The other day I realize that I never get anything done, because I am always rearranging what I’m doing around what everyone else needs done.
Here’s an example. The girls need to be picked up in 20 minutes, what can I get done in 20 minutes?
I can start laundry, unload the dishwasher, there are many things, but what if I’ve already done those things and I have Fold Laundry on my list of stuff that needs to be done. Folding laundry may take 20 minutes or much longer depending on how ambitious I was today. I may only have time to fold half the laundry. So I fold half the laundry, leave, pick up kids, come back and get snacks and then start dinner and then do dishes and then help with homework and then on and on and on it goes until I walk back into the living room to find that half the laundry is still sitting on the couch – CRAP!! How did I forget that?
Easy, Moms do everything for everyone else and laundry went to the bottom of the list. We know we’ll never have time to finish whatever it is we start so we either don’t start or start and it never gets finished.
This is my solution – AND I have 2 forms of this. If you are the journaling sort I have a Journal Notebook printable for you and if you’re the kind that needs to post it on the fridge, I have Post-It Note To Do List Fridge Printable – Do, Doing, Done!
Do, Doing, Done – Journal Printable
Here’s what you do. Put everyone you need to do on Post-It Note strips. Put those strips in the To Do column. As you start each project move the strip to the next column. This way if you start a project and you have to wait for someone to do something before you finish you can move to another project without worrying you’re going to forget.
So if you start paying bills on the computer, but you child needs to computer for homework, you can move to folding the laundry. You’ll have paying bills and folding laundry in the Doing column and when you done, just move the sticky Post-It Note strip to the Done column.
There are days where I have 4 or 5 Post-It Note strips in the Doing column because I’m waiting on someone to do something. Either a doctor to get back to me or a case manager to get me information or a child to find something I need to sign or someone to get out of the bathroom so I can finish cleaning it – the list of what I’m “Doing” goes on and on. This way I always remember what I have started, what I haven’t started and I’ve actually finished.
If you need help printing out and hole punching the printable, please see: How to Hole Punch Customizable ARC and Levenger Circa Notebooks