How does your day normally go? Do you have a lot of down time? Are you busy from the time you wake to the time you drop? Do you go by a schedule or do you do more of spur of the moment?
I am normally busy from the time I wake up, to the time I pass out. You see me on FB a lot, I do my occasional blog, I know but with the help of a smartphone and tablet, I can take it with me anywhere.
So how do I find time to do fitness or health related things? Well, right now, I'm not working out. I am in the process of refining my daily schedule. This is everything that I do each and everyday. Cleaning, cooking, pumping milk for the baby... Everything is planned. With three kids, routine and structure is a must. Their days are currently pretty spur of the moment but as time goes, this will change.
I have always struggled to keep up with house work because I focus so much on one thing and neglect another. I never thought to use the tools that my iPhone and iPad had in them. I use the calendar occasionally but that was it.
Here's where I WAS:
You know that feeling of complete and utter chaos? The feeling you don't want ANYONE near you but you have to because you are a wife and mother? Yea, that has been me. I can't seem to find time for the things I need but manage to still do nothing all day. People tell me, 'welcome to motherhood'. But I can't believe that motherhood is nothing but messes, chaos, and anger. So I ended up getting in a depressive rut. I couldn't seem to get out of it. The deeper in I got the worse it got. Housework was being neglected, my diet was done for, exercise, HA!, what's that?
Here's my turning point:
Got to my lowest around Christmas. I had to do something. So I got online and start researching different things that would help me. Of course, my searching brought me to something that I knew very well... FLYLady.org. An amazing site and full of great tools for time management, housecleaning, decluttering (both mental and physical)... I sat there and read page after page, bought her books on my NOOK, and decided to try some of the tactics she teaches... With my own spin.
Here's what I did:
I journaled my daily life at the end of every day. I looked at how much time I spent doing, well, nothing. I looked at how much time I spend cleaning, cooking... Anything that I did, I logged. I wanted, no NEEDED, to know where all my time was going. After I saw how unorganized and chaotic my life was on paper, I decided to start a routine. Nothing too crazy, just made a cleaning routine. This made it to where I can literally clean the ENTIRE house in 3.5 hours. But with three kids, this was a little redundant. I then started planning out my days.
Here is where I am today:
Though I am not 100% on where I want to be with my daily plans, I am getting closer. I currently have a day planned out from the time I wake up to the time I got to bed. You may think that this is a little over board, but if you struggle with everyday life as I do many days, this is a necessity. I have it now where I cook three meals a day for my whole family, I am awake before my kids to take care of me, I am making time to pump milk for my breast feeding daughter. I am able to clean the house to where it works for my children and husband.
With planning like this, I am able to enjoy my family at the end of the day. I am able to enjoy meals together at the dining room table as a family. I am able to know that at the end of the day I have accomplished SOMETHING. Which is something that I need.
If you are wondering what kind of tools I use for planning. It's all in one app which is for apple and android and even works on your computer. It is called Cozi. With it you can make to-do lists, shopping lists, post appointments for the whole family. It really is a life saver for an active family. Check it out at www.cozi.com
