Time Management-Five Ways To Make More Time In Your Day

Time.

Most of us feel like we don't have enough of it, and wish there were ways to make more time in our days.

Great news!  You can!

With a little upfront effort and determination, you can not only have more time, but you can eliminate stress and save money as well!  Time management is not impossible, and does not have to be a thing of the past!

Here are five ways:

1. Be honest with yourself and do a truthful evaluation.  How much time do you waste on the internet?  There are so many social networks and sites that beg for our attention, it can become a real trap.  My main problem was Facebook.  Notice I said was.  Getting my son off to school, it became very easy to sit with my cup of coffee, and catch up on what everyone was up to before "starting my day".  The hard part was getting away once I started commenting on everyone's posts.  Have you been there?  Fortunately, I began to wean from it for various reasons, which you can read about here.  I gained back a lot of time because of this one area!  I am now controlling what was once controlling me!
2. Get enough sleep each night, and go to bed at a decent hour. Another trap for sucking away time!  How?  Some of us are night owls, being forced to live in an early bird world!  I'm almost 43 years old, and even when I'm dragging at 9:00 p.m., I still fight going to bed at 11 or 12!  But getting to bed by 11 or midnight will help your tomorrows run better.  Not enough sleep equals less energy and less mental focus, which causes your daily tasks to take longer, if they get done at all.     
3. Take care of the little things while they are little.  Load the dishwasher right after dinner (or wash by hand, if you don't have a dishwasher), put away each load of laundry, put books back where you got them from.  Sort through the mail regularly to throw out junk mail.  Do laundry everyday/every other day.  Freshly dirtied dishes take less time than dishes that we have to leave soak because of letting food harden on them for an extra day.  Put-away laundry saves piles from being knocked over, or baskets that are clean from having other family members mistake the basket for dirty clothes, which then results in a basket that you forget what is clean in it.  You save money when you aren't rewashing what has already been washed.  And what about the kiddos rummaging through for their favorite shirts?  You also end up with clothes that probably need thrown back in the dryer for a fresh folding, so that nobody looks like a wrinkled mess.  Ever been there?  Can you say "aggravating"?  A book here, and a small pile of junk mail over there will build up to a messy house very quickly.  And once it does, our brains hit overwhelmed mode, which makes the task seem too big, which saps our energy, and takes us longer to clean it up.  It makes us want to take a Facebook break!  Can I get an AMEN?
4. Ironing more than one item per session.  If you are like me, you have ironing that needs done on a regular basis.  I iron my husband's and son's church clothes regularly, along with my own wrinkled things.  Doing a week's worth of ironing at one time saves you time in having to get out the ironing board, heating up the iron, and putting the board away when finished, every single time you need an item ironed!  It may not seem like much, but if you've never tried it, trust me!  Once you go to the closet and are able to just grab your ironed item and go, you'll see how nice it is!  If you run late regularly, this will save you a few minutes (especially if you have more to iron than just your own things!), and it will also reduce your stress level!  I hate feeling rushed, don't you?
5. Freezer cooking.  This is a biggie!  If you aren't a super organized person (which may be why you are reading this list!), it may take two or three days of a messy kitchen with tin foil pans and canned foods all over the counter tops, but this one is totally worth it!  Buying everything at once saves additional trips to the store, which for me, always, ALWAYS results in my spending more on things I didn't even go to the store for!  (Who is with me on this one?)  It also lets you make the kitchen a total mess of dirty pots, pans, measuring cups and extra trash for a few days, as opposed to a daily thing!  Once all meals are prepared and waiting in the freezer, all you have to do is remember to thaw them, and pop them in the oven in time for dinner!  Sure, you will still have plates and cups to wash, but it will take much less time because of no pots and pans, etc. that need washed as well.  Extra free time after dinner! Yay!  Note: Freezer cooking seems like a daunting task if you've never done it.  Start small-make a huge pot of spaghetti sauce, some chili, and one or two soups, and then divide each batch into family sized servings and freeze.  Once you've accomplished that, search the internet for blogs and websites that give freezer cooking recipes.  Or, you can find books on Amazon. Check out The Freezer Cooking Manual from 30 Day Gourmet: A Month of Meals Made Easy ! Find a few you like and add them to your stash.  You will be glad you did this!  (Not to mention less drive-thru visits at McDonald's!)

I know that doing these few things will make a world of difference in your own time management, as it is mine!  Although I haven't reached perfection myself, I'm getting better and better, and focusing on things that are really important to  me-my goals for the coming year!

What about you?  Have you done any of these in your own life?  And were the results worth it?

Make An Adorable Little Chocolate Hearts Bouquet!

Make An Adorable Little Chocolate Hearts Bouquet!

For this cute and simple little hearts chocolate bouquet, you will need the above items:

* One piece of tissue paper
* Hershey's heart shaped chocolate candies
* Hot glue gun and glue
* About three green silk leaves (smaller rather than larger, to be in proportion with the heart "flowers"
* Your choice of ribbon (I chose think ribbon)-about 1' of it
* Small glass votive holder (Walmart)
* Skinny sticks craft sticks (Walmart)
* A block of floral foam (the harder kind-not the softer kind that absorbs water-only $1 at the Dollar Tree, with enough to make several of these, if you like.)

