Thoughtful Thursday: Are You Overcommitted?

If you are a woman, you have probably struggled with this (and some men too). Do you always say yes? I read a book that asked the question, “Who can do what you do?” It basically said to list your priorities. For me that would be (in this order):

1. My commitment to God
2. My commitment to my husband
3. My commitment to my children
4. My commitment to be the keeper of the home
   

The book stated it like this. I am the only one that can be my husband’s wife. I am the only one that can be a mother to my children. I am the only one that is the keeper of my home. Beyond that, yes, other people can do the jobs you signed up for. Someone else can make the cupcakes for the bake sale. Someone else can lead the Bible study. There are others that are capable.

The point of this was to say that there are just a handful of jobs that ONLY you can do (and should do). These jobs should come first. Once these jobs are fulfilled then start doing outside activities and don’t feel guilty about it. I believe the guilt comes in when you have spent all afternoon doing a project for someone else and your children are crying and cranky because you didn’t have any time to spend with them.

This is a problem that I struggle with. I am a much happier person when I stay at home and my house is clean and my children are on a good schedule where I can spend time with them.

If you do struggle with this try to find an accountability partner (your husband would probably work well or a very good friend). My husband really helps remind me that doing a certain thing may push me over my limit and most of the time he is correct. Also, write out your priorities and list only the things that you can do. Make sure that you daily are working on these priorities and then if you find you still have a few moments of free time, then go for it and sign up for those activities.

I try to remember that my children are only going to be young for a little while, so Lord willing, I will have more time later to do many activities. How about you? How do you try to keep yourself from being overcommitted?

Cleaning Tuesday's

I have tried out a few cleaning schedules for my home. I used to do a room or two a day and that worked out okay. I am now trying out a new schedule that looks something like this:

Monday - Laundry and Baking
Tuesday - Cleaning "Wet" Rooms (The term "wet" rooms is from a book and it refers to kitchen and bathrooms. The idea is not original from me.) So, basically I clean the kitchen and the bathrooms.
Wednesday - Dusting (This would be dusting the entire house including light fixtures and ceiling fans)
Thursday - Floors (I would probably mop the kitchen and bathrooms on Tuesday.) This would be vacuuming the bedrooms and cleaning our wood floor in the living room and hallway.
Friday - Paperwork and clean out the car

I will probably do one or two loads of laundry throughout the week in addition to my Monday laundry. I chose not to clean anything on Monday's because I am recovering from the weekend and usually need to pick up and put away on Monday's so I use that day to make sure everything is picked up and put away for the rest of the week's cleaning.

So there you go! What does everyone else do regarding cleaning? I know some people just do it all in one day. I used to do that too, and it just didn't work for me.

Day One of Scheduling

I wrote out my schedule last night in 30 minute increments. It has worked surprisingly well! I was a half hour late most of the morning with what I wanted to do, but I just reworked a few things and I got it all in. It was wonderful. While Makenna slept I was able to have one-on-one time with Isaac with coloring with him and reading books before his nap. It is truly a blessing to stay at home. I hope I am able to stay at home for a long time to come.

Scheduling

So, I am now staying at home full time (I had a part time job for 12 weeks to cover maternity leave). Anyway, I am going to get into scheduling - my time, my son's time and my infant daughter's time. I will blog more on this later, but if anyone has any tips or tricks, let me know!