Now that I’m back in school, opening a special education class in a week, and continuing to help my husband on a few projects, I really need to budget and manage my time wisely. Just like setting up a financial budget, budgeting time is one item I consider extremely important. No longer can I surf the web for random stories, browse sites I like to call my “junk” sites, basically celebrity gossip sites I quickly glance at, or search for my next new hair color. My time between now and mid-December needs to be managed down to the minute, or I will end up having panic attacks and procrastinating on items that have due dates.
One thing that has worked for me in the past is staying on top of my email. For example, most of the projects my husband throws my way are smaller projects I can handle on my own; a postcard design, client website updates, a revised brochure, etc. To keep in contact with these clients on the progress of their project, I check my email daily and make sure I respond to their questions and comments within the same day. For the most part, I keep this up by checking my email as soon as I get home at 3:00pm. Most projects only take an hour or so, and I can squeeze in some time before dinner. The clients I work with directly are satisfied with the due date of their project as long as I am fairly accurate on when they can expect to see something completed.
After working on a website revision or postcard design, I budget 2 hours for reading school assignments. Since I’m only attending school part-time and taking 2 courses, I’m not overloaded with a full-time schedule. Luckily I’m a proficient and fast reader, most likely because I was encouraged to read a lot as a child (but this is a whole other topic), and can keep up with the reading requirements for this semester. Reports and summaries can be included in this 2-hour block if I take notes while reading, a terrific activity to remembering what I’ve read. Note-taking is also helpful if a test is coming up.
On the weekends, I can spend a few hours each day catching up on my reading, reporting and summarizing. Only recently have my husband and I been able to take a weekend off, a rare advantage to being self-employed. The remainder of the weekend I can use to clean, not very fun I know, but this post isn’t about having fun really. My husband and I turbo clean the house, he vacuums while I clean the bathrooms. We jointly clean the kitchen and can have the house cleaned with in an hour or so. Laundry is something I can do all week, throwing in a load here and there between phone calls and reading. If I manage to complete all of my tasks and reading, I might even have a few hours in the evening to sit on the patio, drink a beer, and cook out – now that’s my idea of fun!
I guess the best way to finish all of my work, now that I have a many obligations, is not waste any time. I’m a person who doesn’t procrastinate, unless I begin to panic, and I outline a lot of my ideas, articles, summaries, etc. before I begin writing. Most of the work is finished by the time I complete an outline and my thoughts are somewhat organized. So in summary, and to show off my outlining-time managing skills:
- 6:30 am: wake up, get ready for class (the special ed class I’m opening – this has a daily schedule all on its own written in a plan book)
- come home, check email, respond to clients
- finish client projects (1-2 hours)
- read assigned books and summarize (1-2 hours)
- spend half an hour to an hour making sure I’ve written a post for my blog and commented on blogs I like to read
- have dinner, a beer, and watch a movie (do sit ups while watching a movie to squeeze in exercise and negate that beer)
- go to bed by 10pm
- start all over again the next day (if I’m feeling enthusiastic, wake up 45 minutes earlier and ride my bike to school)
I need a nap now. I got tired just outlining what my day will be like in a week.
