Those of you who read my postings (thank you for that!) may have noticed a certain stress in my tone lately. I know I’m feeling it. It’s not that my to do list is unmanageable; it’s that I haven’t even found the time to do a list so the to-dos are ricocheting around my head and (so it seems – I don’t have a list to check this) piling up. Physical space: a mess. Body: needs more rest. Menus: in need of work.
After some basic reflection, I’ve come up with a few little things I can/need to do to curb the mental and physical clutter that’s getting me down and free up more time to do important things like be with my family.
1. Stop shopping. I keep trying to purge our possessions, but if I shop, we may never made headway on this. I’ve been enjoying second hand outings a lot, and have found some great toys for Alya & clothes for myself. I still want some things to have a complete wardrobe; I still would love to have more and better toys for my girl. But shopping takes time, money and adds to the mess. For the next while: cut shopping and use what we have.
2. Make a list before checking it twice. I need to do a mind dump on paper (kind of Getting Things Done-ish) and then process the list to come up with an orderly way to approach my current tasks. As it is, the list is disorganized and has too many non-essential items rather than real to-dos. I look at it at the end of the day and don’t know what to tackle, so I read blogs. With a full list, in order, broken down to single tasks, I can get somewhere.
3. Stop multitasking. If I can. Maybe. We’ll see about this one, but I find baby-time more enjoyable if I”m focused.
4. No more facebook. For real. I’ll try. Though I’m not yet ready to cancel my account.
Here’s hoping that these simple solutions get me feeling closer to a manageable life.
I need to stop shopping, too. Even thrift shopping adds up and my attic is overflowing. It’s a downer.
I made a yearly goal list in my sketch book I check every so often to make sure I’m on track. I have a tendency to jump on other projects and books before finishing the ones that are really important.
And facebook has become a problem for me, too. Obsessive checking is such a waste of time.
I hear you. I LOVE thrift stores, and would love to collect beautiful things for our home, toys for Alya, fun clothes for me. But in general, having less stuff is a healthier feeling than having more. And I do love facebook, find lots of great or funny articles, see what friends are doing. But: the time! I have not enough as it is.Great idea to keep a project list. Mine needs closer attention so it’s actually a useful, usable list.
Good luck to both of us, I say.