Want more free time without feeling guilty?

Would you like more free time?

I used to find that I would often get to the end of the day, look back at what I had accomplished, and feel like a failure.

I would be busy all day, jumping from one task to another, multi-tasking like crazy and end up getting nothing finished. I started a million tasks, but hadn’t actually followed any of them through to completion.

Does this sound like you? You start washing the dishes, put on a load of laundry, collect the bills to be paid and then have to drop everything to take the little one to kindy.

By the time you get back home, you have forgotten what you were doing, and have left a mess strewn throughout the house.

If you can identify with this, then I have some invaluable tips to share with you today.

Clustering is your new best friend.

Instead of having a “to-do” list full of largely unrelated tasks that need to be done each day or week, create a targeted list of “like” tasks that you can cluster together and get through quickly with maximum efficiency and productivity.

Set aside blocks of time to complete these tasks.

So, say once a week you may group together all your admin tasks into a one or two hour block. These may include paying bills, filing paperwork, answering emails, following up on appointments or other tasks that are similar.

By grouping these “like” tasks together, you can get into the “zone” and plough through them quickly one by one.

This is because you are in the right frame of mind and mindset to do this, rather than jumping randomly from an admin task, to a cleaning task to a creative task, which all require different parts of your brain to be activated in order to accomplish them.

So you can essentially get a lot more done in a shorter, more focussed time period. And you can apply this method to all sorts of activities; housework, phone calls and running your business.

If you can schedule several of these targeted blocks of time during the week, you know when you can get these tasks done and will then have free time to do the other things that need to be done in your life.

Or you may even be able to carve out some special “me-time” when you can have some time purely for yourself.

And believe me this is something that I feel is an absolute priority for any busy mum.

So, try my clustering method today, and see how much of an impact it makes on your own efficiency and productivity each week.

I would love to hear if you have any tips that help you get more free time in your life, share with us below in the comments.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

38 Comments

- - mom299031 said
  - 13 Apr 2018
    6:59 pm
I am living in Hopper crossing I used tom upholstery Services also they are not good. You can go with https://freshupholsterycleaning.com.au/ They are leader\’s in Cleaning Industry My Mom using this company from past 5 years.

- - meedee said
  - 09 Apr 2016
    9:33 pm
I think im pretty lucky with my kids being older now I have a lot of free time but I fill that time with reading, facebook, emails.

- - mom81879 said
  - 29 Sep 2015
    9:02 pm
More free time?? I don’t get any free time. So if I can get a minute here and there, I will go for it

- - silvialee said
  - 03 Aug 2015
    2:38 am
find that i can do a lot more when my child is sleeping, so i put her to bed early now and get things done till it’s late into the night.

- - smiles said
  - 30 Apr 2015
    9:06 pm
I don’t relax until everything is done on my list but it makes sense to put once that are similar together.

- - christial said
  - 23 Feb 2015
    8:41 pm
I don’t overload myself… I feel if I manage to do one thing completely, I will feel happier to sit down and relax..

- - pakeko said
  - 06 Feb 2015
    8:24 pm
Love the way you think I always seam to start well but not finish

- - mom57522 said
  - 31 Jan 2015
    11:42 pm
I’m a big fan of grouping tasks together!

- - priyachirag said
  - 31 Jan 2015
    10:45 pm
Great article! It’s important to look after ourselves too.

- - matildaspice said
  - 31 Jan 2015
    9:31 pm
This is really great advice, thank you

- - hmp88 said
  - 29 Jan 2015
    10:37 pm
I find if I’m short on my time if i escape to my room to read a book for 10min I’ll enjoy the me time

- - mom64736 said
  - 28 Jan 2015
    3:07 pm
Stay up later in the night time and use that as free time. Honestly, it’s the only way I can find time.

- - hmp88 said
  - 17 Jan 2015
    10:09 pm
Yes! This makes so much sense! I too often repeate jobs coz they r of similar nature but I don’t get to finishing it; ie I vacuum but then get distracted putting the washing out or playing then have to do it again before I can mop!

- - mom117219 said
  - 14 Jan 2015
    8:27 pm
plan things in advance and timings accordingly

- - jenniw said
  - 14 Jan 2015
    2:52 pm
such simple ideas but so logical. Thank you

- - yyon4699 said
  - 08 Jan 2015
    3:29 pm
Looking after my daughter all by myself is not as hard as I thought it would be and I get a lot of free time in a day. Makes me feel guilty all the time listening to other mums talk about their busy-ness…
- mom110075 replied
  
  08 Jan 2015 , 8:28 pm
  You should never feel guilty about having free time. I wish that every mum could do this!
- - mom110939 said
  - 07 Jan 2015
    1:46 pm
What a brilliant idea, i definitely need to try this. Days get so scrambled and nothing gets done!!

- - mom105022 said
  - 03 Jan 2015
    7:18 am
Not sure this will work for cleaning. I hate cleaning up after 2 kids and a husband as when I have cleaned something and move on to the next thing to clean up and first is a mess again

- - robyn_smithwick said
  - 01 Jan 2015
    10:23 pm
This is one organized lady!

- - mom73211 said
  - 01 Jan 2015
    9:06 am
I have my to do lists but then prioritise them; or see if I can do two things at once ( washing and drop kids off to preschool). Great ideas that you need to test to see if it works to you & your schedule.