Create More Time in Your Life: Do a Time Audit

Do you ever feel your life is so busy you don’t have enough time to do everything you need to? Or, are there some things you want to spend more time on, such as exercising, being with family, or improving a skill, but you don’t know how to fit it in your schedule? At the end of the day, do you have a nagging feeling, as if you didn’t do enough?

Enter a time audit! What is thaaat? A time audit is a record of your activities for a period of time to see exactly what you are spending your time doing. You record everything so at the end you can analyze what you spent your time on.

There are three compelling reasons why we need one. First, we need data. Hard data. Your personal data. It doesn’t make sense to have someone else tell us where we might be wasting time because we won’t accept it.

Second, we are unreliable estimators of our time. Our narrative or opinion may be off. We may think that we spend 80 hours a week on work, but the reality says we only spend 50. Or we may feel guilty that we didn’t do enough, and beat ourselves up, when in actuality, we accomplished a lot.

Third, as you do the audit, you improve as you go. Remember the saying, “Measurement itself creates improvement.”

Time experts recommend that you keep a time audit for a week or two. There are scads of time audit templates you can download from the Internet. They also recommend that you record activities in 15-, 30- or 60-minute intervals.

Now, raising my hand, I admit I am guilty of wasting time. So, drumroll please, I plan to keep a time audit for two weeks, starting today! I will record my activities in 30-minutes increments. My goal is to spend more time on my blog and less time watching TV.

What do you want more time to do? By doing a time audit, you will be able to prioritize and find more satisfaction and purpose in your life. So how about it? Will you join me in doing a time audit?

A Memorial to Lucy the Golden Retriever

11/25/2004 to 10/25/2018

Lucy, my Golden Retriever came into my life on June 15, 2010. Initially, a friend, who lived in a third-story apartment and who worked full-time, thought Lucy would be better off with us. My son wanted a dog, and we had a house and a backyard for her to run around in.

I was surprised at how big she was. Lucy was confused. Lucy, my son and I sat in the living room, looking at each other. The energy level was so low, I almost fell asleep.

It wasn’t until my son went to bed that Lucy came alive. She adorably romped around as if to say, “Let’s play!” Needless to say, she became my dog.

She became very attached, was constantly underfoot, and followed me around so much that it was unnerving. It took some adjusting for all of us. Eventually, I started calling her “Little Lucy” a misnomer because she was so big. Or I’d call her “Lucy Lou” because, hey, she’s from Texas!

She was afraid of storms. At times, I would find her hiding in my closet, heavily drooling and shaking.

She was a Retriever who didn’t retrieve.

She was a beauty who made everyone smile when they saw her.

She patiently let me cut her hair. At the beginning, I wasn’t any good, and once I cut it so badly, I affectionately called her “Pinocchio” because she looked like she was made from crudely carved wood. That’s the thing about dogs, they still love you no matter what you do to their hair.

Eventually, after watching many YouTube videos and reading articles on grooming, I got the hang of it. I especially enjoyed grooming her paws, which technique the breed standard calls “tight and cat-like.” They really do look like a cat’s paw! So adorable!

She would howl whenever she heard sirens. She also howled/sang whenever she heard me sing the song He Will Call. I’d like to think it was because it was her favorite, not because my singing was bad.

Last year we made the decision to move to Columbus, Ohio, and I wanted to take her, but we felt the move would be too traumatic for her. I reached out to the Golden Retriever Rescue of North Texas to rehome her. Unfortunately, just a day before the rescue organization emailed me that they had found a home for Lucy, I made the painful decision to put Lucy to sleep. She was fourteen years old.

I called Banfield and told them it was time, and they said I could bring her in that very day. No way! I agreed for the next day, while I cried the entire rest of the day.

The next afternoon, my friend Renee took a half day off from work to pick me and Lucy up. I had printed my “100 Self-Care Activities for Body, Mind, and Spirit” and said, “We will need to use this after the procedure is done.”

Now, some people would prefer to have the procedure done in their presence, and others not. I decided I wanted to be there, but Renee, who previously had to put down a number of her pets opted out. I said my goodbyes and told Lucy how much I loved her and that she was a wonderful dog, a faithful companion, and a loyal friend.

I can’t say if or when I will get another dog, but I do know I will never have another dog like my beloved Lucy.

Coffee with a Cop

Just so you don’t get confused, I’m still in Columbus, but I wanted to share an experience I had a few months back in Euless, TX with Coffee with a Cop.

While running errands, I noticed there was a large crowd at the Starbucks on Airport Freeway, Euless, TX. There were police cars, smiling people and smiling cops holding coffee cups. I knew what it was. It was a Coffee with a Cop event!

I thought, “I’ve never been to one of these. Lemme go.”

