In lieu of the wonderful post I thought I was going to make while I was in the shower, but promptly forgot the subject of once I had dressed, I present to you my daily to-do list. This list has the benefit of having grown organically over the past month or so based off things that I kept forgetting or saw needing done, rather than somebody else’s idea of what I should be doing every day. I also stopped putting things the kids are supposed to do on my own checklist, so I don’t feel like I’m not working hard enough when they don’t get their chores done. I’m going to put time estimates on these and see what I come up with.
- Check weather for day and open/close planters — 3 min
- Check Khan Academy scores — This is a weekly for Sundays only. I check to see who gained the most points on Khan Academy for the week, and that child gets a treat. 5 min.
- Take out trash to street — This is a weekly for Fridays only. It’s a nightmare when we forget to take the trash out! 2 min.
- Make Bed — part of a clean-room challenge I signed up for. Mostly it’s here for points, as this is a habit I established years ago. — 30 sec
- Journal if at quarter moon or Sabbat — I have to keep an eye on this one, since the day of the week shifts, but I turn it off when it doesn’t apply. — 10 min
- Morning pain pills — 5 min for the morning as I get all my pills out for the day.
- Check calendar and chores — 5 min.
- Light altar candle and pray — 5 min.
- Clean glasses — 30 sec
- Give Kender morning eyedrops — 2 min
- Get Kender dressed — He has started occasionally doing this himself, so maybe soon I can take this one off my list! — 3 min
- Eat breakfast — 30-60 min
- Morning vitamins — 1 min
- Basic BW workout — This one is set for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday only. This is in addition to any biking or skating I might do, which is not on any of my lists. 10 min
- Flexibility Stretching — This one has Sundays off. 5 min
- Shower and dress, brush teeth — 15 min
- Change underwear — This was a silly HabitRPG challenge that I signed up for just to get XP, and because it had a gem award.
- Attend To Personal Hygiene — Part of a “fighting depression” challenge, this includes plucking chin and eyebrow hairs, shaving, putting on makeup, fixing my hair nice, anything like that. 5 min
- Clean downstairs bathroom — This is FlyLady’s “Swish and Swipe” routine. In about 30 seconds, I use shampoo to clean the toilet, spray down the shower with daily cleaner, spray and wipe the mirror, sink, counter, and outside of the toilet (including the base). Then I hang a fresh hand towel and take the used towel and washrags to the hamper.
- Morning laundry — every laundry entry means to fold anything in the dryer, put anything in the washer into the dryer, and for morning and lunch to start a new load if there’s enough of anything to make a full load. At most I do 2 loads a day, and each laundry touch shouldn’t take more than 15 minutes.
- Brush Kender’s hair and teeth — 7 min
- Eat lunch — and fix lunch for Kender! 30-60 min
- Lunch vitamins — 1 min
- Lunch laundry — 15 min
- 15 minutes nalbinding practice — This is an ancestral devotion for me, learning a craft that belonged to my Swedish and Viking ancestors.
- Plan menus for this week and shop — This is a weekly on Mondays only. I still haven’t figured out how to do this in less than 4 hours, not when I’m trying to clip coupons and find deals.
- Buy lotto tickets — a daily devotion/tithe for Loki — 10 min if I count walking to the corner store
- Outside work — weeding the garden, planning future plantings, planting new seeds, cutting the grass, or in the winter shoveling snow, anything that is 15 minutes of improving the outdoors
- Go Outside — Another part of the “fighting depression” challenge, it’s important to have this extra on there in case “outside work” that day is snow-sowing seeds. I need some sunshine and fresh air, one way or another.
- Afternoon pain pills — 1 min
- Afternoon vitamins — 1 min
- Check mail — includes opening it and dealing with it, including the paper on Sundays. Pay the bills, scan/file documents, fill out and return paperwork, all of it. When I am on top of this, it only takes 5 minutes.
- Do Money — balance the checkbook, balance any credit card statements that have shown up that day, make sure the checking register is run out a full month in advance so any future bills or recurring payment are planned for. Again, when I am doing this daily, it only takes 5 minutes.
- Afternoon laundry — 15 min
- Evening pain pills — 1 min
- Evening laundry — 15 min
- Clean Something — 10 min
- Kender’s evening eyedrops — 3 min
- Blog post — Hey, I’m doing this now! 30-60 min
- Magickal study or meditation — reading books for my clergy training, planning rituals, working on my Book of Shadows, etc. — 15 min
- 15 minutes picking up — hitting the various hot spots on counters and tables
- Use HabitRPG! — That’s a no-brainer XP generator!
- Say Hello To Somebody — part of a “fighting depression” challenge. Online counts, the cashier at the store counts, any human contact outside of the family I live with counts.
- Fly 5 Play to Cure routes — This is a video game set up to crowd-source DNA decoding for cancer research. I signed up as part of a challenge, and it’s a nice way to relax for a few minutes each day. 15 min
- Read at least 40 pages — part of a “reading novels” challenge, it’s pretty easy to meet with my bedtime reading, and it keeps me from allowing all my reading to be studying or other non-fiction. 30 min
- Duolingo French — I count gaining at least 30 XP for checking this one off. I chose French because Brenden is taking French, and it also connects me to my Cajun ancestry making it another devotional study. 15 min
- Have a Conversation — Part of a “be more social” challenge, I have to go a step beyond saying hello for this one. Online still counts, though.
- 10m Daily Dex — Part of a baoding ball challenge, I can do this while checking my Sock Madness boards in the mornings. It’s a good way to wake up my hands after they go numb at night.
- Destroy all the monsters of the day — Part of a “clear the dungeon” challenge, I have to mark off EVERYTHING for the day to check this one off. Hasn’t happened too often, but every day I try.
- Take out recycling — Marked as a Sunday only. I only actually have to do this every other week, but like the trash it is a disaster when I forget to take it out. They came at an insanely-early (for me) hour, so I have to do this the night before. 2 min
- Oil table — Marked as a Thursday only, so the table is ready for any Friday-evening get-togethers. Our table is pure teak and looks divine when it is freshly oiled, but I’ve had a very hard time remembering to do this simple 1-minute task.
- Check weather for night and open/close planters — 3 min
That leaves me at about 421 minutes for daily tasks, plus 80 minutes a week for tasks that are not really daily. (I’m intentionally leaving out the whole “plan menus and shop” for this!) That’s an average of just over 7 hours a day. No problem, right?
You can shower, dress, and brush your teeth in 15 minutes? o.O Most days, I’m lucky if I can get that done in three times that time. >.<