When you’re so busy taking care of your house and doing daily maintenance, and taking kids to events, and cooking yummy meals, and being a member of your church, and being a good neighbor, and having a hobby, and…and…and. You find yourself wondering when and how to schedule in special projects. You may even tell yourself there is no time for special projects.
You’re doomed to always be wishing for that time. You look at other people with wonder and awe as they paint their living room or declutter their entire home. Revamp your space with https://alextrendpainters.ie/interior-exterior-painting/‘s expert services.
“It must be nice to have the extra time to do that! Instead, I’m sitting over here on the soccer sidelines waiting to run home and make a pressure cooker dinner before we all fall asleep in our plates.”
What if I told you there was an easy solution?
Once you get your home under control with chores that you do daily, it seems like things are flowing very well. That is until you browse Pinterest and find a special project that you’d like to implement (#nailedit) OR you read a book and decide you must #declutterallthethings. Then, you just feel stuck – you have a good routine, but there isn’t really time in that routine for you to add anything else.
You will paint the bedrooms. When it comes to painting a house, the preparation stage is extremely crucial. Or you’d LOVE to get rid of all the junk in the garage. But, you know…it’s Town Day, so you just don’t have time to battle garage cobwebs.
Woe is me! I am undone! Must be nice to have that extra time. Right?
All of us have the same amount of time each day – we decide how to use it. That’s it.
The whole idea is that these are SPECIAL PROJECTS. It isn’t something that’s going to last for weeks and months on end. If you dedicate concentrated time to it, you can get it done and then return to regularly scheduled programing. And if you really don’t have the time to do a special project like Outdoor Surface Painting, then you should consider hiring a professional to do it for you.
Your house and life won’t fall apart during two weeks of special projects as long as you DO keep up your daily chores while you dedicate time to the project that’s burning a hole in your pocket. Painters Edmonton can help you with painting so you’ll have time to allocate to other chores.
So, let’s have an example: Sally wants to clean out the garage. She estimates it will take one dedicated week to do it. On Monday, she begins her laundry and then sets her kids up to play for an extended amount of time with special projects of their own (that helps them feel involved). Then she dedicates all her extra energy to the garage. Easy dinners are planned – the crock pot is her friend – and after 7 days, she is finished.
What’s the easy solution to getting special projects done? You pause life – you get said projects done – and then you return to your routine.
Because that’s the point of a routine – it’s something you can rely on and return to after taking time away. It grounds you and gives you stability. But you do NOT serve it. It serves you, even during your special projects.
So, Sally – go on with your bad self and get those special projects done. #pinwin
I am going to try this next Monday! I’ve wanted to finish the curtains in my bedroom for weeks…and between the day-to-day activities with 3 kids I have felt so frustrated that I never seem to find the time. Monday is my day I clean the house soooo….by the end of next Monday I plan to have a dirty house and finished curtains. Thanks for sharing – this is so practical!
Yay! I hope you’ll post your results!!!
I’m a new lover of routines. And I try to do my minimum daily chores to stay on top of things (laundry, dishes, meals etc).
But when I’m in the midst of a project it’s SOOO easy for me to lose track of time, forget that the washing has been in the machine for 3 wet days! Or even that my kids need feeding!!
It’s like I’ve got “project blinkers” on!!
Ha ha! Yes, that can be a problem. I try to set timers to remind me of things when I’m focused.
“But you do not serve it. It serves you!” YES! These two sentences just blew my mind! Thank you!! I am a person of routine but I think I’ve been serving it and it is stressing me out! Side project it is! Thank you ?
Say no to stress!
Girl, this post is my life right now! We are working on selling our home as well as fixing it up just a little just in case it doesn’t sell, we will love the home we are in. (Thanks for this realization from a previous post stating we should bloom where we are planted. Or was that a scope? Or both? Lol) anyways #squirrel I have decided that while Drew does school in the mornings at the table, that’s when I quickly clean up from breakfast (that I prepared in advance on Saturday!), throw the over night washed laundry in the dryer, sweep up and do a quick tidy. When he is all set up with school on the computer, I paint. I schedule in 15 min for me to clean my brush and clean up excess before I need to start lunch. When we have cleaned up from that and drew and (hopefully) Rory are down for quiet time, I get the supplies back out and I work for about 2 hours of so. I clean up 15 min before the quiet time bell goes off.
Will my house fall to pieces if I skip scrubbing my shower this week? No. Will all insanity break loose if we miss tory time at the library those week? No. Will I pick my normal routine back up next week when I’m finished? Yes! All will be fine.
Our routines re in place to work for us, not put pressure on us.
YES! Picking it back up is the key! Thanks for a good word, Amy!
Such a good topic! I struggle with this, especially b/c some of my projects require large chunks of time that I can’t always create (hello interruptions from my cute kids) easily, but this is a good reminder that just b/c it takes effort, it doesn’t mean we can’t find a way. 🙂
And it’s totally okay to dedicate time to it!
I’m trying to open a shop on Etsy and I knew I needed to find more time. I’ve tried to do little things and it has made a difference. For instance while the microwave is running I try to put up as many dishes as I can. I’ll do a couple things while the kids are working out a homework problem that they need me to check. I’ve found that little bits here and there really do add up. Great article Stacy!
Yes! Multi-tasking at its finest! 🙂
I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. If I don’t carve out the time, it won’t happen! Working on projects is something that gives me “breathing room” and recharges my batteries. Although the youngest is now 8, we still have 5 at home and we’re running hither and yon nearly constantly. Still, I manage to get at least one new project completed (and shared with my readers) each week, and my favorite “trick” is what I like to call “Pocket Time”. It’s easy to get dinner going and glue up some pieces or toss in a load of laundry and give a new project a quick coat of paint, then set it aside until I have another little pocket of time to invest in it. Finding little pieces of time here and there really adds up, and if I’m watchful – they’re there.
Pocket time – I LOVE THAT!