I bought my potting soil, then drove over to Starbucks, only to find out that the event was closing in six minutes. Oops, there was no time to buy coffee, but I met one officer, Sergeant Rocky Fimbres, and he took the time to speak with me.

“I notice the sign says I can ask you a question.”

“Sure, what is your question?”

“Eddie Cantor once said, ‘When I see the Ten Most Wanted Lists…I always have this thought: If we’d made them feel wanted earlier, they wouldn’t be wanted now.’ My question is: what programs does the Euless Police Department have to help young people grow up to be upstanding citizens?”

Sergeant Fimbres outlined a number of programs that help young people see the police as allies. I have compiled this list:

Euless Police Summer Camp. Every year the police department holds two free week-long camps for children ages 10 to 12. I tried to register my son for this years ago, but the spaces were always full.

Visits at schools. Euless Police enjoy eating lunch or reading with elementary students. Junior high and high schoolers also get their time with the Euless police.

National Night Out. This is a neighborhood event to promote police/community partnerships and learn about violence and drug prevention while building neighborhood unity. Held in all 50 States, U.S. territories, and military bases worldwide the first Tuesday in August (Texas holds it the first Tuesday in October), the Police and Fire Departments invite all neighborhoods in Euless to meet in their neighborhood parks and join with the police and nation to “take a bite out of crime.” Neighborhood block parties, festivals, parades, cookouts and youth events are scheduled.

Public Safety Open Houses. The Euless Police and Fire Departments host open houses. Children can take a tour, climb in and out of police cars and fire trucks and ask questions about the facilities.

Years ago, officers used to hand out baseball size cards with their picture on them. It was cool! Now, however, the police department does not have any souvenirs to give to the public.

All young people need to feel loved and cared for. It isn’t just up to the police. All of us should show young people that we care and that there is a hope for the future.

Breaking My Hiatus from Blogging

Hey, sorry it’s been two months since I last posted. My last post asked some hard questions, and I will answer them here:

How will I downsize? I downsized from a 3-bedroom/2-bath house of 1,600 s.f. to a 2-bedroom/2-bath apartment of 897 s.f. As you may know, with my problem with papers, I had a hard time getting through them. My husband said, “Just take what you will need and leave the rest.” That’s not an easy thing to do. The “hoarder” in me said I needed to touch every piece of paper. I wanted to just pack them all up to deal them later, but nooo, he wouldn’t let me do it.

What should I do with my things? A couple of friends want to make money so they can attend an international convention next year, so what better way to help them than to donate my things to their garage sale?

How will my son stay behind to finish the fall and spring semesters? My son has to finish his schooling in Fort Worth, so he stayed behind. It’s a long story, but he is staying in two places, one is a trailer near the school, and the other is an RV that he stays in on the weekends.

What about Lucy, my golden retriever? For weeks I tried to get her rehomed through the Golden Retriever Rescue of North Texas. But being 14 years old, and arthritic, it came down to that she was in pain, and her quality of life wasn’t good anymore. I made the painful decision to have her put to sleep. An upcoming post will celebrate my life with Lucy.

Can I handle the cold weather of Ohio? Let’s be real: it’s cold in Ohio. I haven’t worn stockings since 1987. But I got a set of thermal underwear and a pair of rubber boots, so I’m good to go.

So there you have all the answers you were dying to know for the last two months!

A Bible Plan to Fill My Heart with Peace and Tranquility

There’s a song that says, “Life in this world can be hard. Life in this world can bring tears and pain. Still ev’ry day I will say, ‘My life is not in vain.'”

Let’s face it, all of us have one trial or another. With an upcoming move, I am dealing with a number of emotionally charged situations. How will I downsize? What should I do with my things? How will my son stay behind to finish the fall and spring semesters? What about Lucy, my golden retriever? Can I handle the cold weather of Ohio?

I’m not worried about moving to a new congregation. Spiritual friends are friends anywhere in the world, and I have a plan to jump right in.

The Daily Text of Monday, October 22 was Ps. 55:22 which says, “Throw your burden on Jehovah and he will sustain you.” It encouraged me to rid my heart of disturbing emotions and fill it with peace and tranquility. So, I have decided that I will start a Bible program to do that.

  • Monday: Bible reading project. Each week, I will type a Bible reading into a document, verse by verse, and include notes.
  • Tuesday: Study for the midweek meeting and prepare comments. Attend my Christian meeting.
  • Wednesday: Share in the ministry. Family study with my husband.
  • Thursday: JW Broadcast project. JW Broadcast is an Internet TV channel which features spiritually upbuilding content. A monthly section called From Our Studio started in October 2014. I plan to watch one each week and take notes. There have been 49 of these, so this project will take me a year.
  • Friday: Show interest in others by writing letters and visiting in person.
  • Saturday: Share in the ministry with my family. Study for the meeting and prepare comments.
  • Sunday: Attend my Christian meeting. Show hospitality and have upbuilding association.
  • Every day: Heartfelt prayer.

