In this series on establishing routines, we've already discussed how to tackle your evenings and your mornings. Today, we're focusing on the daytime... those hours between your morning and evening routines. And, to be honest, this post is primarily written for the stay-at-home/work-at-home wives/mothers because {if I remember correctly, back from when I worked full-time} when you work outside the home, you're days are usually planned out for you.
Is it really all that important to have a daytime routine? Why can't I just go-with-the-flow?
You can definitely go-with-the-flow as much as you can/want to, but I imagine many of you {and myself, sometimes} feel like there are just not enough hours in the day to accomplish all that needs to be done. After all, there's only so much you can do during your evening routine to catch up on the day's tasks. Which is why a steady-yet-flexible daytime routine can be tremendously helpful.
So, where to begin? Well, there are all different ways to create a daytime schedule. But, today, I'll show you how I created mine...
START WITH MEAL AND NAP TIMES
Feeding my son and having him take a nap were the two most important things I could do for his physical health. Food, for obvious reasons, but napping helped his little body to slow down and rest. And, when I first became a stay-at-home mom {back when he was a year-and-a-half old}, I napped when he napped. Now, however, his nap time is my personal time {usually spent writing}.
Making sure my son's physical needs were met was the most logical first step to me. But, for those of you who don't have children at home with you during the day {either because your children go to school or you simply don't have children of your own}, planning your meals and rest/personal time can still be a great starting point for making sure that you're taking care of yourself.
LIST YOUR "MUST DO'S"
What absolutely MUST be done each day? This is your list of "must do's". If you work from home, you're probably required to work on your job/business for at least a little bit of time every day {or every other day}. If you homeschool your kids, you probably have lessons that need to be done. And we all, like it or not, have housework to do, bills to pay, and meals to make. {This is where a Magic Minimum comes in handy!}
After you've made your "must do's" list, you can begin to plan what needs to be done when, based on your needs and the needs of your family. To help you do this, I would encourage you to create an organizing system that will keep you on track. I personally recommend binders: a home management binder can help you organize most things, though it may be easier to separate some things {like homeschooling} into their own binders. In your home management binder, you can keep a "work to-do list", a cleaning schedule {including weekly/monthly/seasonally tasks}, a homeschool lesson plan sheet {or, if your kids attend school outside the home, a binder is the perfect place to corral all that paperwork that they bring home}... anything you need to make sure your daily to-do's get done.
LIST YOUR "WOULD LIKE TO DO'S"
This next step to creating a daily routine is to create a "Master To-Do List" of things that are not necessary to your every day, yet they either still need to be done or you'd really like to do them. Some examples for this list include:
- things you want to research: "ideas for Johnny's birthday party"; "real/whole foods diet"
- decorating and organizing tasks you want to get done
- making time for your favorite hobby
The idea is to keep a running list of these tasks, so that when you have an extra few minutes on your hands {or during naptime}, you can tackle these things at your convenience.
PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER
Begin by writing down the left hand side of a piece of paper and the names of family members across the top. Like this:
MOM DAD KID A KID B KID C
6:00 am
6:30 am
7:00 am
7:30 am
8:00 am
AND SO ON...
Then, start filling in meal times and kid's nap/quiet times. Do you homeschool? Write in when you'll teach lessons. Do you work from home? Write in your "office hours". What housework needs to be done? Set aside at least 30 minutes a day to keep up with the chores.
Keep in mind, though, that you do not have to plan every minute of every day. Trust me, you want even just a little bit of flexibility to keep yourself from feeling stressed, which is the exact opposite effect that a routine is supposed to have. Plan your "must do's" and then leave room to let things flow as they will.
A LOOK AT MY ROUTINE
As always, here's a peek at my routine {although I'm overlapping it with my morning and evening routines just a little so you can see how I flow out of and into those}:
8:30 AM - Circle Time
{Something I'm Implementing Soon -
Bible Study, Scripture Memory and Songs with Little Man}
School
{Once I Start to "Officially" Homeschool}
10:00 AM - Snack
10:30 AM - Chores
{Sometimes Little Man Helps; Otherwise, This is Free Play Time}
11:30 AM - Make/Eat Lunch
12:00 NOON - Read Books Together
12:30 PM - Naptime for Little Man; Computer Time for Me
{This is When I Work on the Blog or eBook, Check Email/Social Media}
2:00 PM - Play with Little Man
3:30 PM - Fold Clothes from Day's Laundry
4:00 PM - Check My To-Do List
{Make Sure I Didn't Miss Anything}
5:00 PM - Make Dinner
Once again, a few things to note: this is a very, very rough idea of what our routine looks like. I say that because, though the flow is usually the same from day to day {which is what a routine is anyways}, the times often change. For example, sometimes we wind up eating lunch an hour later, which pushes back the entire afternoon; or sometimes we have {or go to} a play-date - usually in the mornings - which kind of throws our whole day off. But, I'm not one to be a drill sergeant and demand that things get done on time, nor am I willing to sacrifice relationships {play-dates} for the sake of the routine.
The best way I know to explain this is that I keep a lose grasp on my routine. It is important to me because it keep my son and I on track: I'm more productive and he functions better knowing what is expected. But, I'm not going to grasp it so tight that God or the people I care about can't get in.
Now, I'm curious...
How do your days flow?
What's on your "must do" list?
Blessings,
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.