Time management while homesteading is essential if you want to accomplish all of your goals. The right time management will help you to fit homesteading into your busy life. With a little know-how, you’ll be surprised at what you can do.
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How do you do it all? That’s the question I hear the most. Managing my time isn’t something I’ve ever felt good at. However, this question keeps coming up in my conversations. So, I took a step back and looked at my life.
I do manage 4 busy kids, a full-time job as a high school teacher, a job as a registered nurse at a busy hospital, my farm duties, and a healthy lifestyle. So how do I fit it all in? By using time management while homesteading we’ve managed to reach our goals.
Time management while homesteading with busy Kids
As my kids get older they definitely get busier. The time you use to spend chasing toddlers has been exchanged for after school activities, homework, and social lives. It can all be very overwhelming.
One thing that helps me manage the chaos is choosing favorites. Not a favorite child, but a favorite activity. For example, they can choose one organized after school activity at a time. You may want your kids to try new things, but they can only focus on one activity at a time.
Sometimes I see other moms carting their kids around from one activity to the other and I feel exhausted for them. While it may work for some families, it’s hard to do while running a farm.
Try having a conversation with your family and talk about your goals together. You may be surprised to learn that your kids are feeling overwhelmed with commitments too.
Homesteading with busy Jobs
When I started teacher, I would take my school work home to finish on the weekends. It seemed like I could never get ahead. My work commitments plus managing my farm was very overwhelming.
I decided to start allotting a certain amount of time everyday for the tasks I needed to complete. During this time I would focus completely on what I needed to do. If I have an hour for housework, I focus on only housework for that hour. Committing small chunks of your day to chores and work will add up to a lot over a period of time.
This is a game changer! Instead of stopping to scroll on your phone, or working on something for the entire day, focus for a certain amount of time and then leave it be. Don’t bring your work home unless it’s absolutely necessary. You will be amazed at how much you can get done when you aren’t distracted.
If you’re a visual organizer like me ( I love a good list), get a planner and write your time blocks down. That way you can plan your focused time around other commitments.
Learning to say no
This one is the hardest one for me, and the one that takes the most effort. I’m a “yes” girl by nature because I don’t like to disappoint. However, this has caused me a lot of stress over the years.
Plans can pile up very quickly if you say yes to every offer. Saying no has given me a lot of freedom. I’ve said no to dinner plans with friends when I know I need rest, and after school commitments when I need to be with my children.
However, this will help you to say yes to the things that matter to you. Saying no will give you the freedom to choose where you spend your very valuable time.
Maintaining our home
I’ve spent many weekends cleaning the house. The chores have caused a lot of negative attitudes towards my children for making messes, and resentment toward my husband for working weekends.
I finally said enough, and hired someone to help me fill in the gaps. I’m not ashamed of this at all, and it has honestly been the best investment in my time.
We have someone come in once monthly and do the big stuff while I maintain things during the week. I’ve developed some routines help keep things in order daily. I clean the kitchen every night after dinner, and straighten the house before going to bed. Items that belong to the kids are gathered to be put away.
These small things only take a few minutes of my time, but I save big on the weekends when I don’t have to play catch up.
Planning ahead to manage time
Being that this is a farm blog my next time saving hack may offend a lot of you. I order grocery pick up, and I LOVE it. The last thing I want to do is spend hours in the grocery store on the weekends.
This was my life before the pick-up option, and it was a miserable chore. With grocery pick up, I plan our meals for the week ahead, add the groceries, and pick it up. The pick-up option saves a ton of time, and money (which is really one in the same) .
I do make most of our meals from scratch but being that this a modern farm blog, there is something to say for convenience. Grocery pickup is a major tool in managing time.
Time management while homesteading takes teamwork
You may have noticed that I rarely mentioned laundry above. That’s because my husband does his share of laundry and other chores. Honestly, there isn’t a chore in our lives that specifically belongs to only one of us.
We both work and have always been a team in raising our children and taking care of things at home. We share a calendar on our phones of the kids’ activities, and share the responsibilities. I feel very blessed to have this kind of marriage. I also believe that teamwork can be achieved in any relationship and is a great way of managing time.
Don’t be afraid to release control over certain things and designate tasks to other members of the household. You will also be surprised at what your kids are capable of if you give them responsibilities.
Managing time waking up early
The mornings are by far my most productive time of the day. I’m way too tired to get much done in the afternoons. I wake up an hour and a half earlier than the kids to have some quiet time, read a devotional, and get my workout in. I feel so much more prepared and productive when I take this time for myself. This is also the time of day when I’m most creative. I use this time to plan lessons, brainstorm, or write my thoughts.
Early mornings are also the time when farm chores get done. I’d be lying if I said I love going out into the freezing cold before daylight to care for animals, but it’s the best time to get chores done.
Wrapping up
Closing
These are a some of the strategies I use to manage my family, my work life, and my farm, but it’s going to look different for everyone.
Take some time to evaluate your time and get creative with the goals you want to accomplish. Over time, you can create habits that leave plenty of margin in your day for the things that matter most to you.
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