I'm stealing back my time

 

Do you feel like you time is never enough? As a mother of two, with a full time job, and a growing gymnastics business that is more like a status quo here. Or at least it has been. Our normal day used to start from around 6:30 in the morning and would end around 8 pm when the kids went to bed. After 8 pm even though I could have "free time" I can't function. I'm just to tired to do anything that requires a brain. In my quest of finding a solution, I did what any modern woman would do - I turned to my beloved Pinterest. If you are not yet familiar with this social media tool - head on over. For a visual person it has been a life saver.

Back to the story. Time management. I posted about it here asking for comments and solutions from other time jugglers, complaining about not having everything together. It seems I'm not alone in this.

My search has now moved to the "testing" the new way stage. I have changed three things: 1) week planner and  2) early mornings 3) financial management.

I figured out that my stress and chaos can be controlled. I am not saying my life will now be a perfect little doll house, but I am hoping there will be less late mornings, less forgotten responsibilities, and less emergencies. This goes very well together with my minimalist life approach. Less of distractions, so I can focus on the things that I love.

Step 1) A week planner:

I have been an avid digital calendar user for years. And I love it. My choice is google calendar, because I can share it with my family, friends and business partners. I can also synchronize it with my phone so I will never forget that dentist appointment again. But online calendar doesn't give room for visualizing the week as a whole. I felt like I needed something that I can lay out all of my weekly responsibilities into it. Have my to do list constantly there and with a quick glance I know if and when I have space in my schedule. Enter my very own week planner: now I can plan easily the days I can work from home, or when I definitely need to go to the office. This should also help if and when the little guys get a flu or something (the basic way of falling into chaos when you are a mother). With one look I will know what I need to move around so I can stay home with them. I'm on my second week testing this method. So far so  good. These two weeks are feeling much more held together. 

2) Early mornings

Second thing I figured out that was creating the sense of chaos was mornings. I was always looking for the charger, while rushing the kids out of the door, checking my hair and probably forgetting something important that I would have to come back for that would make me even more late. And let me tell you, being late is like the end of the world for me. I get physically sick to my stomach immediately when I realize I will be a minute or two late. Can't even imagine what it is doing to my heart.

So I implemented early morning strategy. And I am saying EARLY. 5 am early. Like I said I never got anything done in the evenings anyways after the kids are asleep - I am just too exhausted. So I've decided to implement a sleeping strategy by Steve Pavlina. He has combined two most popular sleeping methods. Only going to bed when tired and always waking up at the same time. Two mornings now I have woken up at 5 am. The first seconds I feel like dying. But boy do I feel like I'm in control. By the time kids wake up at seven I have showered, had breakfast, read, relaxed, had a nice hot shower, listened to Radio Aalto and worked on some items from my to do list. I am dressed, my bags are ready and I can truly focus on the kids. Yesterday was the first morning to implement this and we were ready 15 minutes early. Can you say wow. The peaceful morning was worth the 5 am wake up. And I wasn't much more tired, actually my sleep was better and deeper this second night. 

3) Financial control

The third thing that we have done to curb chaos in our lives is budgeting. This menial task is almost as hated as going to the dentist, but money seemed to be coming and going out without any control. It doesn't help that we have both country's finances to keep track of with lots of mail lost on the way, and some banks refusing to update our address. But last Saturday we sweated through the session of figuring out our budget for Tanzania and Finland. That day food shopping (which by the way covers the whole week excluding fruits that we buy daily) felt fun and it felt like we are making the most of our money. This again has reduced the daily quests for food, and dropped the expenses because we can shop at the wholesale shop to get the best possible quality and price, and won't be enticed by the sale of the day items at the supermarket. We are long way from financial freedom, but control feels good. And frees up a lot of my time worrying and remembering the bills that needed to be paid, but never made it to tz.

Have a nice day! I hope my quest can inspire you to find your balance. I will keep you posted. They say that to learn a habit it has to be maintained for 30 days solid. Let's see if I can make it to the end of August. :)