The latest in my time management saga

In my efforts to learn how to be a good manager of my time and our home, I've tried many things and failed many times. Are some people just born with this gift? Well, I was not. I'm just too good at ricocheting between hardcore effort and having-fallen-off-the-wagon-melancholy. It's a perfectionist thing.

BUT ALAS! There are a few glimmers of hope on the horizon for one such as I! First off, I have somehow managed to begin early-izing my bedtime and wake-up time. For me, this is quite a feat: to give you an idea...for a while I was having trouble falling asleep any earlier than 3:00 am. I'll leave it to your imagination what that did to my mornings. I'm now regularly retiring around 12:30-1:00 am, with the ultimate goal being to have lights off by midnight. This is surely an act of God.

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Secondly, I have recently instituted--and successfully executed for a period exceeding two weeks--my "Housework Hour": This concept is basic enough to you expert time managers, but actually PRACTICING it is a revelatory experience for me. I bought a timer (my old one had broken some time ago). Every morning, after taking my shower and getting dressed for the day, I turn on some music or a radio program, set my timer for an hour, and try to see how much housework I can get done in that amount of time. Here's what I've discovered:

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1. This timer method works much better for me than mapping out an hourly schedule (i.e., "9:00-10:00 : Housework"), because I can start it at 8:47 or 9:32 or whenever I'm ready to. This is a huge psychological boon to a perfectionist: All's not lost if I get started "late". I'm in control of my schedule, and it SHALL bow to me when I need it to be flexible:o)

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2. Same deal, if I get interrupted by a phone call or something. I just pause the timer and come back to it when I'm ready. If I was on a "9:00-10:00 : Housework" type schedule, interruptions throwing me off track might possibly discourage my productive intentions for the entire rest of the day. Moms...the ability to "pause time" and still come back to finish your hour (or however long) of housework is of especial benefit to you!

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3. Limiting myself to an hour forces me to prioritize. My most important housekeeping priorities in the morning are making the bed, making sure the kitchen is spotlessly clean (I hate going in there to make something and finding it messy!), and picking up clutter around the house. My Housework Hour is usually enough to do these and one or two other things, such as sweeping the floors, or starting some laundry. Today, I spent 30 minutes of my hour clearing clutter out of the garage! (Since I have to go out there regularly to do laundry--yes, our washer and dryer are in the garage--the dirt and clutter out there had been bugging me for a while! It's amazing what difference a few concentrated minutes can make!)

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My Housework Hour mostly takes care of that daily-maintenance stuff that makes our home livable. I usually spend more time on cooking, cleaning and other various household projects later in the day. But even if I'm gone or extra-busy on something else that day, at least I got the most important stuff done!