Our Quarantine Schedule
Designing a schedule that works for your family is an incredibly important (and sometimes daunting) task. Personally I am a huge believer in time blocking and have written extensively about it in a number of posts. I truly believe if you can harness the time blocking tool you can truly take control of your life. Even during a pandemic.
Some background
Before I begin, just a quick background on our family if you’re new to ‘An Organized Life’. We are a 3 person family which is myself, my Husband and our almost 4 year old daughter. My Husband is the sole provider working in advertising technology, I have been a homemaker since we were married and a stay at home mom to our daughter, Amelia. We enrolled Amelia into preschool last September 2 mornings a week, primarily for the social development aspect so she could enjoy and play with children her age. Before I was a homemaker and SAHM I was a competitive figure skating coach in Toronto, Canada.
Please be aware as you look at my schedule that it will look very different to your own. That’s because, although we may share some similarities, our lives are probably totally different. Maybe you have multiple kids, pets, are a single parent, working outside the home, don’t believe in TV, homeschool etc. The primary purpose of me sharing my schedule is to give you an idea of what time blocking can look like with the hopes that you may develop your own.
Entering the quarantine
When we entered into the quarantine in California due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I knew my schedule would have to be changed to accommodate our current normal. I immediately developed a time blocking schedule with nothing but good intentions to make sure every moment of my time was utilized and spoken for. And, although my schedule was and super fun with rainbow color coding, I discovered that in fact, that schedule did NOT work for our family. So, I scraped it and instead went totally with the flow. I watched for several weeks to see where our energy was going. What tasks felt right in different time slots throughout our day. About a month into the quarentine life I finally sat down and wrote out our new schedule.
Our New Quarantine Time Block Schedule
Some general information and answers to FAQ
A reset is when you simply are putting a space back to its original state.
My personal routine includes reading, checking our budget and cash flow, planning, showering etc.
During my cleaning and chore time block my daughter actually assists me with them, or plays beside me while I work.
During the resets Amelia plays by herself or reads
Working in the victory garden has become a massive part of our day. Amelia waters the plants with me, weeds, plays in the garden etc.
For school, I’m currently using several different workbooks to make up Amelia’s curriculum. Click here for one example and to find more.
My Husband is working in his home office which is located in the basement. Sometimes he is able to join us for lunch, however on days that he is working through lunch I will prepare and bring down his meal to him.
Our family dinner has become an anchor for all of us. It’s an incredibly important time where we can sit as a family and discuss our day, how we’re feeling and any plans we have. Also to tell stories.
Our personal time at the end of the day always includes a peppermint tea my Husband prepares for me and probably an episode of Midsomer Murders.
Remember to be kind to yourself.
I hope you found some inspiration to begin your own time blocking schedule. Just ensure that during this scary time that you are listening and being kind to yourself. You MUST ensure that your mental and physical health is the highest importance before you can focus on anyone else. This schedule isn’t forever, and nor will yours be. Things will slowly return to the way things here (more or less). It will take time, but if we work together we will all get through this.
