Household Administration: How I Manage My Favorite Time Block
Good morning friends and welcome to the end of the week!
As you know, I have a love of time blocking and use them throughout my day. Each one is unique and specific to the tasks that I need to get done during specific times of day, and because of that each one is very tailored to my schedule and our families needs.
One of the time blocks I often receive questions about is my 7:00-8:00 Household Administration time block. What is it? What in the world am I doing during this time? Well, today I thought I would answer those questions and provide a detailed breakdown of what I'm doing during this, in my opinion, critical time during my day. The tasks that I need to achieve in this time can be done anywhere between 7:00-8:00am. Thats the beauty of time blocking, assigning a chunk of time with no time restraint on any individual tasks allows for breathing room and to catch up on unexpected items.
(Please note that I have a totally different personal time block from 5:30-7:00AM. This is where my spirituality, fitness and beauty tasks are scheduled.)
Household Administration - Daily To Do List
1. All Things Money
Check out this blog post for details on how I budget yearly, use Mint and track cash flow. and check out youtube for a video discussion!
Each morning I spend approximately 10 minutes on finances. I check accounts and spreadsheets, balance the budget, pay any bills, update any account information and just do a general check in of how our finances are looking that day. Knowing exactly where we stand financially always starts my day off on the right foot.
2. Emails and Correspondence
During this time block I send or reply to any emails, write any birthday cards or cards that need to be done and send text messages to any friends or family that I need to catch up with.
Looking for some inspiration on time blocking? Check out this post!
3. Book Appointments
I use this time to schedule any appointments that need to be booked for the upcoming month. Since most businesses aren't open until 9:00, I leave a message on their system so they call me back to arrange a time for the appointment.
4. Update Amazon Cart
I try and do one amazon order at the beginning of each month. Trying to do one order a month means that I need to continually keep track of what our family is running low on and be conscious about adding it to our cart for the month ahead. Each morning I do a quick mental check of any items that I need to add to my cart, and also take this time to do some cost comparison between Amazon and other shopping institutions.
Need help organizing a specific aspect of your life? Check out the consultations page and lets figure it out together!
5. Update Shopping Lists
While I'm adding items to my Amazon cart I will also add any items onto my grocery list, Target list or Costco list. I keep track of these on Google Keep.
6. Amelia's School Curriculum
I spend about 10-15 minutes preparing Amelia's school activities for the day during this time block. We have our "homeschool" in the afternoon after nap time, so preparing the school day in the morning allows my nap time to be a bit more open (with more time for coffee). We're trying out the 'Before Five In A Row' curriculum for 2 - 4 year olds and are really looking forward to diving into this book based learning!
7. Check My Calendar
The final step of my Household Administration time block is checking my calendar and updating my to do list for the day. This is where I do any short or long term planning, text friends about future playdates, ensure that I know exactly where I need to be for the day and generally just feel totally prepared for the day ahead of me. I use Google Calendar for my calendar and Google Keep for my to do list.
Making sure these 7 items get checked off my to do list at the beginning of each day sets me off on the right foot. I know that I'm prepared and ready to tackle whatever the day has in store for me... most of the time!
How do you prepare for your day? Let me know in the comments!
<3
Lauren
