Sorting out our lives

With the new financial year fast approaching, I decided to look at not only our finances, but other areas of our lives that need some work. I'm using the new financial year as a clean slate.

Area's in which I want to work on are:

• Debts
• Kids quality time
• Routines
• Housework/organising/decluttering
• Me time
• Mummy, Daddy time
• Family time
• Friends

I'm going to sit down and work out ways in which I can improve on each of these areas. For eg. With Debts, I want to get the car loan under $10000 by the end of July (It's at $12400ish at the moment). Easy to say, but is it doable? I really hope so!

I will do another post once I've made a plan, but for now the best thing I can do for myself is to get some sleep :)

Coping with 4 kids under 6 - A typical day

A few weeks ago, I did a post on things we do that help to cope with 4 kids under 6 which you can find here.

I promised to post about a typical day in our house, and here it is:

7.30: Everyone up and out of bed

• Breaky
• Dressed
• Teeth
• Hair, etc
• The older 2 make their beds and tidy their rooms

Hubby works afternoon shift so he helps with the morning rush. 1 parent usually gets Missy ready for school while the other gets the boys ready.

8:45: Hubby walks Missy to school (this is their one on one time)

• Put a load of washing on
• Boys outside for play if a nice day
• Feed pets
• General tidy
• Hang load/start another if needed, but usally stick to 1 a day

10:30: Snack time

• Free play
• Feed bubs

11:00: Bubs nap (depends how he slept the night before cause he's teething, but normally this is his nap time)

12:00: Lunch

• Mr 2's nap
• Spend time with Mr almost 4
• Quick tidy
• Rest

2:00: Start getting ready to pick Missy up from school.

3:20: Back home, chill with kids.

• Homework is done on a Monday.
• Reading every day

4:00: Washing off and folded, put away if the kids are behaving.

• Kids play

4:30: Dinner prep

• Kids usually play outside, or I put a movie on. Missy helps mummy

5:30-6:00: Dinner.

• Bubs eats what we eat and often has a quick nap after dinner (again depending)
• Spend time with kids

6:45: Baths

7:00: Mr 2's story and bed time

• Missy and Mr almost 4 help mummy tidy up and load dishwasher (i usually unload it while making dinner)

7:30: Quiet time

• Watch TV
• Read
• Start getting bubs ready for bed

8:00: Bubs bed time

• Kids continue quiet time

8:30: Big kids stories and bed time

• I tidy up
• Prepare Missy's lunch for following day
• Lay out clothes
• Pack anything needed for the following day, such as Library bag for Library day etc
• Catch up on my favourite show
• Catch u on facebook, blogs etc

10:30: shower

• Start dishwasher as it's cheaper rates

11:00: Bed - I've been naughty recently and haven't been going to bed til almost midnight, this has to change lol.


That's pretty much how a typical day goes around here :).

Today wasn't a typical day, as Hubby is doing another double shift, so Missy stayed at my sisters lastnight and my brother called and said that he'll pick Missy up from school as he is coming to our house to use the gym.

Routine

I have been tracking my daily routine, and jotting it down every hour, for the last few days. I've already noticed where the "Time Wasters" are, and each day have noticed I slight change (for the better) in my routine, not only because it's a new day, but because I'm aware of my actions, and where I wan't to improve things.

The main areas in which need improving are as follows:

• Go to bed earlier and/or get up earlier - I'm trying, I really really am :)
• Watch less TV - Done! As long as I watch Home and Away I'm happy lol
• Cut down Computer time - This is hard, but I have limited my computer time.
• Leave the Mobile alone - Done! My bill was $16 higher then expected, so this ones easy to do.
• Priotitise - Still Learning.
• Lower my standards - I noticed a lot of my time was spent constantly cleaning/tidying, even though I'd already done a before bed tidy, plus a morning tidy.
• Baking - I love it, but it was hard to find time, and/or I made excuses, so now I whip up something while dinners cooking. I get double the result, and less time wasted.

There's a few other issues, like washing, weeding etc, but I figure this all comes down to getting up earlier. As with today I got up at 7.30 (early for me) and I was able to do 3 loads, 2 dried, 1 was still a little damp because it was hung out later, and I got a fair bit of weeding done too. Made a nice Potato Bake for dinner, plus some biscuits and a carrot cake, which to my horror I ran out of butter and coudn't make the icing :( lol

(Sorry if this is a bit over the place, I'm doing some Maths with Miss 4)

 I've even had time to spend with the kids properly, and do some work with Miss 4, like Maths or Reading.

