Tiny Improvements

*This is one part in a series of posts about what I’m doing to improve our lives this year. Not New Year’s Resolutions, just a few Tiny Improvements!


2) Get Realistic


Oh, the schedule. The bane of my existence. We are learning, slowly and surely to stick to a schedule. The older and busier I get, the more I realize that I NEED a schedule in black and white in order to get through my week.

In my “Command Center”, I have each week of the month printed out. On Sunday, I sit down with our calendar and map out the week: 

• our meal plan
•  house cleaning
• exercise
• blogging
• any social things we need to know about

This helps me see if we’re overscheduled, too, so I can add in some “us” time if we need it.

I’ve also devised a morning to-do list. This is a chronological checklist that helps me budget my time before and after work. I’ve distilled it down to the “must-do” (in my mind, of course) things that I want to get done:

• Brew a pot of coffee, pack lunches
• Eat breakfast and do my quiet time
• Make the bed
• Get dressed, pack work bag
• Throw in a load of laundry, if necessary
• Wash breakfast dishes
• Sweep kitchen floor, straighten up
• Take vitamins, drink water (8+ glasses)
• Feed cats, refill cat’s water

This makes it much easier to figure out what to do when I wake up at 6:30am and am a little groggy!