I am notorious for my to-do lists. Just ask my husband. I have paper lists, I have an app for lists. I have lists everywhere! Except my lists keep getting longer, and my time keeps getting shorter. I have found what works best for me is to just slog through "the List." I stay focused, I stay on task, and I actually accomplish more than I had hoped. Staying focused is not my strong suit.
Around Christmas time and into the new year, instead of hitting my to-do list regularly, I ignored it, almost entirely and enjoyed the time my husband was home on vacation. We played with the kids, we visited with friends, and we relaxed. I am now paying for it, in the sense that I am out of practice of sticking with my tasks for the day. In the last week, I hit it with renewed vigor and I am once again getting tasks accomplished.
I have found that having kids makes me more organized. Nothing brings on heart palpitations like trying to find your keys, loading up the car with snacks, etc that you forgot to prepare for the next outing, and being sidelined by 3 kids who all had to poop at the same time. Yeah, the last part happened to me once. It took us forever to get out of the house, which made us 15 minutes late for a class.
I now find myself creating my daily to-do list the night before. I have my gym bag packed for the next day along with snacks for the little kids while they are in childcare. I have in my head what needs to be done and where I need to go for my errands. I create my route for the day in order to be most efficient in getting out of the house, hit as many errands as possible in order to get the kids home before they collapse into a hot mess before lunch/nap time. I am even going so far as to prep dinner during nap time so that at 5pm all I have to do is pop it into the oven instead of trying to prep while the baby falls apart because he is done for the day.
I am also fed up with the way my house looks and I am spending 30 minutes a day just trying to maintain the front hall, the family room, and the kitchen. Forget about everything else. I'll just have to tackle them on my cleaning days. But at least when Hubby or an unexpected guest walks in the door I no longer feel as embarrassed by the craziness of coats, boots, toys, and whatnot that they would have had to slog through in order to walk in.
I am not the most organized and of all the talents my mom possesses, I wish I had inherited her gene for getting things clean, organized, and done! My mom is a whirlwind and can make a house look sparkling in what appears to be minutes, while I find it very laborious and overwhelming and can take hours. Well, maybe someday I'll master her talent.
How do you keep on top of the housework? How do you stay motivated to accomplish your tasks? For me, this will always be my quest ;)
US author, diplomat, inventor, physicist, politician, & printer (1706 - 1790)
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