Routines and Schedules

It took me a long time to write out my many goals for September yesterday and I am sure it will also take me a long time to achieve them! I know it’s possible but only if I’m firing on all cylinders so to speak…and we all know that right now I am not.

Next month I am juggling a lot of balls and I’m wearing a lot of hats: I’m a wife, a mother to young adults, a mother to two teens (or almost teens), a daughter, a homeschooler, a creative (I have imposter syndrome and am unable to call myself a writer or an artist), a blogger, an occasional YouTuber, a gardener, small business owner, occasional and not very good homemaker, wannabe health freak, avid reader and postgraduate student.

Whoa!

No wonder I’m tired all the time!

I know being busy and productive is not really fashionable any more, but I am somebody who needs to be busy (and productive). My brain works nineteen to the dozen and if I don’t exhaust myself each day I have no chance of falling asleep #cripplinglifelonginsomnia. And if I am not occupied for at least 18 hours a day I become mischievous and bored…

…and no-one wants that! Just ask my family!

Obviously the most important part of a schedule is its starting time. Five was a marvellous starting time for me, except I just didn’t seem to be getting enough sleep. I don’t need a lot of sleep but I do need to make sure I’m ready for bed and resting for six hours at least. I want to plan for seven to make sure. I may only sleep a couple of hours but if I’m resting I seem to do okay.

The last two months I have been getting up at seven. This has not been good. I seem to get so little done and I’ve also noticed that I am tucking down later, often just after midnight because I’m not sleepy before then. This indicates to me that seven hours is about right to spend in bed.

Not five but not seven means that perhaps six is the happy number! So six will be my get up time and eleven will be my bed time.

Routine Monday to Saturday {6:00 – 9:00am}

Things I want to do during this time:

• Water and good bacteria supplement and turn on bread maker
• Coffee (of course!)
• Quiet-time with God/ Pray for family and those God puts onto my heart
• Do Noom, take blood pressure, weight and put on smart watch
• Take Harvey for a walk – whilst on the walk, pray for the twelve families God has put on my heart. Listen to an Elizabeth Elliot teaching session
• Coffee
• Write blog post
• Tidy room and make bed
• Read Master’s text book with any time I have left over

Routine Monday to Friday {9:00 – Lunchtime}

• Morning Meeting with the girls – We will do Bible study, Mystery of History, The Story of Science and Art: A Children’s Encyclopaedia
• At 9:30 I’ll work with Abigail on her study skills whilst Becca studies her chosen Master of Art
• The girls will do maths for one hour whilst I do some housework. Everyone does their bit around the home but there are still specific places which get neglected. I will start with these and try to get as much as I can done each day, depending on whether the girls need me or not.
• We will all go for a jog around the park – if anything is not going to happen it will be this. None of us enjoy jogging but it is very good for Charlotte’s health and encourages the girls to get outside in sunlight. Also it will be helpful with fitness for Bec’s football and Abs’ army cadets.
• The girls will then do English for an hour. They will be doing a course I have bought in. I will head over to my mum’s to have breakfast and catch up. She lives next door and is almost in her eighties so I like to spend as much time as I can with her. I take my super duper porridge with all the trimmings and we eat together.
• Becca will head over to mum’s for the second half of the hour to do spelling. I will cook lunch and prep dinner whilst listening to an Audible Book
• Lunch will be around 1230

Routine Saturday {9:00 – Lunchtime}

• Becca is free over the weekend, whilst Abigail will work for a couple of hours revising for her GCSEs
• On Saturday morning I pop to the post office and post any small business packages, any cards I have written over the week and get some money out for the green grocer.
• I then head to the green grocer for the week’s fruit and veg
• The rest of Saturday morning will be spent preparing for my master’s degree which starts up in October. I will read the text book and make notes and will flick through the Fostering and Adoption journals and make a note of the articles over the past year or so.

Lunchtime Routine Monday to Saturday {12:30 – 1:30pm}

• Lunch, this will be soup and bread, which I will take outside
• I want to do some gardening. This is the second most likely thing not to be done, after jogging in the park. We’ll see, but I really do want a nice place to look out on from my studio/office so I am quite motivated. I will be listening to an Audible book during this time.

