How to organize time & feel accomplished

Let's just face it... I'm not a very organized person. My house is almost always a mess & I am GREAT at wasting the little free time I have when I'm not chasing our 2 kids around the house and making sure they are happy while trying to be the best mom & wife I can be... 

I'm going to share some sites that have helped me feel more organized with my time & that just might do the trick for me if (a) our kids were older & could help out more or (b) if we had no kids at home and of course (c) if I had more motivation. Alright, so the motivation is there. It's the willpower that I lack. I end up wasting my time doing other things when I could very well be cleaning or doing something else. Granted, our kids do require a lot of attention at the moment, but I know I can get more accomplished per day if I plan my time more wisely, quit being such a lump, and JUST DO IT!

It seems like I get on a roll with organizing my time well, & then one day my drive is just gone or I get thrown off by running extra errands or something in my routine is different. Not fair. I want to be able to feel accomplished each day instead of feeling like... well, a lump.

The best way that I've found to feel accomplished is to make lists. Lots of lists. That way, when I cross something off, I feel like I got something done. Even if it's something as mundane as getting the mail. When I accomplish it, I get to cross it off & at the end of the day I get to see all the things that I actually got done.

Silly, I know... but it works for me. When I do it.

I started using this daily routine worksheet (the blank one) from SimpleOrganizedLiving last year & believe it or not, when I follow my routine my day goes smoother, I can fit more in my day, AND I feel accomplished.

I once had a boss that would always say, "When it's time to lean, it's time to clean". Super catchy... However, I don't feel like every spare second should be spent cleaning. Sometimes you just need a break! This is why I love the 15 minute pickup idea. Set the timer for 15 minutes and when it goes off, stop what you're doing & take a break (Obviously some things will need to be finished or picked up first. Especially if you have young kids or are using any sort of chemicals). Turn on some music. It makes that 15 minutes go by even faster. I try to keep my kids entertained while I'm cleaning, but if they get too impatient I just stop the timer and get back to what I was doing when I get a chance. Because that 15 minutes always ends up shorter than I think it would be, I've decided to attempt 20 minutes, 3 times a day so that I can get at least one full hour of 'productive pickup' time daily (I have 5 focus areas that I'll go further in detail about some other time). It doesn't usually happen since I can get lazy and interrupted throughout the day, but when I DO manage to get it done I can see the difference in our home, and I feel accomplished. (:

ThePickyApple has some great ideas on how to keep all of the dailies, weeklies, monthlies, & quarterlies organized when it comes to home routines with her cleaning calendar. She uses some FlyLady concepts, but makes it her own... That's basically what I'm attempting to do right now. I'm trying to take a bunch of different great ideas & create some method that will work for me... I have yet to find my perfect method, but I have faith that I'll find it someday.

One of my goals right now is to try to manage my time more wisely. Who knows... maybe I'll actually get to cross that off my list if I master it.

A wise, short, green, Jedi Master once said: "Do or do not. There is no try." I guess I'll try to remember that as I try to get better at organizing my time.