Our time is so precious. Each moment is a blessing from the Lord. Our very next breath is a gift. How we spend our time is important. I use to spend a lot of time doing things that was not productive. I was convicted of it a few years ago. God began to show me where my time would be better spent. I actually started studying the Proverbs 31 woman and saw that she spent her time very wisely. She spent it taking care of her family and household, serving others, and she always took time to be in the presence of the Lord. She knew that her relationship with God is what made her capable of being a good mom, wife, and friend.
I wanted to be like this woman in Proverbs. I started striving for similar goals she had. I learned how we spend each minute is a reflection of our purpose in life. If we spend time just watching TV, playing games on our devices, or talking on our phones, we are not being productive for the Kingdom of God. When we use our time to witness, help and encourage others, and teach about God's Word, our purpose in life is just what God had planned. He wants us to share His love with the world.
The Lord wakes us up each morning and how we spend those next 24 hours should glorify Him.
I have a few questions to ask you. Where do you spend most of your time? Do you give God the time He deserves by spending time in His Word and praying each day? Are you disciplined about the time you spend with your electronic devices? Do you put down everything to talk with your children? Do you purpose to spend time with your spouse just communicating about your lives?
I have found that the best way to manage my time is to have a schedule written out for the day. I don't think we should be rigid with our schedules as God may have plans for us to follow that is not our own, but we should have a tentative agenda to follow. We need to have a plan so our days will have a direction. We want to accomplish what God has for us, instead of just vegging out and being unproductive.
Another way to manage our time is to have a home that is organized so we are not running around looking for things and wasting time.
At one point in time, we had 8 people living in our very modest home. We don't have a lot of space so what we do with the space we have is important for the sanity of our family. Today we only have 5 living under this roof, but I still find that we have to stay organized to keep order. Do you enjoy organizing? I love it! I find having a place for everything helps me keep a clear mind.
Let me give you a peak into our day......I want to share how we keep our home tidy and clean while homeschooling each day. I have to say that our home is never spotless. If you came into our home on a typical day you would see books all around, toys on the floor, dishes in the sink and crumbs that need swept up, but we do have times of the day we do quick clean ups. This insures that our home doesn't get out of control with clutter and dirt.
Our day starts out with everyone making beds and putting laundry into the appropriate bins. I have morning checklists for the younger ones to follow so they do not get distracted. After we get dressed, eat and brush our hair and teeth, each of us has a chore to accomplish. Right now I am on kitchen clean up, planning, and cooking all of the meals. Our 18 year old son is on laundry duty and does 2 loads a day. Our 13 year old son cleans the bathroom and takes out the trash daily. Our 10 year old daughter vacuums the living room, and puts away items that are out of place.
Once we get our morning chores finished, we are off to do school. We try to stay focused on school and we don't worry about chores again until school is done. Around 2 or 3 we do our afternoon tidy time. We put school books and activities away, tidy up areas that got messy, and do dishes from our lunch time.
We usually have dinner around 5 each evening and then hubby delegates kitchen clean up chores after we finish. Mama gets a little break because she cooked the meal. After that is done, we all have free time to do what we want to do. Most evenings we have activities or games we play, unless there is a scheduled activity outside of the home.
On Saturday's we do more in depth cleaning like mopping floors, dusting baseboards, cleaning the refrigerator, sweeping the patios, and vacuuming all areas that got missed during the week. We also wash bedding on the weekends and mow the lawn. Every couple of months we wash windows, clean curtains, dust pictures on the walls, and steam clean any carpets in need of a good shampooing. Our goal is to give each room a thorough cleaning twice a year.
The main thing in keeping our homes clean is organization and routines. If we all work together, our home will stay neat and tidy so we can be hospitable and invite others into our homes at a moments notice, and we aren't searching for what we need all day. Our homes do not have to be immaculate to be clean. We don't need to spend countless hours cleaning, we just have to keep on top of things each day.
Here are our free chore and calendar pages that we have.
To download the, just click on the links below the images.
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