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Sleep Easy Have a Good Rest As a mother of three children, and three dogs and a business owner, stress and lack of sleep seem to be things that happen regularly. I am always...
Reclaiming My Time
Reclaiming My Time
Did you know that on average, women in the U.S. spend 28 hours per week on household chores? This is 65% more than the average for men.1 In our previous post: we discussed some of the statistics that as women we need to be aware of, regarding our finances. One of the things I learned is that women tend to live 5-6 years longer than men2 and since I may be single later in life, I figure that I better do what I can to manage my time now; to focus on the most important things. We hope that this Reclaiming My Time post inspires you.
Our time is valuable and our time is important. Say that to yourself. My time is valuable and my time is important. The key to properly managing your time is to decide what is most important to you and then figure out how to do that. Our Reclaiming My Timepost aims to take some of the smaller things off of your plate so that you can spend time on the things that matter most: spending time with your family, hobbies, and more.
Reclaiming My Time
Hire help.
I learned years ago that one of the most valuable things I could do was to place a dollar amount on my time. This meant when it came to hiring help like a housekeeper or someone run errands as long as I was being paid more than what I was hiring out, then I was coming out ahead. It was amazing that hiring a housekeeper freed up so many hours each week that I was able to earn more money which was great and totally the point.
Schedule it all.
I was blown away by this tip years ago. Sometimes told me to write everything down on my schedule including time for myself. I schedule 30 minutes a day to read, whether it's a book or magazine, or newsletter. I take this time for myself every single day and I feel better for it. I schedule my gym time as well as all of my work items.
Build in downtime.
Give yourself the luxury of having nothing on your schedule and nothing to do at least a few times per week. I love looking at my schedule and realizing that I have nothing to do for a few hours. Honestly, it's a reprieve and sometimes I will just head out into the neighborhood to talk a walk or out to the deck to sit on the hammock.
Say no.
I know that this year we are all about saying yes (thank you Shonda Rimes) but I think that it is important to learn that saying no is ok as well. It took me years to figure that out because I think that my mindset was, “Say yes in case they don't ask again” when instead it should have been saying no is ok because I don't have the time. Reclaiming my time by saying no to the majority of things that come my way means that I can work on the things that I am passionate about.
Get professional help.
Ha. Not that kind, although I am a huge advocate of mental health (I love my therapist), I am talking about the kind of professional help that can change your life and get your finances in order. Getting help from a financial professional can save you time by helping you work through the financial tasks and decisions for your family and stay organized. This year I have partnered with Prudential to help educate you (and me) about those challenges that we face as women. I want to be prepared and protected so that I can make the right decisions for my family. Just starting the conversation is a big deal. Talking about things like life insurance and saving for college is not always easy to do, but we can make it a much better conversation. Talk to friends and relatives about your finances and about the journey to owning your future.
Get social and knowledgeable with Prudential
Prudential has created a tool called the “Value of all you do” that lets you very quickly quantify the value of all the household chores you do daily. We hope that you enjoyed these 5 Ways to Reclaim Your Time.
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This 5 Ways to Reclaim Your Time post is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Prudential.
Sources:
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Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, October 2016, http://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?queryid=54757.
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Prudential Retirement analysis; National Center for Health Statistics, Health, United States, 2015: With Special Feature on Racial and Ethnic Health Disparities. Hyattsville, MD. 2016.
The two that I think I would benefit most from is, saying, “No” more, and I definitely could use some professional financial help/advice.
What is this no you speak of? LOL I need to learn to say that more often. I would benefit from scheduling me time.
Hiring out is on my agenda for 2018- I need to do better of utilizing my time and realizing when I need to hire certain services out and delegate stuff. And yes, saying NO is super important!
These are awesome tips! I definitely need these right now!
Love tis, and I totally did this in 2017. Reclaimed my time for me!!
Learning to say NO was a huge step for me. I started saying more of it this past year and felt so much freer to focus on the things that truly make me happy. Now, getting professional help with the chores would be an awesome luxury that I would really love to have next!
Getting help and saying no are the two biggest things for me. I am learning more and more to do both.
First is being aware that there are options, love that you help with this step and you made some great points. Perfect for the new year.
Saying “No” is something I am working on this year. Definitely a must to getting back time for yourself. I also need to check out Prudential and schedule and appointment. I need to also reclaim my financial stability this year.
Maxine Waters gave us all the new motto to reclaim our time in 2017 that is awesome to bring in the New Year. I think if it is too overwhelming its ok to hire professional help too!
I adore this! I am saying no more often and taking more time for myself. I’m bookmarking this for a reminder!
Great tips! I have been saying no more lately and that is a positive thing! Saying yes to good times, experiences, and enjoying friends and family. The dishes, they can wait!
I vowed to say “no” more a few months ago. It’s been working. I have more free time in the evening and it feels great
Saying no is a really hard one for most moms I think. It is so easy to take on more than you can handle but then you end up feeling guilty so the best thing is to say no in the beginning and quickly get over that guilt, I think.
I’m all for reclaiming my time, the crazy part is I’ve been the one wasting it. I tried time blocking yesterday and it really worked for me. I’m going for a more intentional theme for 2018 and that includes the use of my time.
This was really useful. I need more time in a day.
This will help a ton of people. Time management is very important nowadays.
I so need the ideas in this post. December is not a month I can repeat so I’m going to need to reclaim some of my time!
I love all of these ideas, especially saying no. I started doing more this last year and it definitely helped simplify things much more.
Scheduling it all has been a tested and proven method for me. I get a lot of things done this way rather than doing it all at once. Great tips!
These are excellent tips. I have found that if you delegate and hire out help, you free up so much more time for yourself, your family, AND your business.
Scheduling is key in making sure you stay on track with everything you do!! I also believe in getting all the help that you can get… it’s all about synergy for outstanding work and saving time.
Scheduling is a great idea and I am one of those people that can’t say no so I should more often too. It is good to get a financial check up every so often which is what I tell my husband.
These re great ways to reclaim your time. I really need to hire some help for certain tasks.
These are such great tips. I always feel like I’m running out of time!
I know a lot of people who could use more time in a day. I include myself in that list!
This was extremely helpful. Between the kids and work, I have a hard time finding time.
I think I am going to have to hire some help to do housework for me. Right now I can call myself the Queen of Multitasking and boy does it zap me out of energy. At the end of the day, I cannot even hold a conversation with my husband without dozing off to sleep. Not good. Thanks for these tips. I will look into the rates for hiring help and get back or reclaim my time.
It took too long to realize I couldn’t do it all in a day by myself. Happy to have help so I can focus on the things I want to get done.
I make sure I have everything scheduled! It’s all about getting some time for myself as well, because we all need to take care of ourselves too especially when we have kids and a house to look after! These are great tips!
Making things look simple is for me the true sign of mastery and I’m still working on saying no when I recognize the potential threat. It is a long process but I’m sure I’ll get it in the end 🙂