5 Ways I’m Streamlining My Life
5 ways I’m streamlining my life
1. Keeping my inbox clear. Between blogging, friends and family, my church responsibilities, and ten gazillion promotional emails, my inbox can fill up in about ten seconds. I’m not aiming for Inbox Zero, but I do try to keep things as manageable as possible, and a big part of this is unsubscribing or setting Gmail filters for as much as possible, so I don’t even see a lot of them or let them make it hard to recognize the important emails. That number popping up on my phone is thrilling, but then a total let-down when it’s just another sale email or some totally unrelated PR pitch (do I want to feature a back-massaging worm in both black and pink as the perfect holiday stocking stuffer? No. But thank you). Ruthlessly filtering and deleting quickly has made it so much easier to concentrate on the emails that really do require my attention. Gmail filters forever, basically.
2. Ordering as much as possible online. Back when I had one solitary child and almost no work and we only had one car, days stretched out forever and a day when I dropped Bart off at work and could go run an errand or two were the best. days. ever. Now? I basically dread errands so much. Dragging all three children with me is really exhausting (this is probably the single biggest downside of homeschooling for me – I loved last year being able to go do a few quick errands with only two children last year after we dropped Ella off at school) and every errand seems to take forever. I have fully embraced online shopping and the more things that can just show up at my door, the happier I am. It’s so much less stressful to me to spend my non-scheduled time hanging out with the girls than schlepping everyone to the store to grab a few things we need.
3. Taking advantage of my golden hours. I am definitely a morning person (which I don’t really like to say, because I actually don’t like getting up early – I just have more energy and drive in the first half of the day), and so I’m trying to be more proactive about getting things done then. By afternoon, once quiet time is over, I’m accepting that I basically don’t want to do anything more strenuous than read books on the couch or walk to the park. I’m doing more crockpot meals or prepping dinner ahead of time, doing basic housekeeping, and checking things off my to-do list (it’s easier this week while Ella’s on fall break and we don’t have homeschooling taking up most of my morning time and attention) so that those things actually get done. Because for all my good intentions, I get very little accomplished once the girls are in bed.
4. Not listening to audiobooks when I’m working. I am the world’s biggest advocate for audiobooks (and also a fan of several excellent podcasts), but I’ve stopped listening to them almost entirely while I work. I’ve found that turning them on and off as I switch between tasks is just too much distraction and then my mind is constantly going too many directions at once. Now I save them for the truly mindless tasks like ironing, putting on my makeup, and folding laundry, and I’m amazed at how much more mental quiet I have. I may get through a few less books, but I also feel less harried, distracted, and flustered.
5. Reading fewer books at once. I don’t think I’ll ever be someone who reads one book at a time, but I’m trying to do a better job at starting a book and then working consistently through that one until I’m finished instead of flitting from book to book and struggling to finish any of them. I’ve always felt like having more books out from the library or on my Kindle or on my bedside table helped me get more reading done, but at this stage in my life, I seem to do better if I only have one or two going, so I don’t have to make as much of a decision when I have some time to read (currently the only book I’m reading is The Thorn Birds, plus Five Children and It with Ella and When Friendship Followed Me Home on audio) and it’s just felt so freeing right now. I’m in a period of my life with a lot of demands on my attention, and it’s a relief to have less demands from that sector.
What things are you doing more or less of to keep your life a little easier? I’d love to hear!
That mom seems to be enjoying her little girl.
This is a great post- I love the tips. I've been meaning to try out diapers.com
but I'm currently in that phase of life with one small child and errands that help fill up the day. I'm sure it will seem more convenient as time goes on!
And, crazily enough, I'm also reading The Thorn Birds right now! I absolutely love it and am trying to read every spare second. How are you liking it?
I love these kind of posts! Thanks for sharing. I've recently discovered the incredible joy that is ordering groceries online + picking up curbside at the market! It's the absolute BEST with four homeschooled munchkins. I've also fallen in love with stocking up on paper goods at Costco, so I'm not constantly needing to buy tp or tissues , paper towels or paper plates. Having a stash is so nice! Another lovely thing lately that we're enjoying — brewing a larger pot of coffee and then refrigerating the "leftovers" so we have iced coffee in a pinch on long, hard afternoons in the parenting trenches 😉
I do about 3 books at a time, one audio (which I churn through, double time + 2 hours of commuting per day will do that), one I read at home before bed, one I read during lunch at work. It's about the right amount for me.
xox
I second the comment about stocking up on paper products at Costco. I love having a huge stash of tp and paper towels – and I live in a house with very little storage space, so to willingly use it for that is saying something. 🙂 We use Amazon Prime Pantry (I've never paid for delivery- I just watch when they offer a pantry shipping credit for picking no rush shipping over 2 day shipping), Subscribe and Save (for diapers, wipes, toiletries, dog treats, air filters, anything!), and Costco.
I love the Thornbirds so much. It's like Aussie gone with the wind. ?
Hi, I tried the code at diapers.com, and it didn't work 🙁 It said my product was not applicable (two cases of Pampers baby dry diapers). Do you know of any exceptions to the code?
Oh, bummer! It does exclude diapers and wipes and formula. I'm so sorry!
My sister-in-law swears by diapers.com, but I've never tried it! Time to do a little shopping with your promo code 😉
Janssen, you are the sweetest most loyal friend and I love you for that and many more reasons. Also, I find it so funny that after reading your blog about my unhurried life people will click over to my Instagram post of me teaching Nell how to stick a spoon on her nose. Ha!