Tracking Time

This week’s project for Home Management: Simplified & Streamlined was tracking time. Since I was out of town at the beginning of the week, I only tracked my time on Wednesday and Thursday.

Thanks to tracking time, I’ve been more intentional about how I spend my time. I knew I was spending too much time just checking e-mail/Facebook/Twitter and through tracking time I have been more conscious about using my time wisely.

Since I have been avoiding time wasters, these past 2 days have been productive yet fun! I am getting chores done with time to spend playing with the boys, reading and swimming.

Here’s a run down of how I spent my time:

Wednesday

8:25 – Wake, start laundry, get Paxton breakfast

8:45 –  Nurse Weston, check e-mail, Facebook and Feed Reader while nursing.

9:10 – Boys playing, work in kitchen

10:00 – Nurse Weston, read to Paxton

10:20 – Back in the kitchen juicing, making pickles and baby food

11:30 – Nurse Weston

11:45 – Clean up Paxton’s accident {he’s potty training!}

12:15 – Lunch, friend stopped by for a few minutes, laundry, nurse Weston

2:00 – Wash dishes, make pear sauce, laundry

3:00 –  Fold laundry

3:15 – Nurse Weston

3:45 – Put boys down to rest, fold laundry, update finances

4:30 – Finish nursing Weston

4:45 – Laundry, pick up

5:30 – More house tidying

I stopped tracking at 5:30 since I view this as the end of my ‘work’ day. When my husband gets home, the only thing I worry about is dinner, cleaning up after dinner and spending time with him and the kids!

Thursday

8:30 – Wake, feed Paxton, nurse, check e-mail/Facebook/Feed Reader

9:05 – Get more food for Paxton, put away dishes, wash dishes, fill up water pitcher

9:50 –  Get dressed, play with Weston

10:00 – Computer work in boys room while they play

10:45 – Nurse

11:20 – Tidy up master and boys room, laundry

11:45 – Play

12:15 – Lunch and clean up

12:50 – Put on swimming suits, swim, dry off

1:35 – Nurse, read to Paxton

2:00 – Get boys settled for naps

2:15 – Boys down for naps, fold laundry

2:20 – Transcribing work

2:50 – Blog work

4:00 – Weston awake, nurse, reading while nursing

4:50 – Paxton awake, get him changed, play with him

5:05 – Blog work

5:30 – Dinner, clean up

I felt like Thursday was more productive and fun. I think it’s because I only nursed Weston 4 times in 9 hours instead of 6 times like I did Wednesday! This was a good day for all of us, I spent quality time with the boys, was able to do a little work {transcribing}, blogged and kept the house tidy.  

Keeping track of the way you spend your time is the place to start if you want to establish a routine and avoid wasting time. 

Be sure to visit Mary Jo at Covenant Homemaking to read about what she learned this week while tracking her time.

Week 2 Project: Create a Time Budget

When you set a budget, you tell your money where to go. The same concept applies when creating a time budget, you need to tell your time where to go. Spend time this week budgeting your time.

For more information on time budgets, read Create a Time Budget.