*This is the 13th day of the One Month Spending Freeze Challenge. Please click here to see all of the posts in this series.*
The two main problems most people complain about are that they have no money and they have no time. When you have neither one, you can feel really overwhelmed with life. But I personally believe that even when you are short on money or time, it all comes down to how you manage them.
© godfather / Dollar Photo Club
When you have a slim income, but you manage it well, you will feel like the money you do have is more on your side. When you have little free time, but you manage it well, you will feel like the time you do have is more on your side.
You see? Money and time, even when you are wanting for them, can be incredible tools if you learn how to use them correctly.
In my life, I’ve learned that one thing is certain: whether you are single or married, have kids or no kids, work or don’t work, you will feel busy. There will always be one more thing that needs to get done. But just like the things you spend your money on, your time can be separated into needs and wants.
You need to take a shower. You want to take a long, luxurious bubble bath.
You need to sleep. You want to sleep in.
You need to vacuum the carpet. You want to deep clean that carpet.
There’s only so much time in a day, and you have to decide what your needs and wants are for how you spend your time and work with what you’ve got.
When you are diligent about only doing the things you need to do, free time will start to open up occasionally. Pretty soon, you will find that you can do more with the little time you do have.
How to Find More Time in Your Day
You may be thinking, Why are we discussing time management during a spending freeze challenge? Here’s why, because when you stop spending money, you find that you have more time. You either make good use of that time or you waste it. Period.
Today’s challenge may be difficult for you. It took me several months to finally get the hang of it myself.
I want you to find more time in your day to be more productive.
You might think through your current schedule and wonder how that is going to work, but hear me out. I am sure that there is at least one activity you are doing in your life right now that you could cut back on or completely eliminate in order to find more time for what is most important.
Having trouble coming up with where you can find more time? Here are some examples:
- Watch less TV
- Spend less time on social media
- Utilize time saving kitchen appliances and tools
- Only make simple meals
- Limit the amount of sleep you get
- Take shorter showers
I know there are many more activities that I have not listed. Only you know how you spend your time, now identify where you can improve.
My Own Time Management Journey
When I first started blogging, I was only able to commit about 15 hours a week to it. That’s really not much time when you consider everything that it takes to write blog posts and promote them. At that time, I had a 4 month old and a 22 month old. A lot of my time was spent caring for their needs and getting rest. I did what I could to blog consistently.
Fast forward one year and 5 months later, and just last week I was able to spend 32 hours on my blog. I’m a stay-at-home mom, so of course it’s easier for me to find that kind of time than someone who works. However, just because I stay at home doesn’t mean I have nothing to do. I have to cook, clean, go grocery shopping, do laundry, take care of my girls and play with them, and there is never a shortage of things to do. But I’m still able to spend 30+ hours a week on my blog.
There are several things I have done since I first started blogging until now to double the amount of time I work on my blog.
The first thing I did to make more time was stop watching shows. I cut out TV, movies, and YouTube. I have no idea what movies are in the theater. My husband and I used to watch series together, like Friends, Gilmore Girls, and Switched at Birth (yes, my husband really enjoys these shows!), but we haven’t done that since before I started blogging.
I also stopped spending so much time in the kitchen. Even though it’s a passion of mine to cook, I decided that at this time in my life I’d rather spend more time blogging than cooking. I am still able to make delicious meals, they just don’t take as much of my time. Even with all the foods that I make from scratch, I have found plenty of extra time in my day.
Another thing I quit spending so much time doing is sleeping. I used to get about 7-8 hours of sleep. Now I get about 6. I rarely feel as tired as I used to, so I am guessing that I can function well on six hours of sleep, whereas another person may not be able to make it through the day on less than 8.
Please do not think that I’m telling you to remove relaxing time from your life. You just have to identify what is most important to you and cut back on things that are not as important. Who am I to say that watching television is not an important thing for you? That’s for you to decide.
Time is not always easy to come by. You have to figure out how you want to spend your time and identify where activities can be cut back so you can spend more time on the things that are important. If you can learn how to manage your time well, you will accomplish more with your life.
Where can you cut back to find more time for what really matters?
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Impressive, Charlee! That’s an impressive amount of time to devote to blogging! I’m still working on my current “ideal” time management system, but you’re right. We can make time for what we value!
I definitely couldn’t post every day this month if I didn’t work more on it! Doing a month long challenge is, well, challenging! I usually spend about 2 hours blogging in the morning before my girls wake up, 2 hours in the afternoon while they are napping, and 1-2 hours at night after they go to bed. I think once your baby is born and you’ve found a groove for your days a couple months in, you’ll be able to have a better schedule figured out. Trying to care for young ones and blog is tricky!
Good for you!
I have a variety of time management strategies. My best strategy is utilizing ALL the minutes. It’s amazing how much time can be wasted on social media and texting! Definitely NOT the best use of our time.
Thanks for sharing your strategies!
Wishing you a lovely day.
xoxo
I know it, Jennifer! When I am scrolling through my facebook feed, I often think, What am I doing? I should be doing ___. It’s hard to get off social media once you’re on it!