Carving Out Time

I don’t! I work full time and while my husband is a great dad he contribute minimually to the household chores or daily “to-do list” I am learning what routine works best and am trying to find ways to make things simpler (ie currently going to find a coat/ shoe/ storage item to put by front door so these items don’t clutter my front door) I figure if it isn’t urgent it can wait until tomorrow and as long as I get to spend time with my kids its been a good day!

I'm a painter and a writer and I attend Zumba classes regularly and I'm a SAHM mom with no help, three young kids (Not in school yet) with me full time and a husband who travels. I also participate in teaching things with my oldest daughter's kindergarten homeschool network. Here's how I do it:

Skip housework often. Clean up only the mandatory functioning spaces and leave periphery work for times you can schedule it in. Keep the laundry and dishes done so you can function, but "fancy detailed house cleaning"-forget it. Once a month. If your husband is an OCD neat freak who needs a spotless house, tell him he'll have one when you guys can afford a live-in maid.

I can only pursue one creative endeavor at a time, unfortunately, so at any given time I'm either writing something OR painting for a show. My allotted time for that activity is 2 hours in the morning before everyone wakes up (so I have to go to bed really early on nights before those sessions) and sometimes I get another afternoon window on days where classes and errands are done, kids can be thrown in front of TV for an hour or two. That only happens once or twice per week, and the mornings I can usually do three times per week. That adds up to 10 hours in one week if I stay on schedule-which actually enables a lot of progress.

SCHEDULE. Get a big calendar and block out each month in advance, list EVERYTHING you want to accomplish with your writing in that month. Decide how many hours that would be, 80? 60? 40? Divide it into hours per week, and per day. Schedule your days and weeks accordingly by incorporating EVERYTHING you need to do each day including WRITING, kids, cleaning, teaching, leisure time in front of movie to de-stress, meal prep, play with kids, EVERYTHING so you know where you REALLY WILL designate your time to write. If your calendar says you're writing for 3 hours from noon to 3:00pm on a certain day, DO IT. It's just as important as all your other scheduled obligations. If you have scheduled in all your other obligations, there is no reason to skip your designated writing zone.

That's what I do. Good luck! I so often wish I had no interests aside from parenting, because watching the kids is a piece of cake, it's the other pursuits that tend to get squeezed out if you're not careful. I used to wait until I had "creative inspiration" to work, and realized, my schedule would NEVER fall in to place, and I got NOTHING done. Once I started scheduling a couple of hours here and there, I started getting a LOT of painting and writing done, and I figured out more windows of opportunity than I thought were possible. It takes discipline to schedule creative things, but it works.

To me you sound like a high energy mama who gets tons done! My kids are 4 and under, with one being a nursing infant, and I daily feel like I am a drowning!! I always think 'oh once the kids are in school...' but your post has be realizing that I will just finally be able to tackle the millions of things that I can't even think about right now! I wish I attended a zumba class, much less taught one! You are awesome :D I have all these awesome fitness things on Netflix and I keep saying 'today is the day I will start' but between my three kids, the house (yeah right!), cooking, playing etc life keeps crowding exercise out. I am doing weight watchers pretty faithfully though, so that's a bright spot. I think all these years while we have young kids and elementary kids is just a major juggling act. To me any time you find to pursue your passions is success. Just a few minutes of writing daily or weekly or whatever. I really try to read daily. I like to feed my mind a little every day. My baby is 12 wks and I haven't read one day since he's been born! But soon I plan to start my day with about 30 minutes of reading before the kids get up, when I can. So, I know I didn't give you any actual help, only wanted to say from one busy mom to another, I think you are doing great!

Busy Bee! If you are looking to carve a little time out of the day I have three thoughts for you to consider.
1. chill a bit on the housekeeping. Identify one chore per day that has to get done and even if you do it twice a week- that is it.
2.Consolidate errands to one day a week - this is tough, but if you do, you don't have all the out and back everyday which can really be a time sucker.
3. If you are trying to get creative inspiration time, I read my favorite blogger when she was writing a book just forced herself to get up 45 min earlier and devote ONLY to writing. I am not a writer, but I am in graduate shool full-rime, work full time, have two children, husband, dog, house, etc. and have just had to resolve to get up earlier and stay up later to get done what needs to get done:)
Hope this gives you a few ideas to consider.

I get up early. This week I've been sleeping in, but I like to get up at 5. I then give myself an hour to enjoy my tea, play on the internet, etc. I then spend 30 minutes doing financial stuff, household planning, etc. before doing 20-30 minutes of exercise.

Can you wake up 30 minutes early every morning to write? I use to write, and I always found writing the easiest in the early morning (with the sun rising) because the noise of life wouldn't interfere.

A somewhat snarky Mamapedia mom once told me when I was tired and frustrated and complaining about me time.. If you are on here, you are getting me time. LOL...Sorry, I just remembered that and thought I'd add it. Take it with a grain of salt.

You are one busy lady. I wish I knew exactly what to say. Our lives sound similar when it comes to how we fill our time. I do this in my home with daycare kids snapping at my heels. My mother is here, so I have help and I still get overwhelmed some days.

I think it always goes back to the idea that something must slide. On days I do something for me, the laundry gets put through, but not finished. On days the house is clean and laundry done, I don't get to do anything for me. Or, I have to give up sleep.

My passion is studying scripture. I've found for me that the more time I listen to his word or read it or watch it on tv...messages and such.. the easier it is for me to weed out distractions in life that don't matter.

Prioritize... Make your lists, check them twice and thrice, and eliminate where you can.

Check out Flylady.com! Recently started following her (easy) system and it really helped me feel organized and freed up time sO I don't always feel like I'm cleaning