Schedules- Starting a daily schedule

Last week, we talked about how to begin creating your schedules. This post will go into a bit more detail on a daily schedule. This schedule just covers what it is you'll be doing regularly during each day. I gave you a introduction of my weekly schedule last week, and some tips on how to start your own.

I set up my weekly schedule to work on a room or area of my house each day, as well as fitting in extra things. These include such things as rebates on Mondays, filing and paperwork on Thursdays, and emptying all trash baskets on Sundays. As I've said, I am not organized by nature. If you fit in this category with me, my suggestion to you is to simple: try to make a schedule that includes everything you will be doing. Otherwise, the recycling will build up, the sheets won't get washed, and your windows will be so dirty you'll start to think they just came with fingerprints imprinted on them originally.

Every schedule is, and should be, different- customized for you, created around however your household is best run. The thing I hear the most is that people just can't actually do it- get up and get started with their duties every day. This is why the daily schedule is the basis, the blueprint, for your day. Monday might be for cleaning bedrooms, and Thursdays for kitchens, but each day will still unfold much the same way. When I first started my daily schedules, I worked from Flylady's system of AM/PM. Basically, it calls for creating a morning schedule and evening schedule, specifying what tasks need to be done.

This is a good system, and worked well for me for awhile. You might want to try this way when first making your schedule. However, one of the most important aspects of any plan is flexibility. Your plan has to be ready to change, and you have to be willing to change it. Any schedule might work at a time in your life, and then not work as well when new times or events occur. For me, after my second child, my daily schedule stopped working for me. It just wasn't structured enough. So I took a page from how many work-out-of-home people schedule their days: hour by hour.

Now, this might seem too complicated, but it can actually provide a great way to stay on track. Just knowing I have to clean the bathroom, and do my menu planning on Fridays isn't exactly a motivation for me. But when I set up a schedule with set "work times" at 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. it kept me working. I started this schedule by just writing down each hour on a line of notebook paper. I started with 7 a.m., when we are up by, and went through 9:00 p.m., right before we put the children to bed. I put in even the most basic, everyday tasks, such as meals and cleaning the kitchen afterwards. For me, (lazy as I am!) it really helps to be accountable to my schedule. I leave between a half-hour and an hour for each main task, as to allow flexibility. The baby will have to be fed, someone will need a diaper change, the phone will ring... Something will always come up, so don't make your schedule too tight or tasks will run into each other.


The last part is to write in your weekly tasks into your daily schedule. As I said, I have two times, one in the morning (during baby's nap/rest time and William's snack time) and in the afternoon (naptime for both.) I find myself doing more complicated/detailed tasks in the morning, when I am more alert (such as filing or schoolwork.) Afternoon naptime is for easy tasks like cleaning. I also make some of this time for my personal time, when I might read or work on this blog.

I find that irregardless of the system, having a daily schedule is so important to actually getting up and going every day. Do you feel like this might help you? Any tips of your own? Please share in the comments. Check back next week for more on creating task lists, and how to fit in those occasional duties into a monthly schedule.
I am please to share this at Homemaker Mondays and Works For Me Wednesday- check out all the great ideas!