Hello Dimensional Readers,

I’m so glad that you have decided to read today’s post. I hope that I can bring some humor, encouragement, and some tips for your daily life. Please do enjoy.

How many of you struggle with finding time for everything while being your own boss working from home? How many of you struggle with getting simple healthy meals together? How many of you struggle with just normal chores while working from home? Do you cook your meals at the same time your working? Do you struggle with just finding time to work at all while dealing with normal life? (Can I raise my hand here?) psst… Did you raise your hand? Ha, good! I’m not alone! (just kidding)

Time

So let’s take a look at how we struggle with finding time for everything while being your own boss working from home. This is for most of us who don’t have a team of people to delegate “work” jobs to. I want to say that for me I did a lot of research to get some kind of perspective of what I was getting myself into before committing to work from home. I can say the struggle is real and I do realize that I’m going to need a team to help with this business if it’s ever going to survive. For now, I’m still in the infancy to crawl stage. I intend to learn everything there is and unfortunately for me, its taking a lot of time. For everything that is learned, its implemented immediately or I will lose the concept. Which this also means that a lot of normal chores I do in my home are somewhat either getting ignored or being put off for another day. So here’s what I learned.

• Except you can not do everything in a day.
• Delegate if you are able.
• List all chores and things that has to be done with-in the home. (Separate list for business)
• Take the list you just made and decided which is the most important ( I picked a few at time and then added to it as time would allow)
• Complete only the tasks, chores or what ever is the most important to you. (note: Time yourself to see how long it takes to do each task or chore. If it takes less than 5 min., don’t write it down on the calendar. Things that take at least 30 min to an hour or so should be placed on the calendar.
• Use a calendar to help delegate which items need to be done at a specific time or day. (note: When starting out, I used this idea a lot. I made my own paper calendar so as to not confuse the spouse on the normal everyday calendar.)
• Color code the holidays so they don’t get lost in the chaos. (note: I used one color for all holidays, another color for birthdays, and another color for days off or days that are just strictly for family.) I would like to mention here that color coding chores is also a great idea as long as they are not the same colors as the ones you used for the holidays, birthdays and so on.
• Look for Items you no longer need. Box them up and deliver then to charity or donate them.
• Put seasonal stuff away.
• Eliminate things that need constant cleaning. Example: dust collectors. Exception to the rule is family heirlooms.
• Down size books, magazines, clothing, etc.,
• Try to limit the amount of items that people brings to you. Example: Craft supplies outside of your normal craft list. Things that don’t mesh with what your doing currently.

I can say that everything on this list is still a working process.

Meals

I would like to say that I’m an expert here but I can’t, despite that I like to cook. I still struggle in this area finding healthy foods to cook that don’t take a ton of time. You may find this amusing and that’s fine by me but my solution is this: I cook foods that I can cook in large batches at a time that will last for at least four days. (2 people here), So a family more than 2 may have to expand even more. So basically, I dedicate one morning to brain storm what we are having for the week according to what I have on hand. I may have to do some research online to see if I have everything to make a particular meal. (These days I have stepped away from normal written cook books). I do write down any recipes that I come across that may be of use.

• Research
• Make a list of what you have
• Make a list of what you don’t have
• Plan ahead meal Plan
• Write down the Meal Plan on a calendar
• Leave room for (spouses who grumble at what’s planned or family)
• Prep a day ahead parts of meal
• Day Of: cook large batches of the meal. Feed. Either freeze or refrigerate or both the left overs.
• Start the next weeks meal Plan.

Now for the most part I have done a lot of these things thru out my working life. There are a few that I have left to the way side after I left the work force outside the home. Now, that I have been working on starting my own business I have found that I need a Meal Plan again.

I would like to point out that making two meal plans might be the ideal thing. One for the frig for the whole family to see and another to put with your chore list and work schedule. This will help insure that you can easily maneuver any items around if need be. (The most important thing is to stay flexible no matter what. There is always going to be some unforeseen thing that come’s up and when it does you will be a bit more prepared for it.)

Today, or I should say lately, my comfort breakfast has become an every other day kind of thing. I’ve been contemplating to having it just on the weekends. You might be wondering what did I replace my breakfast with? I can say that I switched to cold cereal. One day (whole grain), oatmeal another day (fruit added at times), toast and egg, and then my comfort breakfast. (I may have to give up my bacon all together due to bacon shortage.) (p.s. Don’t burn the bottom of your pot steaming your veggies while working like I just did.)

Chores

I have yet perfected getting all my chores done while being a working from home. I can’t imagine anybody else does it all either. If you know someone who can or you are such a person please get a hold of me. I would love to know your secrets. Maybe you would indulge me to tell the rest of the hard working people. (note: I can say that projects that are a one time thing or things that have to be repaired rarely are easy to knock off the list. Its the constant every day chores that are the issue and/ or the things that get pushed off to the side constantly that need to get done that are not getting done.) Hmmm,,, maybe those should be done first? What do you think?

Some Things Don’t Always Mix

As you read above that steaming a pot of cauliflower doesn’t always mix well with working. Sometime one can get lost in their work that they can forget to check on the meal cooking. To help combat this is to turn on the timer for everything that is cooking. (Ya, I should practice what I preach! For the most part I do use a timer. It’s just this time I have to buck this system to only be rained back in to do the old stand by and use the timer.) (To tell you the truth, I didn’t think this would take that long but I was wrong.) (smile)

Exercise

I nearly forgot to add exercise. For me, I keep exercise simple for now. Another words, taking a short walk out side in the morning just enough to get the heart pumping helps build my strength and durance. Maybe running up and down the staircase could get the ticker going. One thing to keep in mind if your sitting for long periods of time is to get up every hour. This is another area of mine where I could easily lose track of time. There are many different types of exercises that can be done to build strength and durance. Its just a matter of finding what works for you and where you think you could fit it in your schedule. I can say I’m no exercise guru or an expert and all exercise should be approved by your physician. This is just my opinion I’ve what I do.

Pesky Everyday Life Interfering With Work

This is incredibly important. Those pesky interference in life just might need to be taken care of and put work on hold. Sometimes those pesky things are things that end up being important in the long run. So don’t ignore them or put them off for too long. Do them quickly as you can so that you are able to get back to work. ‘Patients is a virtue.” I can say I’m still working on my patients, durance and skills. I can say learn to except that there are things that you can’t change so just go with it. As most people would say, “it’s part of life and deal with it.” So here is my solution: I plan for the unexpected. I plan work related stuff around what I anticipate pesky life moments. Example: When a someone needs help with a wood splinter pulled out of their finger. (for real here, true story)

I want to point out that this is by far perfected but I’m trying to do a bang up job of doing it. Thanks for reading this if you made it to here. Please do come back and read all the other available stories. You might be interested to read this: Time Management In Difficult Times You may also be interested in this: Hello and Welcome

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