My Daily Docket is My Daily Lifesaver

Tsh — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:44:23 +0000

My Daily Docket is a personalized form I made to help me manage my day at home. It’s my most often-used form in my home management notebook, and it really works for me.

There’s a lot of info on the internet about scheduling your day as a stay-at-home mom, and I’ve tried to apply a lot of these different tactics. They never worked for me. They were too rigid — a system would encourage me to write out a specific timetable for my day, and rotate weekly jobs set in stone on different days of the week. By writing this schedule out and hanging it visibly, I’d know what to do next.

It’s a great idea, but my life’s a lot more… unpredictable. When I tried to make Thursdays my Laundry Day, or One-On-One Time With My Daughter at 11 o’clock Monday through Friday, I was trapped.

I was trapped because life happened — one week I’d have an abnormally large amount of laundry, so by trying to do it all in one day, I set myself up for failure because I just couldn’t do it all. Time with my daughter would get pushed back because we really needed to run errands at 11 a.m., or she needed an earlier nap and 11 just wouldn’t do.

I wanted to throw any semblance of routine out the window. But I really didn’t want to do that, because a routine helps me. I love checking things off a list. I’m visual, so it helps to see my day’s plan.

What has evolved as my Daily Docket is a marriage of scheduled routine and flexibility. It provides the skeleton for me to hang my agenda, but it allows for wiggle room because I fill out a new sheet each day.

Instead of a set routine for Mondays, I fill out a fresh sheet for that very day, using a Weekly Checklist as my resource (also found on the downloads page). My week’s goal is to get everything done I need to do by that week, but I’m flexible as to when specifically I should do it..

Let me show you how this works.

The night before, I take one of these and fill it out for the next day. It helps if I fill it out in pencil because things are so unpredictable in our home that I have to be flexible.

The smaller categories on the page are as follows:

My MITs – The three most important things on my agenda today.
Current Scripture I’m working on memorizing/meditating over.
What’s for Dinner? – When I write it down, I remember way in advance what the dinner plans are, and what I need to do in advance for preparation, so I’m not scrambling at 5:45.
Health stuff – I’m trying to log my water and my food choices, so I like checking off that I’ve done that. And by writing down my work out plans, I’m more apt to do it.
Blog and/or Graphic Design stuff – To-do items for my blogs and my graphic design business.

The bigger items are my day’s to-do list and my day’s general plan.

Photo by Jessica F.

My to-do list: it’s short.

I limit myself to 10 things, because I know I realistically can’t get more than that checked off. I’ve actually almost never gotten all 10 accomplished in one day. By keeping it short, I’m making success – finishing my list – more of a reality. If I remember additional things throughout the day, I jot them down in my notes section, possibly for tomorrow’s list. I like Jamie’s idea of sticking with six items.

My day’s general plan: it’s general.

General is the key word here. The Docket looks a lot more structured than it is, but I don’t write out every last thing I have to do that day. I only assign a time and slot to those things I want to get done at a time of day. I want to get computer work during my kid’s nap time, so I remind myself that it’s a 2 o’clock job. I want to get breakfast on the table by 8, so I make a note of that. And most importantly for me, I want to get to bed by 10:30. Seeing it on paper reminds me that it’s important.

Here’s an example of what a Daily Docket looks like filled out (click to enlarge it):

Application Time

Feel free to download this Daily Docket (or the smaller one) for free. But you don’t have to use this — use what works for you. The point is to have a plan for your day, and to approach it proactively.

Whatever you use, keep it simple, easy-to-read, very easily accessible throughout your day, and thorough enough to manage your whole day on one sheet.

What do you use to get you focused on the day? If you use the Docket, do you have any suggestions or feedback? I know several of you have asked for an even smaller one than the Pocket Docket… I might get to that. Someday.

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4 Simple Ideas to Help you Clean a Messy House

Tsh — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 11:39:53 +0000

Our house is a disaster. There, I said it. We had company for almost a month, and my mother-in-law was such a help to me, I hardly did anything. Now I’m paying the price.

I most definitely prefer a regular habit of basic upkeep so that the home doesn’t get to the point of unrecognition (yes, I just made up that word). But it has, so I’ve called upon the troops and have declared a War on Mess.

Photo by Torri 479

Today and tomorrow, we will be overhauling the house, with the hopes that I can get some serious organizing done this weekend. We have guests coming over for dinner Friday night, so the goal is to have everything clean by then.

Lesson #1 – Have a very tangible, rapidly-approaching-yet-doable goal for your cleaning. Inviting friends over for dinner is a great one.

Staying true to my word, I’m not going to bite off more than I can chew and plan on doing more than I can. Today will be mostly damage repair, while tomorrow will be the actual cleaning (dusting, vacuuming, and the like).

Lesson #2 – Divide your cleaning goals into manageable chunks. That way, you can “check off” decluttering one day, then move on to scrubbing and dusting. You’ll feel more accomplished.

I also know my body ebbs and flows with energy highs and lows, so I’m going to tackle the tough stuff in the morning (my energy high) and the easy stuff in the afternoon (my energy low). I’m also going to take frequent breaks so that I don’t burn out. I’ll set a timer for 30 minutes of cleaning, 10 minutes of rest.

Lesson #3 – Know yourself and clean with your body’s rhythms, not against it.

Since we’re all involved in this, we’re going to make it fun. We’re talking a lot, we’re listening to music, and we’re still being silly as we work (tickle attacks, funny voice impressions… you know the drill). We’ll get discouraged, bored, and possibly bitter if we don’t.

Lesson #4 – Do what you need to stay in a good mood. Be cheerful. You are blessed to have a home to clean!