Budgeting Time

One of the difficulties in our getting organized process is our time management. We both have a tendency to think “we’ll get to this” and we never do. We’re always purchasing space for the objects in our lives with time we don’t actually own. I find myself saying – “I’ll hold on to this because I’m going to do X, Y, or Z someday soon” and that justifies keeping it, because time is ethereal, and we can just lazily spend it because there are unlimited amounts.

And I have to confess, I thought I was way better at time management than Stephanie is, and she has more of a problem with purchasing with borrowed time than I do. That is, of course, not the case at all. Or at least, I may be slightly better about it, but not significantly enough to really make our lives function well. Here’s a graphic example of the problem:

Time Management

I made this in Google docs this morning and shared it with Stephanie, and we were both freaked out by it when we saw it. Of course this is padded all over, but you get the general idea; there are a finite amount of spaces to be filled in with activities, and we have way more things to do than actually fit. So we do things like cut corners on sleep and skip meals and the gym and skating, or have to skip seeing friends. That’s not good at all. Plus I’m looking at this and realizing I spent last year watching something like 10 hours a week watching TV, that all came out of my sleep schedule. No wonder I feel like crap.

Clearly, organizing our things goes hand in hand with budgeting our time better so we spend much less time cleaning and more time eating and drinking wine with our friends and reading good books and making pretty internets.

Continue ReadingBudgeting Time

Revisited: Things I have to do on Vacation

  • Post author:
  • Post category:Life Hacks

In revisiting my list, I’m running into a small snag. One of the items is the key problem:

  • Work on a logo for Bil and Jerame
  • Go for a Crown Hill walk with Lori
  • Mail my sister’s birthday present
  • Take clothes to a donation point
  • Take garage sale stuff to my mom’s house
  • Help my mom clean out her attic
  • Get brakes worked on on Truck
  • Clean the house for book club! (my house is trashed right now)
  • Relocate the Rose of Sharon bush to the corner of my yard
  • Catalog my books
  • Write an IndyScribe photo article
  • Write an IndyScribe review of Pirateer and Dread Pirate games
  • Make my photo galleries web standards compliant
  • Read my library books before they’re due
  • Take my dog for some long walks
  • Make sure my neighbor’s contractor doesn’t trash my yard anymore

That cleaning the house item will take all 5 of my vacation days to do, unfortunately. And I have to get it done, because my house is freaking me the hell out. My stress level is through the roof because of all the garage sale stuff sitting around in my way, and I can’t clean anything, etc.

Normally the only time I lose things in the house is when I’m carrying something I use every day around, and I get distracted by a phone call, person talking to me, etc. and I set the thing down where it doesn’t belong to do something else. But for things that are normally put away, I don’t lose track of them. This morning, however, I’ve run all over the house looking for the bug bite itch cream that I bought a couple of weeks ago due to the massive mosquito problem we have in the neighborhood. And I can’t find it anywhere.

Continue ReadingRevisited: Things I have to do on Vacation