Kerry Beck's Blog

Today I have guest author, Janice Campbell, sharing on time management.

by Janice Campbell

I love Monday– it’s my favorite day of the week!

From the pinnacle of Monday morning, there stretches before me a string of four perfect days at home. From now until Friday, I’m able to focus on home and to be with my family, doing the ordinary tasks of home life– setting the house in order, working on home and garden projects, making meals to nourish my loved ones, writing to communicate with others. This is my life, and I love it.

It’s not an accident that I enjoy four unblemished days each week. It began years ago when our children were small and I discovered that life went more smoothly when we organized our time. The most important things in our lives happened at home, so we made it a point to designate only one day of the week for errands. This left four uncluttered days for living, one day of the weekend for fellowship, and one day of the weekend for projects or family pursuits.

Time management makes life so much easier. Instead of a series of days broken and fragmented by disorganized errands, home days have a pleasant rhythm and routine that ensures that there’s a time for everything. Errand day begins with a list, and items are checked off one by one.

There was great wisdom in our grandmother’s weekly routine. It often looked something like this:

• Monday- Laundry
• Tuesday- Ironing
• Wednesday- Baking
• Thursday- Errands
• Friday- Yard Work

My own grandmother was amazingly organized in her homemaking tasks. Our home was always sparkling clean, but what I remember most was that every day after lunch she had time for a little nap, some handwork, a bit of reading, and time outside. Her time had been so well organized that she was never rushed or untidy.

If you’re struggling with days that feel fragmented, try setting aside only one day a week for errands. Then create weekly routines that will help you feel more organized and less stressed. We used to do school in the morning, and home tasks in the afternoon, and family time in the evening, and that is a simple routine that still works.

I’ll revisit this topic again, as I think it’s critical if you want to make time for things that matter. But now, it’s almost 2:00 p.m., and time for my daily visit with my grandmother. If you’d like to read more about planning and organizing, be sure to look at the reviews of organizational books in previous posts.

Monday is beautiful!