I believe this plan will be of great benefit and help me be a more joyful Christian.

Photo credit: Julio Jimenez, Instagram @julesphotocamera

 

Fall 2018 Moving Challenge

This post started off as “Fall 2018 Cleaning Challenge Week 4” to talk about decluttering my office, but I have some big news:

WE ARE MOVING TO COLUMBUS, OHIO!!!

Now, decluttering the office has changed to downsizing our possessions by 1,000 square feet. We have two weeks to pack and then make the 16-hour drive in a car and U-Haul to move into a two-bedroom, two-bath apartment that is within walking distance of work.

It’s been a difficult process going through our stuff. I’m a glass collector, so I have glass vases and paperweights from the 80’s. I have photo albums and pictures, craft paper, and stickers.

I also have stationery and letters. I have practically every letter, wedding invitation, birth announcement, and graduation card I have ever received, so my hanging folder box weighs 10.8 pounds and I cannot fit one more card into it. When I hoisted it up to show my husband, he did his best imitation of Sheriff Brody from Jaws and said, “You’re gonna need a bigger box.”

My husband has computer books and Bible notes he took where he wrote in microscopic-size lettering. I offered to scan them, but he said no.

My son has put many possessions on Letgo. He has sold a number of items such as a motorcycle jacket and LEGO. He is willing to let go of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid set and LEGO books.

He wanted to sell our Yeti cooler, but my husband said, “No way! Mom and I are going to use that when we go on all of our camping excursions.”

Crickets chirping…that would be a hard NO.

We’ve gotten rid of childhood books, magazines, a coffee table and two side tables. But no one seems to want DVD’s anymore.

I’ve discovered I have an obscene number of notebooks, papers, and pens. It’s not completely my fault. Every time my husband went to a vendor event, he came home with them. Then there’s all the notebooks the teachers required we get for our kid for the school year. You have to buy one for each subject. After a number of years, I stomped my foot and said, “NO, I will not buy any more of these notebooks!” Or #2 wood pencils. All the kids started using mechanical pencils, so what was the point of buying them?

Notebooks and papers and pens, oh my!

The house is in a mess. Our Akita, Kumo managed to sneak into my bedroom and gnaw on some of my jewelry boxes. I think this week he has been in my room more times than in the last 9 months. Fortunately, he didn’t swallow any jewelry. Imagine me for the next two weeks, walking behind him every time he did his business, to find my emerald ring….

I still count the number of things I discard. Why? It increases the likelihood of succeeding.

“Measurement itself creates improvement.”

“Track a specific outcome makes it more likely to improve.”

Here’s my results:

  • Total things gotten rid of: 670
  • 10 lbs. of papers
  • Packed 5 boxes

The downsizing has been hard, both physically and emotionally, but in the end, I believe it will be beneficial.

2018 Fall Cleaning Challenge Week 3 Review – Getting Rid of 1,000 Things

I reached my goal of getting rid of 1,000 things by clearing out another file drawer.

This particular drawer had all kinds of manuals. I thought, “When was the last time I referred to any of these?”

My husband said, “Just throw them all away.”

“What about this shower mixer for the upstairs apartment?”

“Oh yeah, keep that.”

Hmph. Most of them went to the garbage.

I did learn something though, just by thumbing through the dishwasher manual, and that is if you prewash your dishes (I do) that your glassware could become permanently cloudy. The reason is that detergent needs food soil to act upon. If it’s not acting on the food, then it’s acting on the dishes. Wow!

I worked in intervals of 20 minutes, playing my music mix on YouTube. This usually consisted of Live from Daryl’s House, an Internet TV show that features Daryl Hall performing with his band and various guest artists at his home, and now club in New York. Sigh. That guy is a genius. Everyone looks like they are having so much fun.

Which I was not. Having fun, that is.

At times I felt like I was in hand-to-hand combat. Which come to think about it, I was. My shredder was still broken, so I had to shred confidential papers by hand. I imagined that I could become a victim of identity theft if I didn’t shred these papers and mix them with coffee grounds and bacon grease.

This drawer was a mish-mash of stuff. Here’s what I found:

  • Paperwork for a mattress we purchased in 2000.
  • My son’s fourth-grade Lexile reading score was 370 above the grade mean.
  • The amount of garbage I threw away weighed 5lbs.
  • I collected another ream size amount of scrap paper. Go QUSP!

