How do you determine how much you should accomplish in a day?

[Jean in Newcastle]

I mean, it's easy to know that you have to meet certain deadlines or certain appointments but if I were working a 9-5 job, I would be expected to be busy doing stuff all day even if I've put out the "fires" and met minimum requirements.  How do you know at home when we are our own boss and you've put out your "fires" but there is an infinite list of things that could be done around the house?  Do you have "working hours"?  Do you have a set minimum you must do all day?  Do you slack off?  Do you. . . (fill in the blank here). . . 

[Carrie12345]

If I had to pick a pre-defined category, I suppose I'd have to say I slack off.

 

For me, kids alive, fed, clean clothes available (not necessarily worn, unless we're going out, lol,) pets cared for, education provided, and dishes washed is a win.

 

Some days I do a heck of a lot more, some days I barely win by the skin of my teeth.  It all depends on what else is going on in our lives.  The other day, I KonMari'ed the kids' dresser.  Today, the park was way more important to me than stupid household stuff.  

[medawyn]

This probably depends on the season one is in. Right now? Everyone has to be fed and dressed in (relatively) clean clothes. The floors have to be reasonably clean, because my 10 mo old Hoover is amazing at putting things in her mouth she shouldn't. I'm battling morning (all day) sickness, so I'm settling a lot. I can almost imagine a season in which I have older children, am more or less sleeping through the night, and can get more ambitious with my minimums.

 

Of course, today my car wouldn't start, so even my bare minimum looker a little bare. It happens.

[SebastianCat]

I really try to be as productive as possible whenever I can, because I've discovered that I have seasons where life is crazy and most of my time is spent running from one thing to the other.   So during the summer, I try to schedule at least 3-4 projects around the house each week that only get done a couple times per year (like pressure washing or deep cleaning).   When we are doing school and my kids are working independently and don't need my help (which doesn't happen all the time, even at their ages), I try to have a mental list of ongoing projects to work on - lesson plans for the co-op class I teach, research for next year's curriculum (closer to spring when convention season is approaching), prep for my Sunday School lesson that I teach twice a month, etc.  

 

I actually need to remind myself to "schedule" some fun things and some downtime.   Because I'll get into a groove where I'm always working, always pushing, and it's hard to calm down and relax.

[KungFuPanda]

I try to accomplish school, food, and basic housekeeping. Generally I can pull off two of the three and slack on one. Some days I'm a superstar. Some days I'm a slug. I teach 6 dance glasses a week, so most of my home productivity is finished by 5 p.m. After that I'm a couch potato or in class.

 

My home is imperfect, but I'm on schedule for school and we manage to eat several meals a day. Downstairs stays reasonable because people are over 2-3 days a week. Upstairs gets a little messier before I worry about it, but it's not horrible. I know that Monday is my most productive day at home, so it's my more ambitious cleaning day. Thursdays are co-op so it's crock pot dinner and a hard crash at day's end. Laundry gets folded in front of the TV at night and put away the next morning.

 

I really go for completing our schoolwork, clean clothes, decent food, and housekeeping that doesn't leave me embarrassed if someone drops by. This takes the bulk of my day, but I take generous breaks at lunch, around 5 p.m., and late at night.

[Seasider]

This is a good question. When I make todo lists, i tend to expect too much of myself, then get burned out. When I don't make a list, I feel a bit afloat and move slower.

 

It's pretty easy for me with school stuff, I know what/how much needs to be done each day. It's the household stuff that gets me down. I am finding myself a bit discouraged these days as there doesn't ever seem to be quite enough time to pursue personal interests.

[Loowit]

My primary job right now is schooling my kids.  It takes a lot of mental and emotional energy just for that these days.  Both of my boys require a lot of one on one and my daughter needs a lot of help this year to keep on task.  Anything I get done beyond that is bonus.  i consider it a successful day if we get through all of our lessons and I am able to get kids to their activities on time.  The only day there aren't activities during the week is Friday.  I also have to carve out time for volunteer work, which in a typical week is 10 hours.  Housework sadly falls by the wayside too often.  DD's chore is dishes and help with laundry.  The boys have other things that they do around the house, so it is never filthy, but never as clean as I would like.  Right now our house is a disaster because we are having renovation work done after a water leak this last spring so we have boxes all over the house.

 

I set up my time to get up at 7:30 for workout, shower, and breakfast.  School starts at 9 and ends when we are all done.  Some days the boys are done by lunch, other days we are working in the afternoon too.  DD usually has schoolwork until 3.  After school is run kids to activities and usually i don't get home until between 8 and 9.  Tonight is a light nigh with just dance, soccer practice, and an unexpected doctor appointment.  I take downtime as I have a chance.  I have been trying to get about 30 to 60 minutes to myself before starting the taxi service.

