Goal-oriented or Task-oriented?

April 11, 2011 by Tracy

Photograph Credit: Microsoft Images

Do you find that you start many projects at once with none of them getting completed? This is my daughter.

Goal-oriented

She is goal-oriented and loves to get out different sets of toys with the goal of organizing. She likes to line up the dolls, sort the silverware, and stack the blocks.

If the baby comes over to play with an available organized pile, then my oldest daughter gets so upset because she is not done with those items. At the end of playtime, she has all these little messes.

She then gets overwhelmed with pickup because she did not pickup when she was done with the silverware or blocks. We are working on getting out one set of items, playing with them, and putting them away before getting out something else. It is a work in progress, but with this system, the pickup progress is easier to manage.

Task-oriented

Where my daughter is goal-oriented, I am task-oriented. I like to select an item on the To Do list (i.e. make tea), and complete that task.

In our household, the kids and I drink about 3 gallons of tea in 2 days. Now, I could make tea everyday, and sometimes I do. But I prefer to make 4 gallons of tea every 2-3 days. I just like having the refrigerator stocked, the tea maker in its place, and the counter cleared off.

Often life intervenes, and I get distracted by good things. But when I get back to my task, I just keep on going. When my task is finished, then I move on to something else. This system works for me, but it may not work for you.

You might be goal-oriented like my daughter, who would probably prefer to accomplish the tea-making task at a set time each day. For example, after dinner make a pitcher of tea. These same individuals prefer to tackle a load of laundry each day.

The laundry pile, like the tea making, is a continuous cycle. I prefer to spend a day or two doing laundry to get it done. Again, life happens, and sometimes I need to do laundry during the week and then on the weekends.

Just knowing how you approach projects might help as you schedule your tasks. The goals are to get things done and don’t get overwhelmed while using time wisely.

Question: Are you goal-oriented, task-oriented, or both?

Saving Time with a DVR

April 25, 2011 by Tracy

DirecTV: Digital Video Recorder (DVR)

At this time, our family has a DirecTV DVR which records my favorite programs. Then when I decide to watch the program, I can use the remote to play my program. If I get interrupted, then I can pause or rewind the program. I can also stop it and return to it at a later time. I also save time because I can fast forward through the commercials which shaves about 13 minutes off each hour. My husband rarely misses taping an Atlanta Braves baseball game on the DVR. He enjoys watching the game. With the DVR, hubby watches a 3 hour game in a little over an hour. The DVR is a great tool in our home that allows us to watch the programs we want, when we want, so we can use our time wisely on other tasks.

In helping us save time, the DVR has the following neat features:

Record series option: I really like that I can record a complete series without having to setup the recorder for each episode. For example, when I first recorded THE AMAZING RACE, I used the guide to find the showing of THE AMAZING RACE. Then I selected RECORD. By selecting RECORD a second time, I now will record the entire series.

Record options: Once the program is set to record for the series, I can then select the program and review the options. Since CBS usually is showing a sports program, which can go into overtime, I have set the program to START on time but to END 1½ hours later. After having only recorded half of one episode of THE AMAZING RACE because a game went long, I now schedule plenty of time for the show to end. Now, I don’t miss the last two teams to arrive at the pit stop. 🙂

Keyword search: I like this option during football season. I am a HUGE Florida Gator fan. (Yes, I know they were not in the NCAA final 4, but they played a good series of games.) Though I don’t watch much basketball or baseball, I do enjoy football. The keyword search helps me to find the Florida game quickly. I just use the remote to access the MENU and SEARCH options. Then I select the KEYWORD search. I use the remote to type in FLORDIA, and a listing appears of all the channels showing the game. This search option is great because if Florida is hosting a team, then Florida is listed as the second team. A regular search would not pickup the information without the name of the first team, but the KEYWORD search picks up all programs that include the name FLORIDA in the title.

Do you have a DVR? If so, what features help you to save and use your time wisely?

Scheduling: Deep Cleaning

July 4, 2011 by Tracy

Photograph Credit: MorgueFile (Jane M. Sawyer)

Is a picked-up house, a clean house? Some would disagree with me, but I say, “NO.” Most of the time, I maintain a picked-up house: toys put away; floors vacuumed; laundry cleaned, folded and put away; etc. However, just because my house is organized, it is not necessarily clean.

Before I had children, my house was cleaned every 2-3 weeks. Now that I have 3 children with one in school during most of the year, my house gets a good cleaning every 3-4 months. These cleanings are my deep cleanings. As I write this post, I just finished a 3-day cleaning of my downstairs. Lest you think I live in a huge house, let me say my house is a modest 2-story home with approximately 2,000 square feet.

