Playing catch up {SYL12- Week 14-17}…

So with a trip home to Australia and then coming back and almost immediately moving house {yes we are in the new house!} I have fallen behind with my Simplify Your Life 2012 challenges but I have not forgotten and it has been at the back of my mind as I have run around chasing two toddlers trying to pack up and now unpack our life.

The last four weeks of the challenge have all been about getting organized, prioritizing and making decisions. The topics I missed were planning, priorities, slowing down and focusing and decision making.

Now I am usually actually a pretty organized person but what I often lack is motivation or drive. I do have motivation but it comes in spurts and often NOT when I need it most. Some people say they get less organized after having kids but I think I am either the same amount of organized I was before or perhaps a little bit more. I think having two kids so close in age has made me quite a stickler for routines and staying organized but that doesn`t mean I don`t drop a ball now and then. Or sometimes a whole basket.

Take blogging over the last six weeks! It was definitely put on the back burner.

Anyway….

Week 14: Planning

Deb, from Home Life Simplified, said that it didn`t matter how you plan {ie digitally or by putting pen to paper} but that essentially you needed three things. A calandar/dairy, a way to capture new information {and way to burst my bubble but apparently post its are NOT good for this! LOL. I am queen of post its. I have them everywhere….mainly stuck to my computer. Or in my dairy. Or sometimes to the fridge} and a master to do list.

I have a new schedule book and so far I am loving it. At first I was afraid it was too bulky but it actually works well because now I can keep all my “paper” in my handbag together in one place. The little purple notebook is my new information book {and it has post its inside it. Just in case!} and my new master to do list. I often have mini master to do lists in my purple note book. Or on post its. But I have been meaning to put a proper list together and finally got around to it. I write my shopping lists and stick them in my planner, my menu plans are often scribbled in there {or on a post it stuck to the Monday of the week!} and in the schedule part I record all of my work requirements, play dates, plans and any “classes”  “appointments” or “play kindy days” for the kids. Sometimes I put birthdays and other things but more often than not it is just appointments/work etc. I don`t use the day plan section as much but I know I should….

Week 15: Priorities

The challenge for week 15 was to conduct a time audit and see if what I currently have planned reflects my values and goals.  Time management, as it was pointed out, is not about trying to fit MORE into your already full days. Deb posted an example of  Stephen Corvey`s Time Management Matrix. Basically it breaks things down by importance/value and urgency. Ideally you should spent most of you time working on not urgent but important things {catching them before they become urgent} although of course with two toddlers urgent things do pop up- like having to feed them, change them, and play with them {The playing might not always seem urgent to me but often is for them!}. The important non urgent tasks include things like self care/exercise, relationships, planning and preparing, work {although of course this is also sometimes in the urgent category}.

I journalled a little about this and don`t feel the need to write down my thoughts on this here but ultimately I think while I spend a lot of time online and watching TV that most of my time is spent on my family, happiness, our home and this reflects my original values and goals that I wrote for this challenge.

One thing I need to get into a habit of doing is writing my to do list for the following day the night before- I often do this but a lot of time I forget if I think I have nothing planned. The days I have nothing planned though would be the perfect days to tackle some of the things off our master to do list.

There are a couple of priorities that have been put on the back burner the last month or two and I need to start putting more focus on these- two of these things are my health {including exercise/diet} and more planned family fun time. I think after Golden Week is over {we have a week of holidays this upcoming week} that we have to schedule some fun family stuff especially now as the weather is warming up because come July we will NOT want to go outside as it will be TOO hot by then.

Week 16: Slow down and focus

I multitask a lot. Sometimes multitasking is okay – like I rarely watch TV without doing something else at the same time whether it is folding washing, unpacking boxes {in the last couple of weeks at least!} menu planning, or writing my schedule for the next day. Often though I will be doing something and think “Oh crap, I have to do that” and drop what I am doing and move onto something else and then end up all over the place trying to be 2-3 places at once.

This is why lists REALLY work for me. Some people are probably great at keeping on track and remembering all they need to do without writing themselves reminders but I know that I get a lot more done {a lot more done that I actually needed/wanted to do I mean} if I write down what I need to do. Sadly, sticking what I need to do {Yep, more post its!} on my computer is also a great thing because it is often the first place I go when my kids are sleeping or happily entertaining themselves but hey, if it works!

In order to have the energy to concentrate on the things I really need to do though I do need to have down time. My day to day down time is usually spent blogging, checking facebook, watching TV but I definitely need to add a bit more “activity” into my down time whether it be walks alone or some form of exercise. In week eight I wrote a happiness list and about keeping a gratitude journal. Unfortunately I let writing down the things I was grateful for fall down my list of priorities but I would like to bring it back into play- I think it should relate back to the happiness list as well!

Week 17: Decision Making

Deb wrote “Let go of perfectionism in favour or progress” and this definitely stuck with me. I have friends coming to stay tomorrow night and they will be our first overnight guests in our new home. Very very close friends who I know will not care in the least that their are boxes still unpacked or that the floors might not have been vacuumed in a couple of days but it still has me stressed out because the house is not “perfect” yet.

I think that I put off doing my weekly challenges for this challenge because I was also stressing too much that my responses were not going to be perfect or completely thought through because to be honest the last few weeks have been crazy and I simply did not have the time or brain power to think through it all properly. I could not make a “decision” about what to write and how to write it and so this post was in my drafts and at the back of my mind for weeks until all of a sudden I am 4 weeks behind and not much closer to actually FINISHING the post.

It felt wrong to write about organization when I still feel in such a disarray because the house is not unpacked and we still do not have all the new furniture we need or the rooms all done.Not everything has its home yet and this has been causing me some stress but I know that with each box I unpack and for each thing I find a home for that it is bringing me closer to having it all done and I am finally realizing that the progress I am making will eventually get me there in the end.

The last 4-5 days saw me get some things crossed off my to do list that had been on there {in the urgent column!} for a week or more and I started to feel more in control again. A bit like seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

I can`t promise I won`t get behind in this challenge again but hopefully I will be able to stay on track, continue to cross things off the master to do list and get closer to finding the balance I need!

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