Weekly Routines

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Routines play a huge part in our lives. I'm not sure how I would get through the days without them, and to be honest I'm not willing to try. They are always a work in progress. I am forever looking at ways to tweak them and make them work even better for us, but on the whole what we have in place works pretty well.

One routine I try to follow religiously is my weekly routine. I try not to schedule my entire day, as to allow for changes easily and spontaneity. We do, however rise at the same time each morning, have morning tea, lunch and nap time at roughly the same times each day. Dinner time is always between 5:30 and 6pm each day and Master A's bedtime is at 7pm every night.

I have sat down and written out a plan of what we do for a general week. It has gotten a little out of control as I have lost a bit of my focus and direction in recent weeks (more on this next post) but I am determined to get back on track and have set some new rules in place to make things a little easier and ensure that whatever I need to do gets done.

Monday:

• Every Monday morning, Master A and I go for a trip to the park. I am now starting to vary which park we visit for a little change. Sometimes friends will join us, others we go alone. This is great especially after Master A comes home from his dads the day before, as it means we get time to bond.
• Vaccum the house.
• Wash the bed sheets.
• Wash one load of clothes.
• Study. This is usually done after Master A has gone to bed at night.

Tuesday:

• Wash one load of clothes.
• Time to do some research for the blog and write a post ahead of time.
• Master A goes to his dads house every 2nd Tuesday, meaning that I get a little bit of time to relax.

Wednesday:

• Wash one load of clothes.
• Wash towels.
• Study. Again this is usually done after Master has gone to bed.

Thursday:

• Visit a playcafe with my girlfriend and her son in the morning.
• Wash one load of clothes.

Friday:

• Wash one load of clothes.
• Study.
• Grocery shopping.
• Master A is in day care on Fridays, meaning that I can get any errands done in peace!

Weekend:

• Every 2nd Saturday Master A goes to his dad's house first thing Saturday morning and comes home dinner time Sunday night.
• Budget. I am paid fortnightly, so budget accordingly.
• Plan for week ahead (check diary, calendar, make plans, etc).
• Study.
• Blogging.

The rest of my time is usually spent doing generel things; playing with Master A, spending a bit of time watching TV, way too much computer time, cleaning, catching up with friends for playdates.

A couple of things that I need to change in regards to my days/weeks are:

• I tend to catch up with friends daily for playdates. I am known to over book and therefore all of my responsibilities fall behind. I am going to limit myself to either a morning or afternoon catch up. Of course there are going to be days where I don't stick to this rule for whatever reason, but generally speaking, I need to stick to this.
• The time after Master A has gone to bed is usually wasted. I am usually so exhausted from my busy days and terrible eating (as a result of my busy days) that as soon as Master A is put to bed I shower and then collapse in bed to watch some TV. If I have the energy to stay up I'm a little embarrassed to say I usually sit on Facebook, leaving things that need to be done (general tidying, blog posts, studying) un-done. I am hoping that by slowing down my days, I can get some order to my nights too.

Do you have a weekly routine and if so, does it work well for you? Are there any changes that you can make to it to make it work better?