Saturday, April 5, 2008

I'm Organizing...AGAIN

After reading chapter 1 of The Excellent Wife by Martha Peace, I knew I had to change my way of doing things around here. I had a weekday schedule that I was following, but ever since I took my son back to college (3 weeks ago) my schedule has been lost and has not yet resurfaced. This seems like a great time to get back into my weekly routine and also change some things that I desperately need to change so that I can move forward in being the kind of wife that God has called me to be.

This is my revised schedule:

Weekday Schedule: MONDAY, WEDNESDAY, and FRIDAY

5-5:15 AM - Make Coffee

5-6:00 AM - Morning Devotions (Table Talk Magazine)

6-7:00 AM - Read (Bible Study Book or Excellent Wife)

7-7:15 AM - Empty Dishwasher

7:15-7:45 AM - Make Beds, General Straightening

7:15-7:45 AM - Start Laundry

7:30-8:00 AM - Ellisabeth Up

7:30-8:30 AM - Ellisabeth’s Morning Shows & Cup of Milk

8:00-8:30 AM - I shower and dress and comb hair

8:30-9:00 AM - Breakfast (E’s Bible Chapter from Sunday school, practice memory verse)

9:-9:30 AM - Clean Up Breakfast, Prep for Dinner

9-10 AM - Listen to Music (Sing our Hymn of the Month, and others)

9:30-10AM - Ellisabeth dressed and Comb Hair

10-12 PM - Chores (Mondays we do Supermarket Shopping, Wednesdays or Fridays are OPEN)

12-1 PM - Lunch

1:30-2:30 or 3 PM - Ellisabeth and Mommy Quiet Time

2-2:30 PM - Computer Time

3-4:30 PM - School Time

5:30-6 PM - Get Dinner Finished & Ready

6:30-7 PM - Dinner

7:15-8 PM - Evening Routine (Dad to get E ready for bed, Read and both pray with her)

8:30-9:30 or 10 PM - Time with Scott

10-10:30 PM - Evening Reading

10:30 – 11PM – Bed

Weekday Schedule: TUESDAY and THURSDAY

5-5:15 AM - Make Coffee

5-6:00 AM - Morning Devotions (Table Talk Magazine)

6-7:00 AM - Read (Bible Study Book or Excellent Wife)

7-7:15 AM - Empty Dishwasher

7:15-7:45 AM - Make Beds, general straightening

7:15-7:45 AM - Start Laundry

7:30-8:00 AM - Ellisabeth up

7:30-8:30 AM - Ellisabeth’s morning shows & cup of milk

8:00-8:30 AM - I shower, dress and, comb hair

8:30-9:00 AM - Breakfast (E’s Bible chapter from Sunday school, practice memory verse)

9:-9:30 AM - Clean up Breakfast, prep for dinner

9-10 AM - Listen to Music (Sing our Hymn of the Month, and others)

9:30-10AM - Ellisabeth dressed and comb hair

10-11:30 PM - School Time

12-1 PM - Lunch

1:30-2:30 or 3 PM - Ellisabeth and Mommy Quiet Time

2-2:30 PM - Computer Time

3-5 PM - Chores (OPEN)

5:30-6 PM - Get Dinner Finished & Ready

6:30-7 PM - Dinner

7:15-8 PM - Evening Routine (Dad to get E ready for bed, Read and we both pray with her)

8:30-9:30 or 10 PM - Time with Scott

10-10:30 PM - Evening Reading

10:30-11 PM - Bed

The times are for me to use as a guideline and to generally keep me on track each day. I will not be RIGID about this schedule, if something were to come up that required my attention I would just handle it and if time permits continue on where we left off. Most things can be done the next day. The purpose of having this schedule is to make sure that I am doing all the things I need to do to have a God honoring home. And when my husband comes home; I want to be able to spend that time with him that he needs and not be preoccupied with the cares of my home. This is not to say that everyday will be like this. There will be plenty of days that things will not go according to my plan, but for the most part if I have a general path to follow each day I pray that my family will benefit greatly and that God will be glorified. Crystal at Biblical Womanhood has been doing a series on managing your time and becoming a more organized and effective homemaker; its called Finding Time, click on my link and check it out. It has been very helpful to me. She also reviewed a book called Get More Done in Less Time by Donna Ott, and highly recommends it . Crystal says,

I've been feeling like having more organization in my life...That my lack of organization and forethought in a number areas was wasting precious time and energy.

Wow, does that sound like me. Read her post on this topic (scroll down to This Week in Books - Week 7). It is very encouraging. I'd love to hear from you to find out how you organize your days and I look forward to growing in grace with you all.

3 comments:

Adzele said...

I was thinking lately that, we can glorify God a little bit more if we can manage to organize and use well what he has already given us...Learning to be a discipline woman is my goal for this season of my life.

Lisa said...

I found this post helpful, to see how you have mapped out your day, even down to 15-minute intervals. I looked at the links you provided and will spend more time going through those. I know I have many places where I can do better with my time and, like you, I know doing so will both glorify God and be a blessing to my husband.

I'm a member of "The 5 AM club" as well (5:30 for me) and I LOVE that time with God.

Thanks for sharing...I'll be back to check out those links.

Vicki R. said...

I got to this page from your recent post on Ch. 8 of the E.W. book...you are an inspiration!! At first I balked at how exact the list is...but then I really started reading it & seeing the awesome things you have scheduled into your day..like "computer time"..."time with Scott" - I can see how that would help me not "waste" precious time when I feel like a schlump for taking some downtime in the afternoons.

My nearly 2-yr old son is an EARLY riser every single morning - like 5:45, 6:00 am is his average wake-up time & he usually naps maybe an hour, sometimes 2 hrs a day.

I am on the GO & always feeling so behind in life, my time in the Word, etc. - You've inspired me to just get up earlier, regardless of when DS gets up, just so I can get a 1/2 hr or hour alone with the Lord. Thanks!