“I need more hours in my day!” I’ve been known to say that on many occasions. Between my children, who believe I should be available at their beck and call, my elderly father, who finds something he NEEDS RIGHT NOW that I must get for him every day, and my other responsibilities, I can be stretched thin. Sadly, my being stretched thin never results in weight loss, just stress. I’ve had to develop some time saving strategies to cope with the demands on my time. Here are my top five tips for saving my sanity and still accomplishing it all (or at least pretending to accomplish it all.)
1. Make Lists
My kids complain I have lists for everything; chores that need to be completed, grocery lists, errands, online chore list, you name it, I have a list. The kids don’t even bother asking me to pick things up for them any longer, they write it down on a piece of paper and ask me to add it to “the list.”
2. Say “No.”
I’m a people pleaser so I’ve had an especially hard time with this one. Bring two dozen cupcakes to a bake sale at the last minute? Sure. Be in charge of the volunteer group for whatever? Sure. In a short time I was over committed and overwhelmed. Once I learned to say “No,” I felt so much better. The same goes for my website. Sometimes I am asked to review a product, which could be the most terrific product on earth, that’s not a good fit for my site. I’ve learned to say, “No, thank you, but I’d love to work with you in the future.”
3. Limit Time on Favorite Sites
When I pin a picture onto Pinterest, I usually find myself caught up in the latest recipes and crafts. Pretty soon the time I had allotted to spend working on my website is gone and I haven’t accomplished anything, except for finding a bunch of recipes I plan to try with my family in the future. I’ve started limiting myself to fifteen minutes to check out pins. Set a timer if needed and stop whenever it dings.
4. Make a Blogging Calendar
This is one tip I wish someone had shared with me when I first started blogging. A blogging calendar can show when a post is due, allow me to plan posts I’d like to write and helps me quickly give PR reps a date I can post their content. It also allows me to see what I need to do because sometimes I forget. “Oh, yeah! I need to do that post!
5. Enlist Help from the Kids.
I know it sometimes seems like more work to have them help in the kitchen or do chores incorrectly, but it teaches them skills that will help them when they’re on their own. Since my oldest is able to drive, I often send her on errands for me. For anyone worried about entrusting a debit or credit card to their teen—in my case, because it gets misplaced, use a Visa Prepaid card. Because it is preloaded, it only has a certain amount of money on the card. It also helps with budgeting; when the preloaded money is gone, the card can’t be used until it’s reloaded.
What tips do you have to help you maintain balance in your life?
I am blogging on behalf of Visa Prepaid and received compensation for my time from Visa for sharing my views in this post, but the views expressed here are solely mine, not Visa’s.
Pingback: 5 Simple Steps To Saving Money
I have strict rules for mu blogging. I go on first thing in the morning and check mail then close the computer until nap time where I get 10 minutes to check mail and then close until after the kids go to bed. I use an excel spreadsheet to schedule everything, the planner never worked for me. These are great tips. It is hard to juggle everything when you are working from home.
Saying No was something that I had to learn because I am a bit of a people pleaser too. However, after a while I knew that I just couldn’t please everybody.
These are fantastic tips. I always have lists and limit time in sites. but I wish I could get others to help me out. I spend I use so much time on blogging chores because I’m constantly being interrupted by the kids, the husband , etc. because they think mom’s just playing on the computer and haven’t figured out if they would just give me a short 30 minutes uninterrupted I’d be done and off the computer for the rest of the day. Instead they constantly interrupt and a 30 minute project ends up taking a few hours. Frustrating.
Great tips, I agree saying no is very important!
The last two tips are ones I am working on in the immediate now. Making a blogging calendar that I stick to and using prepaid Visa debit cards and a money management system. Both of these are time management tips that make a huge amount of difference in my life. The other is meeting with my kids on one day a week to go through our week and plan ahead. This is a great post!
Elizabeth Rising Early, 31 Days
Hehehe, this is so me!!! I totally can’t seem to find enough hours in the day. I’m awesome at making lists, but horrible at following through.
Good idea to enlist help from my kids! That sounds nice to have them help instead of adding so much to my to-do list! hehe.
Sometimes I think my kids secretly plot ways to add to my to do list. 🙂
I was going along nicely with being time-efficient until I got sucked back into Pinterest. Now I try to pin 5, do something on my to do list LOL
Oh boy, do I need work on this topic!!! Hours on the computer and not much work actually gets done! These are some great tips. I need to work on saying “no” a lot more.
Jennifer, I am the same way! I spend a couple of hours on the computer and think, “Wait! What did I get done?” I think I could just be a slow worker. lol
My wife has trouble with time management and she sent me a link to this page to see if I thought that these tips would help for her. Absolutely – this is a great list of suggestions!
I definitely need some time management tips!!
LOVE your tips; I always wish I could get a 48 hr day, some of the things you mentioned like including the kids is something I soo need to start doing. Thanks for the reminder and for sharing.
I’m forever looking for those extra hours. Thanks for the great tips! I need to learn to say “no” even more, that one is so crucial to avoiding over-load.
Can never have too many Time Management tips!!! Thank you.!.
My son is not old enough for me to enlist his help effectively on many things, but I definitely am able to improve my life by saying NO more!
Saying no is huge for me, mainly because im awful at it. But on the rare echances when I do, i feel so much better.
Oh, and I also like your tip to limit time on favorite sites. I’m so addicted to certain sites!
It really does work. I could spend hours on Pinterest but I have to do other stuff too. 🙂
I’m trying to get better about saying no. I want to be nice, but I just can’t do so much, especially when the weather is nice and I can spend time with my baby!
I would die if I didn’t write my blogging to-do’s down! I’m all about paper and pencil. However, no matter what I do, I stink at time management. lol
Saying no is so important. I use this tip all the time in my private practice and weight management. It is so hard to do but a MUST. Great post.
Great tips! I am also the queen of lists. I just find it so much easier to write things down and then check them off as I go. If I write it down I don’t feel so overwhelmed trying to remember everything. I do need to work on my online time management. I could spend an entire day on Pinterest. There are so many interesting things to see. I like the idea of setting the timer. That would force me to get off. Thanks for the tips!
The timer really works with me. I could spend an entire day on Pinterest too!