My Ideal Week Map

I got this idea from Laken at planwithlaken (youtube). With 2 small kids, a full time job, and now the blog I’m trying to build in my spare time, it was a good exercise for me to sit down and map out how many hours I can reasonably expect to spend in each area. It’s serving as a reminder to take the blog in small steps (not easy for me.) And more importantly, to view my day in these blocks so I can focus. During family time I will make my best effort to put away the technology and be present with family.

This obviously isn’t set in stone, but it’s an example of a week where I have nothing else out of the ordinary planned (which during a pandemic is most weeks…)

The Schedule

Family

This includes caretaking such as getting the kids dressed and ready, feeding, eating meals myself, bedtime routines, cooking, etc. Most of Saturday and Sunday are totally blocked out as family time during the day because that’s where I want my focus to be. It also includes taking the kids on a walk, or eventually to a park or going out shopping once that’s safe again.

Work

My full time job. Pretty self explanatory. This is the schedule before busy season and overtime starts.

Move

To fit in movement, the 2 pm slot has been working out pretty well while I’ve been working from home. It’s nice to sign out from work for 30 minutes and get some exercise in, whether it’s a walk outside, an online yoga or step class, or a Les Mills on Demand class (I like Barre and Body Pump.) I don’t get around to it 5 days a week. It always depends on my work schedule that day. But this way I have it “booked” for when I’m able to make it happen.

Housekeeping

This is how I like to distribute chores during the week. I will pick one thing to do after work, whether it’s cleaning a bathroom, mopping, dusting, etc. It usually involves changing out and/or folding laundry too. James and I have become pretty good at sharing chores so that helps it not become too overwhelming.

Something I’m trying to balance this with is incorporating the kids into chores. D is 2 now, so I’m trying to help him value housework and realize that it’s not automatic or something that magically happens during his naps. I’m trying to do more cleaning during the weekends with his “help.” It’s definitely a test on my patience, because I could do something in 5 minutes by myself or spend double the time on it with him, but I try to remind myself that it’s a learning experience and that makes it worth it. And deep breaths help.

Mareish

Time I’ve set aside to spend on the blog. For the past two weeks, it’s taken a TON of behind the scenes work to get the blog up and running. WordPress is hard! And there’s setting up the theme, customization, social media accounts, comment boxes, and more. Now that it’s pretty much established, I should be able to focus more on actually writing.

Sleep

I love sleep. There’s not much more to say.

White Space

This is the main reason I completed this exercise. To maintain my mental health, I need to make sure I schedule in time to decompress without doing anything productive. This can be watching TV, reading, crafts, piano, etc.

And that’s it! Have you set up your ideal weekly schedule? Which area are you struggling most to prioritize in this season of your life?