My Rose Among Thorns

Time Management 

Being a full time working mommy is hard!  Add in the extra pressures we put on ourselves as women, mommies, wives-no wonder anxiety and blood pressure run high! 

My role as woman has developed over time.  At first, I was in college and literally, my only obligation was to do my own laundry and split a cleaning schedule with 2-3 other wonderful ladies!  Heck, every meal was provided for, there were no bills to pay (on my end that is), and everything was about me!  I had no one to look out for!  

Then came marriage.  Now I had another person I was obligated to-twice the laundry (or maybe triple the laundry considering the husband's clothes are so much bigger than mine), definitely no more meals handed to me, so I had to begin cooking, and not only was I attending school, but I had to now spend 2+ hours a day traveling.  It was hard, but not that hard; so we had pasta for dinner sometimes, big whoop.  

Graduate school was a welcomed break.  I welcomed Moshe a week into my first semester of graduate school for my masters in Speech Language Pathology (cue gasps when I walked into my first class at 39 weeks pregnant); because of him, I attended school part time until my final year where I increased my course load.  With school being part time, and my only requirements of school for the first two semesters being attending class, I had many days off each week, and plenty of time on school days.  I had a babysitter only for when I had class.  Grocery shopping got done, home cooked meals got done, cleaning got done, the list goes on and on of all the things I was able to accomplish on a daily and weekly basis.  Eventually I had to work in the in-house clinic, and student teach, but somehow there wasn't a lack of time-until I started my first, full-time, job.  

Working full time leaves little room for cramming in all the things I have decided are top priority:

time with the family

home cooked meals

a clean house

daily exercise 

time for arts and crafts 

extra DIY projects

healthy, well planned lunches for my boys, for myself, for my husband

time to hang out with friends

time to blog/catch up on social media

 So what do I do? I'm not saying I'm an expert, or the best-far from it, but I do believe I'm extremely organized and dedicated to the things I think are important.  Many people have said they can't believe I'm able to do what I do.  So, I'll offer some tips...

I have seen many home management notebooks, and while it seems enticing to have a cute, nicely organized notebook-it just seems like it's a different type of stress inducer.  Looking at the notebook, writing in the notebook, etc.  That's why I decided against creating a home management notebook, even though it's pretty.  

Me, I still prefer the simple, plain 'ole Post-it Notes.  They come in beautiful colors, patterns, for many different tasks-and what's better than being able to stick it onto your desk, your computer, your door, your notebook, ANYWHERE???  If it's not out there for you to see-you'll likely forget it. 

Here are some examples of their regular collection 

And here are some tabs and labels...

Yes, I will write and re-write that list...part of helping ease my anxiety of all there is to do, is actually writing the list.  Sure, many things make it onto multiple versions of the list-but not everything can be done at once! 

The biggest trick I've learned is to adopt a motto along the lines of: what needs to get done will get done...and adding to that when it needs to get done! So no more pressure when you see your endless list be exactly that-endless!

Up next I will show you my created cleaning schedule and the daily tasks I do that help give my home a put together and organized look and feel, only within a matter of minutes!