Wednesday, March 9

Plan Ahead Series - Part 1


I often get asked how I manage to get so much done. In reality, I don't. I really think that part of the reason it seems like I do so much, is because the things I do are not really mainstream. Making most of our food from scratch, for example. Or having the time to finish a lot of knitting projects, or sewing or crafting. I do have two children, with one more on the way, and yes, I do work outside of the house too, although part-time - about 20 hours a week. So, with that said, I thought it might be fun to give you a little glimpse into my "system", if you can call it that. It really just boils down planning ahead and making lists -which not only saves me a ton of time, but money as well....
Part one of this series is about having a catch up day.

My catch up day is Sunday. First thing in the morning, I start a load of laundry, and I don't stop until all of it's done. I've done up to 8 loads in one day - yes 8. This allows me to only have to wash one or two loads during the week. I think the only nice thing about laundry is that you only have to pay attention to it randomly during the day, and a lot of other things can get finished at the same time.

I also bake my brains out on Sunday. Today for example (yes, this is also the day I do most, if not all of my blogging - after the little ones go to bed), I made two loaves of bread, a batch of banana crunch muffins and a large tray of granola bars. I could have baked more had I started earlier, but we had family stuff to do in the morning, so I had to start at 2pm. But now, I have bread for sandwiches and toast for the week, muffins for breakfast and granola bars for lunches and snacks. I still need to make tortillas, but I decided I'd rather blog tonight instead, and save the tortilla making for Hannah's nap tomorrow afternoon instead of the other way around. She's much more likely to want to help and hang out in the kitchen than she is by the computer.

This brings up another good point. I do all this on my own. My husband was at work while I did everything, and the kids were happy as can be helping me out in the kitchen, or jumping in the pile of clean clothes. When they got bored with that, they played with each other, and then on their own. The whole time they were right by me, and we never once turned on the t.v. or plugged in a game system. We still had time to play outside while the bread was rising, and sit down for dinner together.

I also managed to sneak in small cleaning projects, like the windows, a quick microwave and dishwasher wipe down and things like that. It might not seem like much, but every extra little thing I can do during my "catch-up" day, frees up more time for me during the week - when life is a bit more rushed.

And, last, but most importantly, I make all of my lists on Sunday... More on that soon to come...

Have a great day!
-Lisa

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