Why does it take 3 days to clean the downstairs? Glad you asked. I have a method to my madness. I clean everything. Here is my system:

Begin on left and work around to the right. I work with the left wall first. I dust, wipe, and clean items in front of the wall. I put toys together and organize each section (like an end table, couch, toy station, etc.)
Move items away from walls once cleaned and organized. As I complete a section, I move those items completely away from the wall.
Work from top to bottom. Once the area in front of the wall is empty, I begin dusting the ceiling (especially corners, lights, and ceiling fans), walls (using Windex on mirrors and picture frames), and baseboards.
Clean the floor. I will vacuum the floors with carpet or sweep and mop hardwood, tiled, or linoleum floors.
Return clean items to their designated areas. When the area is clean, then I move the clean, organized items back and proceed to the next wall.

This system takes quite a bit of work and, in some cases, help from my husband in moving large pieces of furniture. Though the process is tedious and I get interrupted with requests from my children, meals to make, and errands to run, I enjoy the end result. I am able to find missing pieces, remove dust and grime from items, and organize messy stations. My time is valuable, and using my time wisely 3-4 times a year to get a good, deep cleaning for my house is worth every precious moment.

What about you? Do you have a time for deep cleaning (e.g., spring, fall), or do you have a schedule for cleaning each week or month? I would love to hear how you schedule the cleaning of your house.

Scheduling: Day at Home

July 18, 2011 by Tracy

Photograph Credit: Flickr (Michael Surtees)

Over the weekend, I participated in a conversation among friends regarding our homes. Two of the participants work to keep a clean home throughout the weekend. On Monday morning disaster may strike (within reason). 🙂

I, on the other hand, allow items to pile up on the weekends since we are out and about attending activities. When Monday arrives, I get back on track. I schedule Mondays to be a day at home to clean up the kitchen, finish the laundry, sort through the projects and items obtained over the weekend, run the vacuum cleaner, and play with my kids. For me, my house is usually picked up through the week. The weekends are filled with too many activities to deal with my house.

What about you? In which scenario do you fit?

A: My house is picked up through the weekend and a bit messy during the week.

B: My house is picked up through the week and a bit messy during the weekend.

C. My house is clean all the time.

D. Yeah, I’m lucky if my house gets picked up at all. (Hang in there!)

Scheduling: Laundry Routine – Part 1 of 4

November 14, 2011 by Tracy

Photograph Credit: Flickr (Sarah QFD)

With five family members in our house, our washer and dryer get used a number of times each week. Usually I perform laundry tasks on two consecutive days.

During this season of my life, laundry is done on Friday/Saturday, Saturday/Sunday, or Sunday/Monday. The days depend on when we are home or able to work around our other activities.

I know many find doing one load of laundry from start to finish a day helps keep the laundry pile at bay. This option would not work for me since everyday has a different schedule and working around laundry is not a priority for me.

Knowing that the laundry will be done on the weekend, frees me up during the week for other activities. What works for me may or may not work for you. This system is working for me now and may be a solution to doing laundry all week long.

By having a scheduled, organized laundry routine, I find my time is best spent in small sections. The more I follow the same routine, the more efficient I become. My routine consists of four steps:

Step one: Preparing throughout the week,

Step two: Pretreating soiled clothing,

Step three: Preparing on laundry day, and

Step four: Performing laundry tasks.

In the next four weeks, I will cover my organized laundry routine in the hopes you will be encouraged to take a break from doing laundry all week long.

STEP ONE: Preparing throughout the week

During the week, each family member deposits dirty or used clothes into their assigned hamper.

My two older children have a mesh hamper in their closet.
My husband and I have two laundry baskets in our closet. The dark blue basket holds dark items, and the white basket holds white and light colored items.
My toddler has a hamper in her nursery. Any soiled clothes that need pretreatment are added to this hamper. Since my children are messy eaters and enjoy the dirt and mud on the playground, I have a number of items that need to be pretreated each week.

As each family member deposits his or her own clothing into the appropriate laundry containers, I am able to concentrate on other items throughout the week. Besides the occasional stray sock or blanket, almost all the items are in the laundry baskets or hampers each day.

By using time wisely to train my family on my laundry routine, I can rest assured that all items are where they belong. As each member of our family does his or her job throughout the week, my tasks are lightened on laundry day. I will not need to search the house for loose items of clothing. By preparing throughout the week, I save myself time and energy on laundry day.

Question: Where do your family members place their clothing items that need to be washed? Please add your answer to the comments.