How to Organize your Time for Maximum Productivity (One Room Challenge, Week 4)

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It’s update day! We’re in the fourth week of the One Room Challenge, which means there are only two weeks to go! Eek!

I’ll be honest… part of me is wondering what I was thinking taking on this huge project halfway through my third trimester. I guess seeing a fun home challenge while in serious nesting mode is too much for an expectant mama to resist.

I’m excited to share that my husband has taken apart and removed the large piece of workout equipment that was in the corner of her room, and most of her furniture has arrived! This is what we found on our front porch a few days ago.

Happy day! The boxes are still closed up and currently sitting in our dining room since we still have to paint, but at this point we’re only waiting on her bed and dresser to arrive. Woohoo!

Since I don’t have any exciting pictures to share, I thought I’d share a little about how I’m organizing my time for maximum productivity and planning to get everything done.

I’ll admit that as the weeks have gone on this challenge has become a little overwhelming. I’ve definitely reached the point in pregnancy where I’m almost always uncomfortable, and there are times by the end of the day when I can barely walk. On one hand, she can’t come soon enough, and yet it almost feels like whenever she arrives will be too soon. We just have too much to do!

As you probably already know if you’ve been to my blog before, there is one thing I like to do to calm myself when I’m feeling overwhelmed… I make printables! It works like a charm every time. I think seeing everything laid out and organized on paper makes me feel like I can actually get organized in real life too. I’m also comforted by the idea of having a plan and a course of action for how things will be accomplished.

Lately, I’ve been feeling overwhelmed not only by this project but just life in general. As much as I’m looking forward to meeting our daughter, in some ways our sweet little one’s due date feeling like a gigantic brick wall that I know will (for a time at least) bring my productivity to a screeching halt. I know I have more things on my to do list than I can actually complete before she’s here so I need to prioritize tasks and focus on the necessities.

I also needed a way to better organize my routines. For the last couple of weeks, as I’ve gotten more tired and uncomfortable, our dinners have taken a nose dive. We haven’t fallen back into our rut of eating junk (thank goodness!), but I think everyone’s getting rather bored of chicken. Our household chores have also started to slip through the cracks a bit more than I would like so I knew I’d want to schedule these things too.

I created this printable to help me get more organized and use my time more productively. I’ve included tasks that tend to repeat either daily or weekly as well as the miscellaneous tasks and events that can sometimes pop up.

This is a glance at my upcoming week.

Having it all on paper like this may look a little overwhelming, but you can always stay very general if you’d like. I tried to stay somewhat general in my descriptions because this is supposed to give me an idea of my week and not necessarily be a detailed plan. (I’m currently working on a detailed daily planner, which I’ll be sharing soon!) 🙂

First, I scheduled everything that’s already scheduled for a specific time including doctor’s appointments, business calls, and activities.

I then wrote down things that occur at regular times on most days like meals, getting ready, and putting the kids to bed.

Finally, I filled in the open spaces with things I need to do but don’t have to have done at specific times like blogging and household chores. All too often, these activities take up either way too much time or are completely overlooked. I bet you can guess which is which! 🙂 There are days when I sit down to blog and end up wasting a ton of time on facebook, pinterest, or a million other sites while our house becomes a total disaster. Creating a schedule is going to help me maintain our home and use my time more wisely.

And because I know people like to organize things in different ways, I made nine different versions of this printable! There are versions organized Sunday through Monday,  Monday through Sunday, with times, without times, and even a blank version so it can be completely customized.

To get your weekly planner delivered straight to your inbox, enter your e-mail below. (If you’re already on my e-mail list, no worries, you won’t receive duplicate emails from me. This is just the easiest way to get you your printables as quickly as possible.)

Next week, I’ll be sharing the daily task manager and time blocking worksheet that’s helping me break these busy weeks down into manageable action steps, but until then, I’d love to know… what are your favorite tips for staying on top of tasks and being productive?

P.S. Don’t forget to check out all of the other amazing One Room Challenge projects by clicking here.