I am very happy with how things are turning out, and I already feel so much more at ease, and definitely do not feel so overwhelmed like I did before.

Todays routine 21/04/11

I'll be doing a few posts on routines while I'm on my journey to get up earlier, learning about, and putting into practice, time management.

8am: Out of bed, got kids up, got their brekky, started a load of washing, got them dressed, did their teeth and hair. I got dressed, teeth and hair done.

9am: Miss 4 and Mr 2 off to school.

9.15: Back home, hung 1st load, started another.

9.30: Had brekky, chatted with hubby and fed bub his 2nd and 3rd brekky (being mine and my husbands lol)

10am: Made beds, swish and swiped the bathroom, general tidy, re-organised boys drawers thanks to Mr 2 pulling everything out to play 'dress ups'. Fed animals.

11.15: Dropped Hubby down my parents as he is borrowing my dad's car for work. Chatted to Mum, Dad, Nan and Pop for a bit.

11.50: Returned home and put bubs to bed.

12pm: Hung next load out.

12:15: Had lunch and chilled for half an hr

12.45: Made a start on the room (everything was put in it's rightful home, wiped over, vac'd every nook and cranny)

2.30: Bubs woke up, he had lunch and I had another lunch lol. We played for a bit.

3.15: Got washing off the line.

3.30: Got ready to pick up the kiddies.

3.50: Got to mums (Miss 4 is having a sleep over) Chatted with the family for a bit, kids ate chocolate, played, rode bikes/scooters/go carts.

4.30: The boys started getting grumpy as they were both very tired so started getting ready to come home.

5pm: Back home, started dinner and refilled our drink bottles and put in freezer ready for our trip to the Easter show tomorrow (which reminds me I'm meant to be baking snacks to take...ooops lol)

5.50: Ate dinner, Bub watched telly for a bit, while Mr 2 and Mummy picked clothes for tomorrow.

6.30: Cut both the boys hair (Bubs first hair cut :) ).

6.55: Boys in the tub.

7.10: Boys off to bed. Mummy watched TV and ate Bread and Butter Pudding :)

7.30: Blog time :)

8.18: Still Blog time lol :)

Tomorrow we'll be up at 6am and at 7.15 meeting at my parents, ready for everyone to head of to the show by 7.30... Everyone meaning, Me and my family, so Me, DH, Miss 4, Mr 2 and Mr 1, My mum and my nephew (5y/o), My Brother and his Fiance. We'll be having lunch with my sister, My nephews mummy, as she's working at the show. Should be a fun day and I can't wait to see the kids faces light up :)

We're taking our own food and drinks (I might be naughty and buy hot chips cause I LOVE hot chips lol)...

Hubby and I have agreed $20 each for the kids for showbags, except for the little feller, he's happy with food so we'll get him a couple of the choccie bags, so a lolly/chocolate one plus a character one, or how ever they want it as long as its within the amount allocated. I personally would rather them stick to food bags that way we don't have all that uneeded cr*p coming back into the house. Me, I'll get chocolate heheheh :)

I hope everyone's doing well with their journeys :)

Half way there and in need of a routine.

I'm 20 weeks pregnant today, and if the next 20 weeks go as fast as the last 20 weeks, then I really need to get my butt into gear and get myself and family into a routine before the baby arrives.

The scary thing is, the hospital are expecting an earlier and quicker birth then my previous which arrived a month early after a 2.5 hr labour. He was so tiny and definitely not ready to come out, and as a result had heart issues, so I'm hoping the hospital are wrong. But better to be prepared I guess.

I'm a night owl and have serious issues with going to bed early, as much as I'd love to I just can't seem to, and as a result I sleep in. Hubby's a gem he does afternoon shift and is a morning person so he does the brekky run in the morning and lets me sleep in... For some weird reason I can't focus unless I've had 10 hrs sleep...

I would love to be able to get up at 7am (or even earlier) to prepare myself for the day and have some quiet me time before the kids wake up. Our days at the moment are very rushed and stressful... For eg.
We get up do the whole brekky, teeth, dressed etc, then its dishes, bed making, washing, tidy up, lunch, Hubby off to work, I'm buggered and longing for bed but its only 1pm. Hubby never gets a break or time to himself, there's always something else that needs doing...

I've got my daily 'must do's' which are quick little jobs which help keep some things in order, but I need to get into a routine and stop this morning madness.

Please help me lol... I've never been good at sticking to routines/schedules, but it's time I learnt. I have to change...

What are your day to day routines like?