FlyLady Alternatives

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[Sperran]

I feel a little silly admitting that; you'd think I'd have learned time management along the way by now.  But everything just kind of got turned upside down when the baby was born, and somehow it just keeps on going...  I am not at my best when my routines are interrupted, unfortunately, and though I've developed new routines around her, the baby's awfully good at interrupting them and shaking them up anyway.  (As babies are prone to do.)

One thing to remember also is to not be too hard on yourself.  You might find websites and books to be somewhat helpful, but you also have to remember that babies can and will destroy the schedule of even the most organize person.  Naptimes will change; hungry times will change; fussy times will change.  One of the best things you can do is work with your husband to make time that one person is devoted to keeping an eye on baby needs while the other person power cleans.  If you have friends or relatives that are willing to donate a little Natalie time while you clean or get other things done, so much the better.  After having my son, I'm convinced that at least 3 adults per active baby is a good ratio.

Sperran

[Jenett]

Are there even sites for things like that?  It seems like such a basic skill it would be difficult to teach.   

I second "Getting Things Done". One of the real powers of it is that it works by context - so I have 'home', 'phone', 'errands', etc. You could have a context for 'sleeping baby', for example, so that when you have a sleeping child, you can figure out quickly which things really need to get done first.

Also, you might want to check out http://43folders.com - tons of productivity help and commentary there, and the wiki has some great summaries of different approaches. (That's at http://wiki.43folders.com).

I've found a combination of a paper notebook and the Remember The Milk website (free!) to be my best combo for tracking things. I've also found that identifying the 3-4 really big things I want to get done in a week to be useful. (This week it was finishing an article for submission, doing a major housecleaning, and sending off lots of Pagan Pride programming email questions: I obviously am also going to work, getting ready for ritual, and other stuff, but those things moved me forward on important projects.)

[soulfire]

Guys,

I thank everyone for their input, but over the weekend I realized something...  I've been looking for the wrong sort of site.     It's not so much "how to get and keep my house clean" that I need, it's just time management in general. 

I was a fly baby for a long time, but then I also realized that it wasn't seeing things that needed to be done, and besides I like to be more spontaneous with what I do.  Zones for me are just another rule to break.

But the one biggest thing that I did take away from the site, in the way of time management which I've never been good at, was the timer.  Especially when my kids were little if I didn't set a timer and tell myself I could do anything for blank amount of minutes, I couldn't get it done.  Part of that was constantly getting distracted by other things some of them babies, but a lot of it was just finding excuses to procrastinate.  My timer stopped all that for me.  In addition, it really helped me with my little kids.  If they knew they only had to work on their rooms for a certain period of time and play for a period of time after the timer went off before going back to it, it became 'doable'.

[Koimichra]

Wanted to check in and see how the process was going!

[Star]

Wanted to check in and see how the process was going!

Pro...cess? 

I'm keeping my head above water, but not making much forward progress.  Waiting on helpful books from the library; there are several other people in line in front of me.  (At least I'm not the only one with these problems?)  Not that this is a good excuse.

Mr. Star took a day off last week and cleaned, and then we used out baby-free time (grandparents had her overnight) to continue that the next day, and that helped bunches with getting some of the bigger jobs done.  There's still plenty left to do, though.

[rose]

Mr. Star took a day off last week and cleaned, and then we used out baby-free time (grandparents had her overnight) to continue that the next day, and that helped bunches with getting some of the bigger jobs done.  There's still plenty left to do, though.

oh dear. I hope you also had a date planned for that time, and not just cleaning . The biggest regret I have about when my daughter was a baby was not making enough time (or any, actually) to go out as a couple. Although I will admit that cleaning probably would have been something we would have considered a higher priority at a certain point when the kids were really little, but I do think now that this was a mistake.

[Star]

I hope you also had a date planned for that time, and not just cleaning .

Oh, yes.  My parents take her overnight every other Friday (for which we are supremely grateful--love her but the time alone together is important too, as you note) and it's a pretty set-in-stone rule of the household that those Friday nights are for date night.  No exceptions.  We eat out or get takeout, we watch stupid movies and laugh at them, we spend time as a couple and not as "Mom and Dad".  No housework, no plans with other people, etc., etc.  So Mr. Star cleaned Friday until I got home from work, and then we had date night Friday night and cleaned some more on Saturday. 

[rose]

  So Mr. Star cleaned Friday until I got home from work, and then we had date night Friday night and cleaned some more on Saturday. 

Now *that's what I call time management

[MadHouseWitch]

I quit flylady too.... It kinda worked for me but not for too long,  I am one who likes to be a bit flexible on what I do.  But I found this from some site when I was looking for FlyLady alternatives
http://www.motivatedmoms.com/
They are a Christian based homeschool site BUT you can get the calendar without any religious ref.  I LOVE this though because its just a checklist, do whats on the list and your done.  And it really does rotate everything you can think of! 
Now the catch is that it does cost.... but I think its really worth the $8

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