Time Experiment

There are days when I go to work and pretty much stare at the clock on my computer.  If it is a particularly slow day it seems as though time stops. And all I can think about is how much I could be getting done at home.

Sunday night I decided to block out my day by hours.  I made a chart from 7 am to 9pm.  I figured I would assign certain tasks during each hour.  In theory I could accomplish 14 tasks on Monday.  Yah, in theory.

In reality, I slept until 9:00am.  I couldn't sleep Sunday night- probably from all the anticipated excitement of all the things I would get done!  Haha!  While I did get up at 7 am, I let the dog out and put some clothes in the wash, I crawled back to bed.  Technically I did get 2 things done, so it wasn't a total loss.

Because the we were expecting temperatures to reach the high 80's, I decided to tackle the attic.  It was still cool enough outside and the attic was cool.  From 9:30 to 10:30 am, I got a ton of things out of the storage area and boxed up for a yard sale.  Or else it's all going to Salvation Army.  I condensed most of my husband's cross country items into 4 large boxes for him to sort through.  But it was starting to get really warm up there and I had to pick up my son at 11 am so I figured it was a good break time.

When we got home, I needed to relax a little.  My son decided he wanted to go through some things to put in the yard sale and I helped him reach some things in his closet to go through.  I headed back up to the attic around 11:30 am to start bringing down boxes.  It was super hot up there and I knew I was done working up there for a while.  I brought down a large pile of sheets and stray clothes that the kids left up there and got them in the wash.

My husband and Paige came home from cross country practice around 12:15 and so I kind of got sidetracked with them.  We had lunch and I cleaned up the kitchen.  My son wanted to go to his friend's house and while my husband took him, I stayed home with Paige.  That was around 1:30.  I vacuumed and dusted the living room, dining room, and staircase.  It took about an hour since I moved all the chairs in the dining room and my staircase is so big. 

After that, I was done.  I wanted to keep cleaning and organizing, but I couldn't. I got lazy.  Bored.  Tired.  I kept looking at my time sheet and thinking that I could get at least 6 more things done (it was around 3 pm by this time).  I kept thinking about how when I am at work time stops.  How I imagine all the million things that I could get done at home.  Yet when I am at home, time flies.  And it's as though nothing gets done.  I want to be on a regimented schedule, but don't like to be constrained at the the same time.

I wasted time on the computer and did laundry.  Around 5:30 Jeff and I started dinner.  My son was still at his friend's house.  My daughter had a friend over and I took them to get ice cream.  After she left, we went to pick up my son around 7:30pm.  On our way home, he saw another friend and went over his house and my husband went to work out.  It was around 8 pm and I thought that I could squeeze a few more things in before I went to bed. 

I loaded my car with cardboard recycling to drop off after work today and I cleaned my office desk.  I am doing a separate post on that! 

So while I would love to say that I efficiently worked every hour yesterday, I cannot.  But it wasn't a total loss.  My attic and office are much better.  My downstairs got cleaned and I have clean sheets ready for weekend guests.  I also realize that sometimes it's unrealistic to expect to work like a robot all day.  I have unrealistic expectations of my ability to manage my time.  I have to admit that I like to putz around throughout my day.  I like to have lazy day moments where I look at a magazine or just sit outside and hang out with my cat.  My to do list will still be there for tomorrow.  I can still try to use my time efficiently so that I don't waste my entire day.  Balance is all that I am looking to achieve.