 Directions:

1. Cut a small piece of the floral foam to fit in the votive holder (I carefully used a knife). 

2.  Fold your tissue paper in quarters, and cut 4 squares approximately 5" x 5".  Stagger the four pieces of tissue paper.

3.  Put staggered paper over votive holder, then put green foam over top of it, and push tightly into the holder.

4.  You can pull the tissue upwards a little bit-it will look like this:

5.  Take two of your green leaves, and cut them at the base of the leaf (no stem).

About half way down the stick, put a dab of glue, and add two leaves to the front of the stick.  Then break off about an inch of the stick at the bottom.

At the top, add a dab of hot glue to the stick, and attach a chocolate heart.  Let the glue dry for a few seconds, and then do the other side, so that the hearts are glued to the stem, back to back. 

Push the stick down into the middle of the foam until it touched the bottom.

This is how it will look:

Now make a little ribbon bow around a pencil, pull it off, and pull the bow tight (to make the pencil hole loop smaller).  

Glue  below your chocolate heart.  Ta Da!!!  A simple little bouquet!

Want a little more?  Make a couple more sticks with hearts on them, and then add them at a slant, behind the main heart.

And then, of course, is the bouquet with a couple more candy sticks:

You can add an extra leaf to the back of the arrangement as well.  

If you use the fuller bouquet, you may want to add a few coins or stones inside at the base to even out the weight a little bit, as this is top heavy.  

This stands just a fuzz over 6 1/2" tall.  Perfect for a Valentine's party (make several as table decorations!), or to set on your desk, or for another small area that could use a cute, cheery touch!

Not Reaching Your Goals-A Reason, Or An Excuse?

January 1st-the time of year when all of us are motivated and pumped up about reaching our goals!

January 14th-where the excitement starts to dwindle, and we lose steam.

February-where we start giving up on those well intended goals and ideas.

March-Goals?  What goals?

Why does this happen?

More oft than not, we have a reason.

Or do we?

Were you wanting to save money?  Lose weight?  Blog more?

If someone asked you how it's going, you might say something like:

"I wanted to save money, but times are tough, and I just couldn't spare the extra $10 a week to put in savings."

"I wanted to lose 5 pounds this month, but I haven't had time to go to the gym."

"I wanted to write three blog posts a week, but I just haven't had time."

The list could go on and on.

We've all heard, "Where there's a will, there's a way."  This applies to reaching our goals as well.  So, how does this apply to you, when you aren't reaching your goals?  Because...

Most of our reasons are not reasons at all.  They are excuses.

The truth of the matter is, goals are hard work!  They take discipline.  We have to change some of our habits, some of our thought patterns, and do some sacrificing!  It looks great on paper, but is a whole new ball game when it comes down to actually doing it!

I like the quote by G.K. Nielson:

Successful people are not gifted; they just work hard, then succeed on purpose.

If you truly want to succeed with your goals, you will find ways to start reaching.

If you don't care so much about the reason, at least be honest with yourself, instead of using an excuse why you can't.  When you finally decide that your goals are something you really want to reach, you will not begin with defeat because you will realize there are few reasons, but many excuses.  And excuses can be overcome.

Are you ready to be an overcomer?  

What Are You Doing In 2013?

Happy New Year!!!

What are you doing in 2013?  Are you like me-making a goal list and seeing what you can accomplish?  I do it pretty much every year.  I can't say I always do great, but I like making the list anyway.  =)

This year I am going to try harder to reach my goals!  I have some big ones, and I've already gotten started on one or two of them, so I didn't wait until January 1st to try to get started.

Just a few are:
1.  To buy a new house in our new town.  We own a house that we need to sell first, and then, it's house shopping for us!  I've found a few I want to look at, so we'll see what happens!  Here are a few pictures from one of the ones I really want to see:

 Nice, open space!

 Lots of elbow room!

 Master bedroom!

Master bath!  Wow!

2.  Hit my goal weight.  I'm not going to say exactly what that is, and I'm good with it fluctuating a few pounds, but I will say that I have about 20 pounds to go.  I've already lost a little over 30.  Go me!  And to keep moving in the right direction, the family joined a gym, and I can proudly say that I've had several one-hour workouts already!  Over the holidays, we've neglected the gym, but with such a strong start, I'm confident we'll be back on track real soon!

3.  See if I can't get this blogging thing down pat!  I took a looooong break from blogging, but really, I enjoy it, have already put a few years into my blog, and don't want to quite give up yet.  I want to focus more this year!  Less surfing, more purpose online!

Changing my theme from mostly light-hearted stories, into a blog that covers more areas of family life, and a little bit of pastoring life, and some of this and that.  So we will see!  I have 38 followers thru Google right now-I'd love to make a short goal of climbing to 100!  Care to help me out?  =)

What about you?  What are one or two of your biggest goals for 2013?  Leave me a comment and let me know!  Then stop back on January 3rd and join my Motivational Blog Hop, or read the entries!