Modified Flylady Routine

Being self employed I need to have some form of structure in my daily work life or I don't do anything.

If you have read my recent posts, I am an all or nothing kind of person. I am on a first name basis with Procrastination. I have spent so much time with Burn Out that the relationship has gone from being acquaintance to a dysfunctional cohabitation.

I want to do so many things. Wait, strike that. I have to do so many things and the pressure to get them all done can be overwhelming. Everyday there is something else added to the list of To Do Today that I am surprised that I have not been spotted by the military in a No Fly Zone while I'm zooming around on my broom.

I am getting things done. In fits and starts. I am not thrilled with the progress of some stuff. Though I am quite happy with the progress of other things.

My "schedule" for the last two weeks has been:

7:00 a.m. Coffee brewing
7:15 a.m. Check emails for new billings from Corporate Lodging
7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. QuickBooks
1:30 p.m. Lunch
1:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Housework
2:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Craft time
4:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Fix dinner
6:30 p.m. Load dishwasher
6:45 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. Whatever I want to do

There have been some days I've gotten up later than I had wanted to and some of the work load I had to shift around a bit. Also, there have been some days that the printing goes on for quite a while - over 10 minutes - so I vacuum during that time. Laundry, also, gets done during printing time.

There have been some days that I don't eat until dinner time. By that time I'm quite fuzzy headed and could be considered a doddering old fool.

My housework is slowly getting done. I mean s----l---o---------w----l---y.

My paperwork is getting done a little faster. March and April are finished and I'm beginning May. If anyone tells you that QuickBooks will make your job easier - only half believe them. Last year I spent one whole month setting up all my accounts, vendors, customers, and banks. That is a job. I did have the foresight to contact an accounting firm and have one of their gurus help me get set up properly. It still was a lot of work and a lot of time spent in getting the thing set up to do what I need it to do.

I figure it takes about three days to complete a whole month of business and personal expenses and incomes. The data entry goes fairly quickly. It is the bank accounts and credit card reconciliations that bog me down. An item will show up on one of these statements in the particular account and I find I spend about 45 minutes hunting for which account I put it in and make the necessary changes. Being so far behind in this work causes a few glitches.

All in all, it is coming right along. Things are getting more orderly and files are being put away as I use them. There is a structure here and I am feeling good about it.

I have such strong urges to get back at the paperwork after dinner and I have to forcefully restrain myself from going there.

So, if you find yourself in a situation like mine. Tons of stuff to do and limited time to do it in, take an hour and go to http://www.flylady.net and check out the site. One word of caution though. If you sign up you will be getting emails from them everyday. Put it in DIGEST FORM so you get them all at one time and can pick and choose what you want to read. If you don't do this you will have so many emails all day long you won't get anything done. I am serious about this.

Well, back to the laundry and getting supper ready. I really should not be here right now.