220 | Staying on Track with Daily Household Tasks

Holidays and vacation time breaks from school break, some work that usually means a significant change to what our daily schedules look like. We still have to complete daily household chores and the tasks like laundry dishes, clean up food prep, and even more than that. So staying on track and getting things done so that we have more time to enjoy those little moments.

That’s really the goal. We’re talking about all this on. This episode of the intentional edit podcast, where I answer a listener question. We’re going to get right into this episode where I’m answering a listener question. If you have a question for me, or you are struggling with something in your home with organization or coming up with routines and systems, how to organize something, decluttering, anything along the topics that we [00:02:00] talk about here on the intentional edit podcast, go to intentional, edit.com and click on the little record.

Now button that will pop up either on the bottom or the side of your screen, you can do. On the computer or from your phone? Leave me a message. And I will answer your question. Just like I answered the question that came in today on an episode in the future. Here is the question that we are going to be answering for this episode. First off, I want to congratulate you for taking The time to set up the systems and routines that are already working in your home. I love, love, love to hear what is working and to know that you are having success in seeing results from implementing what we share on the podcast. if you’re listening to this, that you’ve listened to many episodes, then you know how I pretty much, uh, preach that routines. Make everything easier.

So we want [00:04:00] to set up these good systems and these great routine so that we can save time. That’s the big thing we want to save time so that everything is simplified. When we take the time to evaluate what is currently happening in our homes and what isn’t working, we’re going to zone in on. What’s not working right now in the current situation. Of how our households run, then we can figure out what the problem is when you know what the problem is, you know, what you have to solve, what problem you’re solving. And you want to solve it by creating intentional routines and coming up with these systems that solve the problem, the routines and the systems are the answer. The routines and the systems are working for us, they’re meant to work for us.

And when they are truly working, that means that our homes are functioning in a way that’s actually feels like it’s, it’s serving us rather than constantly taking from us. And they function in. The the way that we can complete the daily tasks and the chores. In an easier way, because we’ve simplified everything.

We’ve come up with solutions that truly simplify. You guys, this is the goal. The goal is to simplify as much as possible. And when you have done that, that means. We now have more time. When I go back to the question that was submitted today, I’m all those thinking that you may be experiencing a little bit of margin and your day, because you have taken the time to set up these systems and routines.

And when they’re working for you, you are saving time and a good routine here and there gives you a couple minutes here and there. It gives you back these minutes. instead of going from one thing to the next to the next, and you’re cramming all of these things into your day. And you’re running around trying to get everything done, always feeling like there. Is something more to do and you never [00:06:00]really have everything done. You’re finally at this place where a couple of minutes here and there are adding up and you have a little bit of margin in the day.

So when you. Come to a place where there’s that lack of structure with the kids being home from school and the, the routine is not there. So when you would normally do thing, is. It’s not there it can be obvious because what you typically do at certain times and the tasks that you do at certain times of the day. They’re not happening at these times because your schedule is different.

The kids are out of school. You were trying to get people out the door or going to drop off or going to the bus. you have those extra minutes. Add that on to these extra minutes in the margin and your day from the intentional routines that are working. And now all of a sudden it’s like, wait, what am I supposed to be doing?

What do I need to do?

I want you to give yourself some grace you are doing amazing and you’re working your way through making big changes in your home. use this extra time. How you want to spend it, do something you want to do. I play a game with your kids. Take a walk, do something fun, even if it’s just for a few minutes. Let these extra minutes be spent doing something that you enjoy, making memories. This is the why?

Like the why in all capital letters like screamings you, this is the why behind why organization is important. It’s why we want to be organized. Why do we want things to be efficient? Why do we want to simplify? Why do we have good intentional routines? Why do we take the time to declutter our homes and make sure they’re organized and, and take the time to create and practice intentional routines until. Until they become habit. It’s for this extra time it’s to [00:08:00] simplify things so that we can take away the struggle and we can remove that overwhelm from our homes. So that things are getting done. Of course we wear clothes.

So we make laundry. We eat and we cook food. So there’s dishes, the house gets dirty. We live in our homes, it gets dirty. It needs to be cleaned. There are maintenance tasks with our homes in our cars. There are responsibilities that we have and managing schedules and all of these things still take time. We just want to create these routines that make it so we can be as efficient as possible to get the tasks done and to get the chores done so that we get the margin and our idea that I was talking about so that we have more time to make the memories, to have fun, to enjoy. In terms of the tasks that still need to happen, whether you are on a vacation or you have a week off of work or a week off of school. Or the schedule is. Packed full, like it normally is, or whether it is. A season of vacation, the chores in the task still needs to get done. When there is the lack of structure from the typical daily schedule of school being in session and going to work or one or both of those, then you aren’t going to be doing the tasks and the chores necessarily in the same order or at the same time that you typically would. And that’s okay.

When we have great routines happening these routines have become a habit. Sometimes we still do things at the same time of day because it just works into the schedule. But when our schedule is so flexible and we’re not going to school and we’re not going to work and we’re not getting out of the house when we normally would. we needed to come up with some type of structure and this is a loose structure.

Usually it’s a lot more flexible than a typical day. My suggestion is to make a note. This [00:10:00] can be on your phone on a piece of paper, even in your planner or calendar and come up with three things that you need to accomplish each day. You were going to fit those into your day where you can. One thing that is especially helpful with this is to do this the night before as part of your nightly routine. That’s when you’re going to come up with the three tasks, because you will know somewhere in your mind, these things hanging over your head that needed to get done. These things you need to accomplish.

You’re going to take the time to write these down or save these in the notes on your phone and in the night. It’s important because you can take a snapshot and take a glimpse of what is happening the next day. So you want to spend a minute or two think about what needs to be done, what’s happening the next day.

And what is the general timeframe where you can get these things going, or you can get these things done. You can accomplish these tasks. Plug that in, in your mind. Or write it down. Where they fit in best. If the tasks are big and like a big project that only happens once a year, a couple of times a year, then you may only be able to accomplish two things that day. If these are small things that only take up a few minutes. Then you might have four or five on your list and that’s perfectly fine to adjust.

But in general, when you’re starting with this, take three things each day that are the main things you needed to do that next day. So what are you going to do tomorrow? What are these three things? Make a note of it, write it down and then make a general plan in order to get these things done so that you know what to expect the next day.

What does your day look like? What do you have to do? What do you have to get done? if you’re. Struggling with what are the tasks that I should be doing? What should I be? Making sure it’s happening each day. my suggestion is, think about the thing is that always [00:12:00] have to happen. We always make laundry because we wear clothes. We have dishes. Come up with your routine for those. Conquer the thing is that are going to happen no matter what you do. come up with a separate plan for the thing is that our occasional tasks that need to be done. I hope that answered your question.

If you are listening to this and you would like me to answer a question for you on a future Tuesday episode, all you have to do is go to intentional edit.com. There is a link in the description of this episode, wherever you’re listening to this podcast, you can click on that or go to intentional edit.com and click on the little record.

Now button that pops up, you can leave a message just like the queso. Question that was submitted today. And I will answer your question On a future episode of the podcast. Thanks for listening. I’ll meet you back here later in the week for the next episode.