5 Tips to Add Time to Caregivers Day -

First, let me say the obvious, there is no more time. We have twenty four hours in each day, no more and no less. Therefore, what we do in that time may need evaluating.

What takes up your day? Do you often miss appointments and have to reschedule them? How much time is spent searching for some needed item? Do you simply reshuffle unending stacks of papers?

Are you absolutely overwhelmed and far too busy to organize? After you care for your loved one, your family, and yourself, there is neither time nor energy left for any project.

I have a simple solution for you and you can do it. Carefully read through the following helps and choose one item you will work on-just one! Try this for a week and I promise you will feel less stressed and more productive.

1. Declutter. Start small; do not take on an entire room! Each day choose one table or one drawer to clean out. Be sure to have a trash bag handy and use it! Bonus: by doing only one area at a time, you can return items to their proper place as you sort. Do you hear that? Do not make another stack somewhere!

2. Calendar Everything. Everything. Hang a very large calendar in a highly visible area, preferably near a telephone. Thumbtack a string to the wall with a pencil attached. We all know that pencils have a mind of their own and walk off when you aren’t looking.

3. Keep a to-do list. Each night make a list for the next day. Very important: keep this list short and do-able. There will be unavoidable interruptions—it’s the law of the land—allow for them as you make your list.

4. Do it now. As much as possible, tend to menial tasks immediately. Mail is a good example; it accumulates quickly while you are busy caring for others. Set aside five or ten minutes each day to deal with the mail (with our faithful trash sack handy).

5. Identify your personal time-robbers. In looking at my own schedule and applying these tips, I discovered the appeal of a new sales flyer or magazine kept me mesmerized for way too long. What to do? If I lay them aside for later I add to my “stacks of stuff”. I am learning to choose–you know this one–my faithful trash sack!

Trusting you enjoy all God’s blessings as you learn to wisely use the precious time He has given each of us.

Hugs,

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These are great tips for the Type A personailty. Not so easy for people like me who are definitely NOT Type A. Anyhow, great tips and if taken in stages, I suppose they are do-able.

When my mom had leukemia, my sisters and I were her caregivers. It was incredibly difficult to do anything. A de-cluttering project or anything that took more than a few minutes at a time was almost impossible. Perhaps if any of us had been professional caregivers and not make-do-because-we’re-going-to-keep-mom-out-of-the-hospital type caregivers, things may have been very different. We were in the dark all the time. It was emotionally and physically draining.

I do have to disagree with number five, though. The inference here is that it is wrong to spend time with the magazine or catalog when there are other things that could be done. Any activity is a choice that means something else is not being done.
I use audiobooks so that “reading” no longer excludes other activities that require the use of my hands that would be holding the book and turning the pages otherwise.
But, to fall into the trap that there are more important things to do besides read or look through a magazine or catalog, to sit down and watch a movie or do something else that is more enjoyable than that something that is more “important” is … well, I’m not encouraging hedonism, but these “time wasters” are sometimes far more important than scrubbing the floor or dusting the leaves of the potted plants. Just my opinion — the opinion of someone who is not and never will be a Type A person.
However, Facebook, Twitter and the like are Time Vampires and are the biggest waste of time I indulge in. At first, I visited Facebook less than once a month. Then thought I might be missing important info from family and friends (which I actually was at times since they FB an announcement rather than email a group of people) and started visiting daily or every other day. Then went back to about once a month or less.
So, that just shows, we all have different interpretations of what is a time waster and what isn’t. 🙂

Oh, and one thought about the use of a calendar.
LOL!
I get all set to be organized and pull out a calendar or make one in Word and print it out. I industriously fill it out and put it where I will see it and use it. Gung-ho! This is going to be so great — I’ll be organized and won’t miss important things! YIPPEE!
Usually, in less than a week, it is long forgotten and slowly gets buried under the ecretion of stuff that builds up on the desk around me as I work on a variety of projects at a time. When the desk gets cleaned off, eventually, the calendar is usually so far out of date that it is almost a historical artifact!

