Tuesday 30 November 2010

Can you help me please? Someone is stealing my time!

At this time of year I start to get a bit edgy and nervous. Christmas is only a few weeks away and my head is buzzing with all of the projects I have to complete. Also, at school we have Christmas shows to prepare and it's very stressful getting the little angels to memorise their parts and learn the songs.

My problem is time. I never seem to find the time to get everything done. And it's crazy! I have no children, I work only in the afternoons from 3 until 7.30pm, my mother-in-law does most of the cooking. Yet my work basket looks like this..........

(7 projects on the go and 0 finishes)

My washing basket is overflowing, the house is a mess, I have Christmas cards to make and send and I still haven't finished writing my thank-you letters from our wedding 4 months ago. I haven't done any work on our house renovation for weeks, I haven't read a book or watched t.v. I don't know where on earth my time disappears to.

So, I'm asking you my blogging friends for some help. How do you manage to get things done, raise families, craft, cook look after your homes, blog? What are your secrets of time management?

Have a productive week everyone x x

PS Thank you all for your kind birthday wishes last week. I had a lovely weekend with friends and family. I've now entered the last year of my twenties - only a year to go until the big 3 0!



16 comments:

lila Braga said...

I wish I could help you...but the true is that we are on the same boat!;)
can someone out there help us...Please!!!
love your blog!
hugs
Lila

staci said...

Happy Belated Birthday, I'm sorry I missed it, hope it was a good one!

No matter how early I start the gift-making, once Dec 1st hits I start to feel anxious. My trick for getting stuff done, I never ever sit without my hands being busy. I always take a project with me wherever I go. ANd I try to multi-task as much as possible. You'd be surprised how quickly 5 minutes here and 10 minutes there can add up to a finish!

Looks like you have some gorgeous stuff in your workbasket!

Mademoiselle L. said...

When I was little I always thought of time as an endless supply. When I grew older and go to school I started to notice holidays, vacations - measured in months and weeks. And now I think that 24 hours of one day simply ISN'T enough! I need to buy rest of Christmas cards this weekend and send them on Monday - thanks for reminding me! xox

Sarah said...

Maybe you need to set yourself a weekly schedule. If you know your teaching hours, fill in the rest of the day with housework, creative tasks etc in blocks of a couple of hours and then stick to it, as though you were going to work.

I have to do my writing out of working hours so do it mostly 9-10pm and 2-4pm at weekends. I have a cleaner or I'd never manage, do shopping on Wednesday afternoon and cook early evening.

It's just a question of slotting everything in and you may need to organise it on paper and stick it on the fridge.

Good luck!

Olga said...

Sarah Elizabeth!
I start every morning with the exact same words:) I'm sorry I can't help you.
You have so many interests in your life. All your projects look very promising.

Signe said...

Haha, I wish I could be of any help but I am afraid not! I haven't done any laundry in weeks so I am running out of clothes and I have only been eating take away for days!

But I am almost done with the Christmas shopping and decoration and somehow I have a feeling things will work them self out -- like always :)

Have a nice Tuesday!

LindyLouMac said...

Time is something I am afraid we are all short of, my secret is I am an empty nester whose home is and garden is her life, so at this stage in our lives we have a little more time than you youngsters. I make lists, not always written but in my head, but it does work most of the time. Blogging is a great gobbler of time though which must be controlled! I find I am reading less books which means I am blogging, (reading and writing) too much, this must change.
So good luck with the projects keep them at the top of the list :)

International Woman of Mystery said...

Oddly, the more you have to do, the more you get done. It's times when I am so stressed that I'm most productive. When I have "time" I can't seem to get anything done and I wonder where the time goes...

Loree said...

It's always a sttruggle to get everything done. There really is no secret. I wish there was sometimes...

Sarah B said...

Happy Belated Birthday - I somehow missed it :)
Hmm, I'm no good at time management. I have a million jobs on the go but I do think it helps to do one thing at a time and then cross it off your list. An extra day in the week wouldn't hurt though :)

Sarah Elizabeth said...

Thank-you for the advice and the reassurance that others are in the same boat. I think I need to focus a bit more - when I have so much to do I tend to flit from one thing to another and get easily side-tracked. I'm going to try making a timetable like Sarah suggested - hopefully that will keep me focused.

Amy Seager said...

I have NO IDEA! I'm just as bad with my time!
It's so annoying!

Love from
Aimee
x

ENTER MY GIVEAWAY - http://www.greenpicklesblog.co.uk

siniann said...

I wish I could help.. but I don't have kids and no job, so I'm more free in that side. Still, my time is running out with writing cv's and motivation letters to new jobs, running to the french lessons and keeping up our home (cooking,cleaning). I would love to have a normal daytime job, so I would know how to deal with the time!

Jill said...

Easy. Stop sleeping. ;)

Paula said...

Sarah, this post really spoke to me. As soon as December 1st clicks over, I get a wee bit stressed. This year we are travelling to both families with a toddler. Part of me is overjoyed to be sharing this time with family (while we still have everyone around) and part of me is stressed over finances, making cards and presents, driving several hundred kms to two places, the inevitable sleep disruptions with change in routine blah, blah. Nice to know someone else feels like this. I'll all out of advice though! Paula
PS Your 100th follower :)

Anonymous said...

Make lists of what you need to do and work through them. And stop thinking about what you have to do, and just start "doing". Good Luck.