prioritize

Take a look around you.. do you achieve the life that you want for yourself and your family? Or are you always frantic, procrastinating, and have periods of useless activity, always tired, or just depressed? Well than its time to rethink your time management. Before you can organize your home you must learn how to use your time more efficiently and to the best of your advantage. Lets take some positive steps towards living the life you really want.
The first thing we need to do each and every morning is to prepare your to do list. You can also do this right before you go to sleep at night. Sometimes this helps to put our mind at ease, knowing what our day will entail. When our minds are clear, we'll fall asleep easier and have a more restful night, and wake up refreshed and ready to start the list.

Put 10 things on your list. Only 10 things!! One of the biggest mistakes we make is having a list that is impossible to finish and therefore making us feel like we failed. Or making it so long that it just looks so daunting we don’t even start it. So we will only list 10 items and no more.

Number the items by importance in completing. #1 being high priority and #10 being a bonus if you get to it, but it’s not crucial. Don’t be too general with an item. Don’t list #1 as “clean the basement”. You’ll never finish it or anything else on the list. Instead be specific. #1. Clean the holiday storage area of the basement. Cross each item off the list as you do it, and transfer the unfinished items to the next day’s list.

Another great trick for getting things done is to set aside each day one hour to play chore roulette!

Here’s what you do. Write out chores on small slips of paper that you’re constantly putting off. Like organize the desk. Now also add some fun things such as read a book for an hour. Or go surf the web for some virtual window shopping for an hour.

Put all the slips into a bowl or can. Be sure to only put ONE fun thing in for every THREE regular chores. Everyday, pull a slip. Do whatever it says. Some days will be more fun than others, but if you pull the “reorganize the linen closet” slip, remember that tomorrow is another day and next time you may pull the “go take a hot bubble bath” ticket!

One more great tip, is to double up your time! Hey were moms and housewives, we know how to multi task right?

• Exercise while watching TV
• Dust while talking on the phone
• Unload the dishwasher while waiting for the water to boil

Here are a few chores that you can do that only take up 5 minutes of your time!! Sometimes we think things will take much longer than they really do! So go ahead and give it a shot...I know you have 5 minutes!!!

• Make an appointment
• Water the plants
• Make the bed
• Clean a mirror
• Wipe out the bathroom sink
• Throw out the trash

I can go on and on, but you get the idea. You have to start thinking smaller. Don’t think about how long it’s going to take you to clean a whole room. Think about how much you can accomplish in just 15 minutes. Remember you don't eat an elephant in one bite!! Use your time wisely, and reward yourself when you finish a job. Make time for your family by saving time for them.