Managing my time - lists and routines

Thank you for so many beautiful comments yesterday. I truly appreciate you taking the time to connect with me both by coming here to read and then, the icing on the cake, your comments. I must have the best readers in the blogging queendom.

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As I said yesterday, I had to think a lot about whether I could continue blogging. When I looked at what I have to, and want to do, I realised there was nothing in the mix that I was willing to give up. I wanted to continue living simply with no convenience foods or short cuts, I wanted to keep blogging and writing in various forms, I've been asked to continue my library talks this year, I have two beautiful grandsons I want to have a good relationship with, I have a family that I need and who need me, I want to continue gardening, baking and green cleaning. I love it all, I'm enriched doing these things on a daily basis. If I want to continue ambling along my simple path while doing all this writing, I have to work to a routine. I have to manage my time.

I write a list of tasks every morning that must be done during the day. Sometimes I allocate a time or a time limit to the task, sometimes it's left to do when I can manage it. But the aim of the exercise is to write most of the day - on the book, blog, forum and articles, and when I have a break, I go straight to the list and see what's there. I don't waste time then wondering what I should be doing. It might sound like enforced labour but writing takes a lot of intellectual planning and doing, and not much physical energy. I need to get up and move every hour or so and my list gives me tasks that get me moving while doing necessary jobs in the home.

So for instance, yesterday's list was this:

• write shopping list
• clean your room
• vacuum
• make a slice
• knitt!!  I must have been serious with those exclamation marks. :- )
• water plants on verandah

Chores such as cooking, feed animals, bread, general cleaning, bed making and a few other things don't go on my list because they're done automatically, often before I start writing, and I don't need a reminder. The list is for tasks that need to be done that day and change all the time. The list is made up in about five minutes each morning and later in the day, when I stop writing, I just go straight to the list. It saves time, it reduces the stress of wondering what needs to be done and I feel like I'm in control of my work, not the other way around. I think that's the key.

I keep my list on my computer or on a post-it note stuck to my computer. Put your list where you can see it. If you're busy in the kitchen, stick it to the fridge door, if you're going to be cleaning or doing the laundry, stick your list on the laundry bench.  If you don't think you'll be busy, or you feel a bit lazy, stick your list on the computer monitor or TV screen. Then when you sit down, you'll see your list and hopefully get up and do some work before you relax.

Today's list is:

• make slice - this wasn't done yesterday so it's been transferred
• talk to Tricia and Jo
• make soup
• repot two pot plants
• make pineapple ice blocks for Jamie
• water pumpkins and bush house

I don't put the list in order because sometimes my priorities change during the day but if I'm running short of time, I leave the least important thing - such as the slice. Another important part of list management is to define quantities or times, when necessary. In the list above I've noted "repot two pot plants". I know I don't have time for a gardening morning but I can manage to report two pots. These need to be done in summer, I can't put it off, so doing a few a week gets through that chore nicely. I could also put a time limit on it if I wanted to instead of a number. "Repotting for 30 minutes" would serve a similar purpose.

The other important part of this is that I take time for myself. It's not all about work. We work to have the lifestyle we have so we need to take time to enjoy each other, our home and the natural environment around us. I almost always have morning tea with Hanno on the front verandah and I usually have a rest after lunch. I have to look after me because I'm not as young as I used to be and I get tired easily. I want to go to bed every night tired because I've done a reasonable amount of work and I don't want to feel tired during the day.

In a few weeks my list might change from potting plants for 30 minutes to sewing for 30 minutes, or making soap. The things that make it on the list are those tasks that need doing that week. It takes a bit of thought and list making to keep my daily list relevant. I feel like I'm doing what I need to do and I'm not feeling stressed. Life's good and I hope that being lead by my list helps keeps it that way. How do you manage your time?

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