"Manage It" - Time Savers vs. Time Wasters

Ready to "Manage It" and make the most of your mom time ? Read Paula Constable's 4 steps to manage your time each day. Today we also have more Time Waster Vs. Time Saver tips along with a YUMMY party favor, great Mom tips and another GIFT (giveaway) today. Ready to "Manage It"?

4 Important Steps to Make the Most of Your Time by Paula Constable of Stuff 2b Organized, LLC

"I just don't have the time to do the things I want to be doing."



"If I just had more time....."
 
"Once I get caught up, I'll have more time."

Sound familiar? These are the types of statements I hear quite often from clients, friends, other moms and business owners. Many people struggle with how to go about making sure the important stuff gets done and gets the attention they desire it to have. Here are some tips for you to help you make the most of your time.

How you spend your time will be determined by your priorities not your availability. Too often we forget to look at what is truly important to us and our families before we add another thing to our already busy calendars. Take the time to reflect on what matters most to you and your family and write them down. Ask, "Do these requests of my/our time fit with my/our priorities?

Try to be proactive instead of reactive. In other words, plan ahead as much as you can. Plan your meals out for the week and then make your shopping list. Take time to plan your next day the night before. Planning also includes grouping like activities and tasks together to make the most of your time. For example, it makes sense to do all your errands on the same day.

Don't overload your calendar. When we over-commit ourselves and our time, the results can be counter-productive. Busyness leads to stress, frustration, and fatigue (mentally, physically and emotionally!). Be sure to include down time on your calendar. I mean physically write it down like you are setting an appointment with yourself. If a request of your time comes up during that "free" time, simply say, "I'm sorry, that's not going to work for me."

Look at time as a gift. We know that we can't make more time or borrow time or buy time, but we can cherish our time. Our time is limited. God willing, we are given 24 hours a day - that's about 730 hours a month, and almost 8766 hours a year. Subtract the time needed for sleep, work, everyday household tasks, commuting, etc and you are now left with a very limited amount of time. How do you really want to make the most of your time?

Your Success to Organization Assignment
1. Write down the activities you want more time for.
2. Set an appointment with yourself to do one of these activities (actually write it on your calendar).
3. Do it!


Time Wasters - Time Savers
By: Trisha Novotny trisha@247moms.com

Today I have Two more Time saving solutions to help you in your mom world.


#1
How many of you this week have been searching for a LOST or Misplaced phone number or message? Read this weeks Tip to help avoid these situations.



Time Waster: You just know you wrote that phone number somewhere, but you just can’t seem to find it… Did you write it on a napkin, scrap of paper, front of the phone book...???

Oh where, oh where did you write it down? Now your only hope is that they will call back again SOON or you can still trace it back on your caller ID.





Time Saver: Purchase a spiral notebook to use as your phone journal. Write down the messages and cross them off as you return the calls. This gives you a written journal/record so you know where to find your phone messages and an organized system allowing you to quickly see if you have taken care of your calls.




#2

This has been a crazy, wild, overwhelming week full of kids activities, appointments at the Orthodontist, Oral surgeon along with an unplanned appointments to the occupational therapist, not to mention being cheer mom at the boys wrestling match, volunteering on the phone banks for our upcmoing school levy vote, along with the typical mom tasks of cooking, laundry, grocery shopping Does this list every end? So with the hectic schdule and a world of chaos how do I create calm mornings?

Time Waster: Do your mornings consist of craziness, running around like a chicken with your head cut off, scrambling to beat the clock, HOPING just once you will be on time?? Or you wake up and you cannot remember where you need to be today or what needs to get done?


Time Saver: Plan ahead the night before. Think about your mornings - what are you doing each morning that you could have done the night before?

First: Look at your calendar and see where you or your children need to be tomorrow. Look at your to-do list or make one so you know what things you need to accomplish the next day.

Second: Lay out everyone's clothes. Pack backpacks, diaper bags, sport bags and lunches. Put out the cereal bowls. Find the library books. Fill out the school field trip forms. Place everything (jackets, shoes, bags) that needs to leave with you or your children in the morning by the front door.

It is amazing how much less chaotic your morning and day will be with simple planning and preparation the night before.


Do you have a Time Saver Tip to share with the 24/7 MOMS?
email me at trisha@247moms.com or leave a comment sharing your tip

FREEbie Party Favor

Today's FREEbie Party Favor is perfect to use for your dinner on one of those Crazy, Busy days.

Sign-up to receive Papa-John's email offers and you will receive a FREE medium cheese pizza with your next online pizza purchase.

Once your registration is complete, we'll send you an email containing a promotion code for a FREE medium cheese pizza with any online pizza purchase.


Real MOM Tips
By: Susan Fox

Morning Cleaning Routine. The idea here is not to get caught up doing a major cleaning of any one room, but to just make your house presentable should someone come over. Really more important is just getting things tidy enough that you can tolerate it. So make your priority list and quickly get a handle on a few major things. Then you will feel like you can go on with your day and your house is not a disaster. Then if you have more time and energy you can go back and do other things.

My morning cleaning routine goes like this:* Important note, I usually don’t attempt all this ‘till all the kids have headed off to school. But you will have to adjust this to what works for you in your life.

1. Clean up kitchen and breakfast dishes. I try to have a head start the night before by always cleaning up after dinner and hopefully running and emptying the dishwasher, so that I’m ready to go in the morning and no one has an excuse for not putting their own dishes in the dishwasher.

2. Quickly straighten up front room or whatever room is most visible to unannounced visitors, just in case. You never know and if you’re like me you hate to be embarrassed. Also easily done the night before since kids may not be in that room in the morning.

3. Make each bed, but don’t get trapped trying to clean an entire room.

4. Do a quick pick up and wipe down of the bathrooms that get used in the morning. Each of my teen girls has a plastic carrying bin that holds their necessities and this fits under the bathroom sink. So even if they don’t pick up after themselves I can quickly scoop it all into their bin and stow it away

5. Go back to each room and pick up dirty laundry.

Now sit back and relax with a cup of ‘hot something’ and ponder the rest of your day!
Time to open another GIFT ( giveaway)

ListPlanIt.com has over 350 printable lists and planning pages to organize your life, family, home, finances, and business.

Find Grocery Lists and Menu Planning in Meal Planning,

Holiday and Party Planning in Holidays & Special Occasions,Find Calendars and To Do Lists in Time Management
Back to School Planner and Homework Schedules in Student
Everything you need in one convenient location!
Browse each category in the List of Lists
to discover all that ListPlanIt.com has to offer!

Or decide which of our 16 ePlanners is right for you!!

ListPlanIt is offering all 24/7 MOMS to get a full year of access to all that ListPlanIt.com has offer for just $19.95! use promo code "athirdoff"

ListPlanIt and 24/7 MOMS are giving away TWO quarterly memberships. To enter for your chance to win, enter your name and email address in the box below you will be signed up for today's giveaway as well as be added to the 24/7 MOMS E-list(if you are not already a 24/7 MOMS subscriber). Drawing to be held on February 1, 2009







See you TOMORROW for more of the "Organize It" Party