Me & My Time Management Problem

I think of myself as organized. Other people think of me that way too. My husband says I keep my notebooks, pens and books organized but I can't manage my time at all. He's right.

Througout the day I'll think of 10-15 things I need to do (put laundry away, empty dishwasher, make doctor and dentist appointments for my son, vacuum...). I end up either forgetting half of them or getting carried away with other things and never even getting to them. The main things that suffer are my son and my writing. Writing is the last thing on my non-existent list. And it's one of the things I think about consistently.

I struggle with keeping the house picked up and clean. We just went from a four room townhouse to a ten room, three bathroom house. What used to take me one hour to clean now takes me a few days. It's much harder for me when I'm working, which is sporadically.

My four year old is constantly asking me to play with him and I feel like I am always telling him, "In a minute." That minute usually never ends and we don't end up playing until much later. I'll sit down to answer a work email and end up updating my iPhone with podcasts, time-sucking Facebook, homeschooling sites, etc.

I'll run upstairs to grab books to read to my son and end up putting away two baskets of laundry. I am constantly putting him and my writing off to do other things. To me the other things are necessary and I feel like if I can just get them out of the way, I'll have more time to play and write. But it just doesn't work out that way.

How do you manage your time? Any tips?

Comments

zz said…
OH MY GOSH TEN BEDROOMS, THREE BATHROOMS - i'm getting head spins just thinking about that! You deserve some kind of medal for staying ALIVE for this long!

maybe check out blogs like uncluttered (I think it's call that?) or zenfamilyhabits (about simplicity...) There're lots of blogs like this around.

Good luck!!!
Unknown said…
i tend to write and play first and never get around to the cleaning
I get ya'. I started off yesterday announcing it was "Reading Day" - (oh yeah, plus laundry catch up, dishes catch up, meeting,dinner) I think I read almost a chapter and the kids nothing. We need a loud bell like school that gets us going to the next thing on time.BRRRRING! Recess - time to play!
Carolyn V. said…
I have a friend who just got a contract, she said her house is messy when she is doing her first draft. I was so glad to hear that!!! It really made my day. I'm glad I'm not the only one. =)
JGG said…
The first thing you do is quit beating yourself up over it. As they say "It is what it is". And I can tell you from experience - as you get older, and the kids are grown and self sufficient - it doesn't change or get better.
That stuff never goes away. Just choose the good stuff - and if you can get around to the bad stuff - lucky you!
Pat Tillett said…
call me lazy
call me whatever
I pay somebody to come in and straighten and clean
Anne Spollen said…
Lol, yes, I know what you mean - we just moved to a much larger space and I spend half my time looking for stuff which doesn't make any sense. I am ALWAYS cleaning b/c it's boring, and I stop and do more interesting things - like work on a story or stalk one of my teens.

It's just creativity that's causing all this. Works for me.

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