**sigh**

Oh, the idea of hanging a calendar by the phone …
How many peope actually have a wall phone these days? We’re “weird,” we actually don’t have cell phones. But we have the digital hand sets around the house and the base unit is in an almost inaccessible spot … there is no real central info/message location that we use. But people are converting to cell phones more and more even as their in-house phone. Where should that calendar really go? **shrugs** I admit, I ahvent’ got a clue or I would be faithfully using one. **even bigger sigh**

Comments

5 Tips to Add Time to Caregivers Day — 5 Comments

Suzanne Lieurance on September 3, 2012 at 9:18 pm said:

Hey, Susie,

Great tips. I think clutter can really eat up our time. When I don’t declutter periodically, I notice I start spending WAY too much time simply trying to find things in all the clutter!

I also like the tip to “calendar everything.” This is important for writers as well as caregivers. I schedule each writing project as if it were a regular appointment.

Thanks for sharing!

All the best,

Suzanne
Carol Fraser Boles on September 4, 2012 at 1:38 pm said:

Susie,

Great tips. Having been a caregiver I know how time gets away from us all. I definitely need to identify what my time robbers are.

Have a great day…Carol
- admin on September 12, 2012 at 7:53 pm said:
  
  Carol,
  
  Thank you for dropping by and thank you for your kind words.
  
  The blessing truly is in the caring for others; thankful you had that opportunity.
  
  Hugs,
  Susie
sue berg on September 5, 2012 at 1:40 am said:

These are great tips for the Type A personailty. Not so easy for people like me who are definitely NOT Type A. Anyhow, great tips and if taken in stages, I suppose they are do-able.

When my mom had leukemia, my sisters and I were her caregivers. It was incredibly difficult to do anything. A de-cluttering project or anything that took more than a few minutes at a time was almost impossible. Perhaps if any of us had been professional caregivers and not make-do-because-we’re-going-to-keep-mom-out-of-the-hospital type caregivers, things may have been very different. We were in the dark all the time. It was emotionally and physically draining.

I do have to disagree with number five, though. The inference here is that it is wrong to spend time with the magazine or catalog when there are other things that could be done. Any activity is a choice that means something else is not being done.
I use audiobooks so that “reading” no longer excludes other activities that require the use of my hands that would be holding the book and turning the pages otherwise.
But, to fall into the trap that there are more important things to do besides read or look through a magazine or catalog, to sit down and watch a movie or do something else that is more enjoyable than that something that is more “important” is … well, I’m not encouraging hedonism, but these “time wasters” are sometimes far more important than scrubbing the floor or dusting the leaves of the potted plants. Just my opinion — the opinion of someone who is not and never will be a Type A person.
However, Facebook, Twitter and the like are Time Vampires and are the biggest waste of time I indulge in. At first, I visited Facebook less than once a month. Then thought I might be missing important info from family and friends (which I actually was at times since they FB an announcement rather than email a group of people) and started visiting daily or every other day. Then went back to about once a month or less.
So, that just shows, we all have different interpretations of what is a time waster and what isn’t. 🙂

Oh, and one thought about the use of a calendar.
LOL!
I get all set to be organized and pull out a calendar or make one in Word and print it out. I industriously fill it out and put it where I will see it and use it. Gung-ho! This is going to be so great — I’ll be organized and won’t miss important things! YIPPEE!
Usually, in less than a week, it is long forgotten and slowly gets buried under the ecretion of stuff that builds up on the desk around me as I work on a variety of projects at a time. When the desk gets cleaned off, eventually, the calendar is usually so far out of date that it is almost a historical artifact!

**sigh**

Oh, the idea of hanging a calendar by the phone …
How many peope actually have a wall phone these days? We’re “weird,” we actually don’t have cell phones. But we have the digital hand sets around the house and the base unit is in an almost inaccessible spot … there is no real central info/message location that we use. But people are converting to cell phones more and more even as their in-house phone. Where should that calendar really go? **shrugs** I admit, I ahvent’ got a clue or I would be faithfully using one. **even bigger sigh**
- admin on September 19, 2012 at 5:03 pm said:
  
  Sue, thanks for taking time to write.
  
  I enjoyed your comments. Believe it or not, I’m not a real type A either. I do try to apply what works for me in each situation.
  
  I realize “time wasters” for some are necessities for others. I personally have to limit those things that tend to change my focus away from my writing or caring for others. Not that I eliminate any, simply use some thought as I schedule my available time.
  
  Thanks for the comments on the cell phone/calendar situation. That presents a problem. I still think, if not by a phone, a calendar should at least be visible somewhere like the kitchen wall or a desk.
  
  You have a great week; keep writing and thanks.
  
  Susie
  
  PS. Did you sign up for the newsletter? It is being mailed out this week.