Getting My Life in Order
My son is 1 year and 3 weeks old, and I’m just now feeling like I’m getting back in the swing of ‘normal’ life.
I’ve never been a great housekeeper. We bought this house when I was about 7 weeks pregnant with Jude. I had horrible all-day sickness, napped all the time, and went to bed earlier than most elementary school children do. I was pretty much useless. Josh packed up all our stuff at my Pop’s house, moved it all to the new place, and unpacked it all in record time. I, on the other hand, slept the days away and alternated bitching about how tired/sick I was with eating everything that came into my field of vision. I milked that whole “being pregnant” thing for my entire pregnancy, and after I had Jude, I milked the whole “I have a new baby thing” for as long as I could (read: I’m still milking it whenever possible). I never got into the swing of keeping an entire house clean/organized. I certainly never got the hand of mulit-tasking housework/child rearing/working/other stuff I need to do but don’t.
Over the past week or so, I feel like I’ve finally gotten into a bit of a groove.
Darren over at ProBlogger recently wrote a post about batch processing. I really, really enjoyed his post-partially because I love reading about organizational-type things, and partially because HEY! THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN DOING! Darren talked about batch processing as it relates specifically to blogging/networking, but that approach to time management can be implemented with great success in many aspects of life.
At home I batch process. I know that on alternating days I’m going to vacuum and sweep the floors. I only need to set aside about 20 minutes a day for these tasks, and then I’m finished with a big chunk of my housekeeping. I know that setting aside 10 minutes after each meal gives me enough time to load the dishwasher, wash whatever needs to be washed by hand, and clean any stray food off my son’s hands/face/legs/hair. 30 minutes a week gives me enough time to balance our checkbook. Another 45 minutes a week is enough time for me to take inventory of our cupboards/pantry/freezer items and make a menu and grocery list for the week. Instead of searching around to try and find time to vacuum one cat-fur-covered room or go through the crisper, I know that every other morning, the time is blocked off to vacuum the entire upstairs, and likewise, on Tuesday mornings I know I have the time set aside to get meals ready for the week.
The same type of thing happens as work. The first hour or so of my shift I dedicate to posting any insurance checks that have come in the mail that day. I set aside 10 minutes or so every hour to make sure the money is in proof. Concentrating on each ‘batch’ of similar tasks helps me to be more efficient, and that makes me, and the good doctor, happy.
…Kind of a technical post. The short of it is that I’ve finally been able to make headway in my life. I’ve stumbled upon a system that encourages me to get stuff done, and I feel more normal. More importantly, I feel less useless. I finally feel like I’m getting a better handle on this staying at home thing…
Did I mention that I’m picking up three extra shifts at work starting on Monday?