[Annie G]

When we were raising kids, I was super busy and barely had time for myself.  Now that the kids are grown, I'm making up for that. I slack. I have a list of things I do daily and also make a daily to do list along with a weekly goals list. But I don't fill it with too much- I leave time to read, sew, ride my bike, or whatever I want to do. I figure I earned this time all those years when I worked many more than 8 hours a day.   

 

Some days I accomplish a whole lot...other days not so much. I feel good about each of them because in the long run, it balances out. 

 

 

[regentrude]

I don't have an infinite list to do at home- I must be doing it wrong. But then, I have a full time job, so I do at home what is needed:

I need to make sure we have nutritious food in the house, clean dishes and clean clothes, and that the house is not filthy. I cook a warm meal for lunch that we eat healthy.

We need to school; DS is mostly independent.

When the kids were younger, my need-to-do list would include driving them to work and extracurriculars, and spending time at the park with them.

Errands occur as needed; non-urgent tasks like dry cleaning etc can be put off.

 

Beyond that? I do what I feel moved to and have the energy for. Yesterday I spent 14 hours in the car taking DD to college, and today I am on campus until 8pm, so nothing extra gets done at home. Because I stay on top of the basics, I can absorb a few days like this without things descending into chaos.

When I have time and inclination, I work in the yard or bake or declutter.

[Annie G]

Are you a list person?

 

I am a list person. I thrive on lists- I want to see what I need to do and mark it off when I'm done. My list paper of choice is a plain 3 by 5 index card- I buy them at the beginning of the school year and always have a stack by my chair. I have my daily list and a weekly goals list- I think I'm weird but I'm hoping some of you are list people, too.  So I can feel less weird. 

 

 

[Jean in Newcastle]

Are you a list person?

 

I am a list person. I thrive on lists- I want to see what I need to do and mark it off when I'm done. My list paper of choice is a plain 3 by 5 index card- I buy them at the beginning of the school year and always have a stack by my chair. I have my daily list and a weekly goals list- I think I'm weird but I'm hoping some of you are list people, too.  So I can feel less weird. 

Let's see. . . I post a daily tackle list online. . . yup, I'm a list person!  

[Annie G]

Let's see. . . I post a daily tackle list online. . . yup, I'm a list person!  

 

I tried posting a daily list to your threads but I found that I really needed my paper list to keep me on track...probably because if I come on here to mark off what I've done I end up multislacking for half an hour.   Do you only use the list you post here or do you have a paper, or are you sharp enough to just remember what your goals are each day?

[Jean in Newcastle]

I tried posting a daily list to your threads but I found that I really needed my paper list to keep me on track...probably because if I come on here to mark off what I've done I end up multislacking for half an hour.   Do you only use the list you post here or do you have a paper, or are you sharp enough to just remember what your goals are each day?

My core list (up until about 2 pm or so) is the same every day.  So I just do that by rote.  The "specials" are written up on a big chalkboard in our hallway where I also put special assignments for different people.  My kids have taken to putting up their own personal to-do lists on there or things they hope I will do as well.  So for those I check the hallway chalkboard or come look here on my list.  

[Annie G]

Jean, funny you say that about the chalkboard! When dd was studying for spelling bees we installed a 2 by 3 foot whiteboard in our living room as an aid. It took her three years to get to the bee, but by that time we'd grown used to the board and started using it just like you use your chalkboard. She just graduated from COLLEGE and that stupid board is still there. And still used to list stuff that needs to be done.   

[Guest]

I generally put out the "fires," do all the routine stuff (make dinner, do laundry, basic pick-up, take care of animals, etc.), get a little time to do what I like, and, if I am feeling energetic, I'll do some or a lot of the other stuff.

[Guest]

Are you a list person?

 

I am a list person. I thrive on lists- I want to see what I need to do and mark it off when I'm done. My list paper of choice is a plain 3 by 5 index card- I buy them at the beginning of the school year and always have a stack by my chair. I have my daily list and a weekly goals list- I think I'm weird but I'm hoping some of you are list people, too. So I can feel less weird.

I'm a list person. I use small yellow steno pads. I do not *always* use them; sometimes I'll just pants it for a few weeks. But most times, I start to feel like I'm walking around going, "OH, that's right! dS needs the check for the PSAT!" And then, "Darn, this light is still burned out and it takes this special bulb!" After I do that about a dozen different things, I whip out my list and write it down. The most immediate tasks get a star beside them. Sometimes I write down stuff I was doing anyway, just to boost my sense of accomplishment. And, yes, sometimes I write an item on the list only so I can cross it off.