Afternoon Routine Monday to Friday {1:30 – 4:00pm}

• The girls will do their independent work which I shall help out where needed, otherwise I will get on with my own routine.
• On a Monday, I will be focusing on my small business goals for the month. Adding products, creating products and getting things printed etc
• On Tuesday, I will focus on my blog/website. This will be my time to pre-write certain posts, update other posts and generally make my blog a bit more user friendly.
• On Wednesday, I will concentrate on my Mesopotamia unit study. This includes writing it, creating the products to go along with it and also making the instructional videos and blog posts to accompany it.
• On Thursday, I will focus on my blog/website. This will be my time to pre-write certain posts, update other posts and generally make my blog a bit more user friendly.
• On Friday, I will head off to a coffee shop and do some school planning, marking etc. Becs is doing a fun course during this time so I know I won’t be required to be around to help her. And a change of scene will do me good.

Afternoon on Saturday {1:30 – 4:00pm}

• All the girls and I will try to find at least one Saturday afternoon which we can spend together at Girls’ club. We’ll head off to the local town and shop the charity shops, have a coffee and chat together and possibly go for a swim.
• During the remainder of the Saturday afternoons I will be focusing on the room of the house I want to improve. In September, this will be my office/studio space. During this time, I will be listening to an Audible book.

Evening Routines Monday to Saturday {4:00 – 9:00pm}

These routines will change each day according to the girls’ activities and the lifts required. Gary is amazing at doing the lifts, which really blesses me. I struggle to see in the dark (I have a thing with my eyes which splits all the lights – my dad had the same and even though he drove for a living, he hated driving at night too) so the fact that Gary is happy to do the driving is amazing!

I will be cooking between 4 and 5 so I can get dinner on the table for five each day. I listen to a podcast or a book at this time and, in between cooking, I try to get little chores done in the kitchen and bathroom which are next to each other. If I need to post any orders which have come in from my Etsy shop, I will also do that here.

At five we will all eat together. On a Saturday, I do a special dinner of waffles, fruit salad, sausages and bacon, maple syrup etc. This is something I began during lockdown and we all love it so much we have continued.

After dinner, the children do chores. I will probably take this time to study until 7.30pm. This will be solely focused on my Master’s. At 7.30, I’ll take Harvey round the block for a quick walk, get all the bread ingredients into the bread machine to be turned on the next morning and then settle down with Gary to watch something until about 9pm. Usually I paint whilst I watch something because I am completely incapable of just watching the tv. I always need to be doing something with my hands. Painting is perfect!

Hopefully at this point I have walked my 10,000 steps, have reached my exercise goals for the day (which is 60 minutes) as well as closing my ring for activity calories burnt (I have that set at 1000 extra cals on my watch).

At nine, I will begin my nighttime routine which hasn’t really changed this year. It consists of a bath, when I listen to an Audible book and then sit and cool off in the dark on my rocking chair in the bathroom. By the time I am ready to go to bed, the rocking chair and the darkness has hopefully made me quite sleepy. I avoid bright lights, read a chapter of an actual book (as opposed to an Audible book!), set my alarm and pop my timer on for twenty minutes during which I listen to an Audible book (which my phone automatically turns off when the timer comes to an end) before hopefully drifting off to slumber land.

Saturday nights are likely to be different. These will either be filled by a date night, a family night or going out with friends.

Sunday

These tend to be our day of rest. For me, it is also a day of rest from healthy eating and exercise. Gary and I spend as much of the day as possible relaxing together. He may need to go to work very early morning but is often back by about nine. I mostly do a full roast on a Sunday and Gary and the girls often lead or sing in the worship band at church. Lillie is the current stand-in youth leader so she can be busy on a Sunday.

Most of my Sunday is spent watching YouTube videos or reading. Throughout the week, to stop myself from being lured into YouTube land (which is a huge pull for me), I create a playlist of all the videos I want to watch. I then watch them over the course of my Sunday. This is a really lovely treat for me and something I look forward to each week. It sort of sets me up and motivates me for the week ahead.

This routine for me takes into account all of my goals I shared yesterday and allows me the space and time to achieve them. All I have to do is turn up and actually do them!

I will update at the end of the month…