)

Under CHURCH:

• Sunday School lesson
• Order crafts (Oriental Trading Co.)
• Buy snacks for canteen
• Draw girls for bulletin board
• Make cabin signs (This is a subject for another blog--My camp theme that my class is loving!)

On the back of that paper I put my menu and my shopping list. We usually head to town on Monday afternoon and I load up our lives for another week at the Neal Parsonage! This weeks menu includes taco salad, Chinese pepper steak, leftover Salisbury Steak (from Sunday dinner--make a big, big Sunday dinner and you never have to cook a meal on Monday evening!:), and grilled ribeye steaks and baked potatoes for my sweetheart's birthday! Desserts are parfaits, Strawberry pretzel dessert, and Pineapple Upside Down Cake for hubby's birthday. All the desserts are scaled down in calories trying to help the family eat a little lighter. Once a month I have "Thrift Week" when I try to spend as little as possible on groceries. I write that on the top of my week so I don't get carried away when I'm planning the menu. All menus are subject to instant change if we find a deal we can't pass up. (And we have a grocery in town that lets that happen pretty regularly!) My husband makes an early Monday morning pass at the local small grocery when he goes to the bank and comes homes with meat deals you wouldn't believe. Today he brought home a beautiful shoulder roast for $1.00 per pound!

Well, that's my little talk on time management! I've practiced it for years now and it really, really works for me. I'd love to hear others ideas that help them to keep time "redeemed".

With love,

Tami