[Guest]

I do what needs to be done. That would be stuff like school, tend everyone's hygiene, feed all the people, do whatever around the house needs to be done for it to be at my comfort level.

 

Then I do what I feel like doing, work-wise. That would be stuff like re-organizing the book shelves. Extra cleaning. Vacuuming the car or something along those lines.

 

And then I do whatever I want to do.

[medawyn]

I have finally decided to drop the to do lists, and just work by time. I work best in spurts with downtime between chores. When I make to do lists, I always over estimate what I will get done. I do have a bare minimum for each day, though--work shifts, schooling dc, cooking, dishes, laundry, pets, grocery shopping, picking up. The cleaning is done in certain time increments as time and energy are available. The house is never as clean as I'd like, but it's good enough for now. When I've done the minimum, and then completed extra stuff in my allotted time increments, if it's 8:00pm or after, I quit.

 

I have a huge list of "when I get to it" items.  I've broken it down into tasks that can be interrupted and tasks that really need a few hours focus.  I rarely have time for the latter, so unless something reaches emergency status (rare), I find myself chipping away at the rest of the items in 10-15 minute chunks.  I can't have a "today to do" list, because I will just wind up frustrated.  The basics get done every (or, um, most) day and lots of thing pop up to add to or interrupt the basics.  But when I actually have downtime that isn't eaten up by ordinary maintenance chores, it's nice to have a "to do" list to work from.

[AMJ]

I tried posting a daily list to your threads but I found that I really needed my paper list to keep me on track...probably because if I come on here to mark off what I've done I end up multislacking for half an hour.   Do you only use the list you post here or do you have a paper, or are you sharp enough to just remember what your goals are each day?

 

"Multislacking" -- I like that!

 

I like lists, but not quite as much as Jean, I think.  I do better with paper, too, and it's not just having the list in hand (sometimes I'll photograph my paper shopping list with my phone in case I lose or forget it).  I think it's the physical act of writing it down -- that has always helped me absorb more in school (and today DD11 remarked that this works for her -- she was surprised, then not, when I told her I was the same way).

 

When I was younger I could remember everything I needed to.  I could even remember stuff I shouldn't have, such as whole conversations overheard and not really listened to -- conversations complete with EXACT choice of wording and tone of voice.  That got me in trouble when I was a kid.

 

Now that I'm older and have encountered a LOT more stuff I'm always supposed to remember I find I don't retain it all anymore.  I think it was the prolonged deluges of information inflicted upon me in the workplace, combined with the ever-necessary learn-on-the-fly of being a parent, dealing with an aging parent, and enough other lifetime crises (including some that never should have been "crises" but family blew them up anyway).  I have, quite simply, been trained to NOT remember.  I've been trained to have so many distractions that I cannot complete processing things into proper brain storage for retrieval later.  I actually have to mindfully concentrate on things, something that came effortlessly when I was younger.

 

The door trick usually works for me, too -- you know, if you forgot something that was in your head a moment ago passing back through the door you just came through (or series of doors, if need be) to get back into the space in which you remembered it or thought of it usually helps you recall it.  However, I have found that if distractions are too lengthy or too numerous I'll forget which doorway I need to get back through to remember whatever it was I had just forgotten.

 

Much of the time what I'm trying to remember is where I put the list I just wrote.

[pehp]

I have the must-dos, then the list of should-dos, and I build in ample time for leisure.  But not too much time. :) 

 

Must-dos every weekday are teaching, music practice, cooking, laundering, writing my morning pages and the typical daily chores such as making the beds, cleaning the kitchen, feeding pets, tidying up.  Most days exercise is a must-do.

 

I usually spend a little time each day on tidying and cleaning a specific area of the house.  For instance, Monday I ironed through a pile of things I needed to tackle.  Tuesday I vacuumed. Yesterday I scrubbed the downstairs bathroom in great detail.  I have a sort of routine for these things.  Today?  Today I just vacuumed the main room--easy.  

 

Other things that are on the list would be correspondence, baking projects, errands (I am very careful w/ errands), fun things I want to remember to do w/ my children, service projects, phone calls to return, etc.  

 

Each day I make sure I do rest a little bit.  Today I actually took a nap.  But rest for me often looks more like doing a sewing project. 

 

I keep a spiral bound notebook on the kitchen counter and this is the daily list.  A page a day.  When it is full, I keep whatever I need  (phone #s jotted down, info I want to retain) and recycle the rest.