Time Management

Of course the "budgets" in the title of my blog refer to the budgeting of money, but I am beginning to realize there are many other things out there we can budget.  My pet budget today: the time budget.

I was watching a news story this morning about procrastination.  Now as you can probably tell from the three weeks since my last post, I have a little issue with that.  Well, little issues become bigger every day.  My older son is now four.  I've made a commitment to my family to be a stay at home mom and a homeschooler.  We're getting to the age where homeschooling is something that actually needs to be done instead of a philosophy that will come to fruition someday.  My responsibilities are growing constantly, but I have yet to change much.  I have no schedule to speak of, beyond "it's 2:00, go take a nap so I can sit here and stare at the tv for a while."  My day usually goes something like this:

7:30 or 8ish: wake up, give the kids some juice and whatever convenience breakfast they want (Finn likes instant oatmeal and Jude likes those cheesy peanut butter crackers-- yeah, I know, worst mother ever. My kids eat processed crap for their most important meal of the day.).
8:30:  Turn on PBS Kids. The kids stare at it for a while and I drink coffee and check my email... somehow this turns into 2 hours.  I think Bejeweled might have something to do with that.
10:30:  Realize we've all been staring like zombies at flashing screens for the last 2 hours and turn off the TV.  From here sometimes we make it to the library or grocery store, but more often the boys just go play in their room and I... what do I do?  I couldn't really tell you, honestly.  I throw a load of clothes in the washer sometimes.
Noonish:  Fix some sandwiches or something equally easy for lunch.
12:30-1 I usually chat with Hubby.
1:  Sometimes we read books, sometimes we go our separate ways and they play some more.  Sometimes we color or work on a project, though sadly these times are rare.
2-4: nap/quiet time.  I do homework, watch TV, surf the internet (for what, I don't know), and take a shower
4-5: prepare dinner.  at 5 Hubby gets home and there is absolutely no schedule after that.

Now, somedays there is a special event or I am just feeling motivated and I clean a room or exercise a bit.  But more often than not I am about the laziest, most slovenly person.  It's a bit ridiculous.  So today I decided I would look up time management.  I found a totally awesome blog, Wanting What You Have, that I will be referring to A LOT over the next few days as I try to create lists of things that need to be done everyday, a daily, weekly, and monthly schedule, and all those other good things.  Maybe this seems extreme to some of you, but believe me, I need it.  As a natural born Procrastinator, the thing I need most is an hour by hour schedule telling me exactly what to do.  Or else I'll spend 12 hours of my day playing puzzle games on the internet.

This may seem counter to my money budgeting plans, but it's really not.  Time is money, as they say.  I waste so much time and get so little accomplished, I know I have got to be paying for it in my finances.  As my breakfast example already proves.  Instant oatmeal and snack crackers cost a lot more than homemade foods.  With better time management there is time to make from scratch breakfast foods that can be stored and used throughout the week for convenience.  Also, I just had to shell out $12 in late fees to the library because I forgot to return items.  A clearer schedule would probably keep me more organized and items would not be late because they would go back to the library on scheduled library days.

It's a grand goal, I realize.  If anyone has any time management tips, I would love to hear them.  Currently I'm still trying to figure out how to even begin.  I'm not even sure what things are supposed to be done every day, much less allotting time to do them.  Wish me luck.