My Systems

I am a systems person. I love lists. I love organizing. I love schedules and routines. I am the kind of person who does the same thing at the same time pretty much every day.

I have a system for grocery shopping. Sunday is my day for organizing my lists and budgeting, so the first Sunday of the month, I make a monthly meal plan and then create a grocery list from that. I have a system of price lists from different stores, hoping to get the best deal. I try to get all my grocery shopping (minus weekly produce) in one day. I cut up produce while I'm putting it away and I have a spreadsheet of how to store the produce to keep it best longest as well.

On each following Sunday, I take inventory of our food. I make up a list of any produce we need for the following week and other staples (like, if we're low on eggs or milk). As we get closer to the end of the month and our grocery money starts getting low, we have to make do with what we have more. I love the beginning of the month when I have a fresh budget to work with!

I have a system for cleaning. I use an app called Quip and keep to-do lists. I have a list for each day of the week and as the day progresses, I can mark off each item. At the end of the day or week, I can unmark them all so the next week, I can start over. I have certain things, like making the bed or cleaning kitchen, on my list for everyday. Mondays, I get all the laundry through to the dryer and Tuesdays I fold it. I don't know if that system will continue to work as our family gets bigger, but I do a lot better getting it all done at once rather than chipping away at it constantly. Then I have bigger things, like washing the tub or cleaning out the fridge, on different days of the week. Things like vacuuming, I add to my list for the next day as needed.

Because of the recent focus on keeping the Sabbath holy, one thing I've done to help my Sunday seem more restful is to do a lot of my "Sunday work" on Saturday. I make food that can be made ahead (casseroles, crock pot meals, salads) and cut up any vegetables or fruits we will be eating the day before. I make sure to take all the trashes out, wash Ashtyn's hair, shower, clip Ashtyn's and my nails, pack the diaper bag for church, and make sure the house is clean before going to bed, including clearing out the dishwasher so we can load dishes on Sunday as needed with minimal work.

Sunday, I try to relax as much as possible. I don't worry too much about cleaning up after Ashtyn's toys or making sure the kitchen is super clean. I do try to make time for planning the next week (including budgeting, making grocery lists, looking through coupons, and setting goals), but that's actually relaxing to me. I also set aside time to write any letters or notes I want to. Mostly, it's a church and family day and does end up being a nice break (once church is over, church is exhausting with Ashtyn!).

I have a system for mornings. Ashtyn wakes up between 7:30 and 8, so I try to get as much done as possible before then. I wake up at six and do my half hour of Hypnobabies. Then I get lemon water and some food (a necessary addition to my schedule since becoming pregnant) and eat that while I study scriptures and write in my journal. If I can fit it in, I also do a lesson on Duolingo (I'm currently learning Portuguese, but it's way harder than Esperanto). At 7, I do my work out (I use the 21 Day Fix exercises. I love them because they seem really effective and are only a half hour, which is doable for my schedule). Then I get Ashtyn's snack ready, get myself ready for the day, take down any dishes and get more food and my prenatal tea. Usually about this time, Ashtyn wakes up or I need to wake her up, so I give her fruit and a healthier graham cracker while she watches signing time. This gives me time to finish getting ready, make the bed, write my blog post, and sit and read for a minute while I drink my tea.

Then Ashtyn and I make breakfast together and clean the kitchen. The kitchen is the hardest place in the house to keep clean and I could probably spend every second of my time trying to keep up with it. Instead, I try to thoroughly clean it once a day, after breakfast. I try to clear out the dishwasher as soon as it is finished so that dishes don't pile up in the sink and I make sure to run the dishwasher after dinner to keep our dishes under control.

After breakfast, I give Ashtyn her bath and get her ready for the day. One of my New Year's resolutions was to not check social media before breakfast, so this is when I usually do that as well. Then we're ready to run errands if we need, play together, or do "home school" with learning her letters or colors (she hasn't learned them yet, but we're trying).

Around noon, we make and eat lunch. Then it's Ashtyn's nap time, which gives me more free time. While she's sleeping, I work on my writing projects and building my business. This is also a New Year's resolution. For awhile, I was using her naps to make food, which was nice, but I wasn't getting in what I wanted for my own projects. I feel that I need to prioritize my writing and I do that by setting aside Ashtyn's nap time for it.

After her nap, we hang out. I do some cleaning and cooking, we make and eat dinner, and we usually turn on music to dance to. It's a more relaxed time, because I usually have most of my to-do list done and we just worry about dinner and sometimes visit Ben's family or spend time together.

Then it's Ashtyn's bedtime. I make sure she gets a snack, usually a banana or half a piece of bread. Then we give her a calcium supplement and brush her teeth. She loves everything about brushing her teeth, from the taste of the toothpaste to putting her toothbrush back in the drawer and closing it by herself. Then we get water, give Daddy a kiss, and go in her room. We change into pajama's, change her diaper, and clean up her room. We say a short prayer (because she LOVES folding her arms) and choose some books. After reading and singing to her, I put her in her crib and she snuggles with her stuffed animals. She almost always goes to sleep without fussing.

When she goes down, I get everything ready for the next morning (I fill up my water bottle, set out the weights for exercising, get all the food and supplement stuff set up), go through my to-do list for the next day (marking off anything I know I won't need to do and adding any extras that are specific to that week) and get ready for bed.

I have Ashtyn in bed my 8:30 and I try to be ready by 9. Then it's Ben and my time. We can snuggle, talk, play games, do language flashcards, watch TV, whatever we want. I like to be asleep by ten and fall asleep listening to my Hypnobabies affirmations.

I love my schedule and all my systems. I know it's very much a personality thing. There are principles of time management that I think work for everyone, but within those principles, everyone has a different way they figure out how to get what they feel they want to done. My routine is pretty flexible and I don't always get everything in. Some days are really busy (like grocery shopping days) and other days, I have a lot of down time.

I know that as we have our baby, my entire schedule is going to go out the window and we'll be in survival mode. As the baby gets older, I'll be able to start getting my systems back in place and it will get easier. I don't know what it will be like or how things will change as we add a house and even more kids (plus our other plans like traveling) to our lives.

What I do know is, I am a system person. As all these changes come along, I will find a system that works for our family and for me. And I wouldn't have it any other way.