In conclusion, I wonder why it is so hard for me to do this. One blogger, Diane Henkler, decluttered her entire basement in three weeks.

I decluttered two file drawers in three weeks. Ugh!

The goal of getting rid of 1,000 things is done, but it is just one aspect of decluttering my entire office. I’ll continue the challenge and will conquer.

Struggles with Lawn Care Part 4 – Baby’s First Haircut

It’s been three months since I embarked on my journey to a beautiful front yard. The weather was unusually rainy, and the drought monitor shows that our area improved from severe drought to abnormally dry.

My husband mowed the lawn for the first time in three months. It was a lesson in patience, because the lawn had looked scruffy. But when I went to inspect it, it was quite lush in some spots. The smell and feel of the grass reminded me of my childhood, when I would I place my pink blanket down, lay face up, and look at the clouds.

Anyway, in advance of the picture, I was determinedly clipping grass with scissors when my neighbor, Debbie came over and said, “Hey, that’s monkey grass you’re clipping. You’re cheating!”

“Debbie, if I wanted to cheat, I would have sprayed the bare spots with green paint.” We both laughed.

Actually, that’s a thing—spraying dirt green, it’s called hydro spraying. You know, when you see the trucks spraying a green, foamy liquid on areas around highways to plant grass seed. There’s a home version, called Hydro Mousse, but every review you read says it doesn’t work. I’ll pass.

So, here are the before and after pictures:

June 19th front lawn

September 19th front lawn

I think my “baby’s first haircut” looks fabulous.

I bought some variegated Hosta to plant around one of the trees. First, I dug out some monkey grass and transferred St. Augustine to bare spots. I have clover, called oxalis with pink flowers that some call a weed, but I like it. Really, a weed is just a plant that is growing where it is not wanted. I want them, just not in the lawn. So, I dug these up and placed them in pots around the tree.

Amazingly, an hour after I planted the Hosta I could already see growth.

My future posts about the front yard won’t have the word ‘struggles” in the title. I think I have contended and come off the victor.

Person of Purpose – The First 100 Days

The first three months of blogging have passed, and I want to give you an update on what it has been like for me. Technically, since my first post was on June 3rd, the 100th day was September 10th. But you know, I like nice even numbers like 100, so I thought it would catch your attention. Right?

Being a newbie, I learned from other bloggers about how to write a blog that people will enjoy. Here are some things I gleaned:

What is the purpose of the blog? Experts say that to have an effective blog, you must, must have a specific purpose. Duh. That’s in my title. They say you shouldn’t have too many categories or that the categories can’t be too diverse. My six categories are CREATIVE, FOOD, HOME, MONEY, REFLECTIONS, and RELATIONSHIPS. So far, I have only posted in four areas.

Hi, I’m Nanci and this lifestyle blog is about inspiring and being inspired to live a more purposeful life.

What are some suggestions from professional writers? Set daily word counts. Okay, I set mine at 500 words. I started writing and The Art of the Open-Ended Question was written in a couple of hours. Cool!

Another suggestion. Only post excellent work. Starting out, I’m going to disagree with this one. If I waited until I felt a post was perfect, well, you get the idea, I wouldn’t have any posts. I will say that my first posts were a bit rough, but I think I have improved, and it is getting easier.

Another. Show your personality. At first, a friend said I was being too scholarly, and I wasn’t giving people much of my background. It could be all that home-schooling affected me, or maybe I just like academics. My son had six APA format essays with word counts of 1,000 to 1,500 words. It was an ordeal for him; for me it was fun.

How long should a blog post be? It depends. Some say posts can be as few as 100 words or as long as 2,000 words. My word counts varied between 188 and 1,148, but most were around 450 words. Don’t want readers to get antsy.

How do you write dialog? Stick to simple speech tags like “he said’ and ‘she said’ and avoid being descriptive like “I guffawed.” It sounds amateurish.

My first post was June 3, 2018. The title, Hey World, Here I Am! is an adapted line from the song Don’t Rain on My Parade, from the movie Funny Girl. This introduction outlined my desire to have a blog and what categories I planned to incorporate in my lifestyle blog. It was late at night and I finally posted it in the early morning hours. My reaction: Ecstatic!

For a rousing rendition of the song, listen to Linda Eder on YouTube.

I was so excited; my second post was the very next day! Called Peruvian Food – El Tesoro del Inca, it was a review of a down-home restaurant in Irving, TX.

Wow! There was a streak going on, and I published my third post the next day. Ah!! Called The Art of the Open-Ended Question, this was based on my need to improve my communication skills with my son.

Two weeks later, my fourth post in June was called My First-Time Homeowner Lawn Care Experience.

My fifth post, in June (amazingly) was called Struggles with Lawn Care Part 1. It was about my current home’s front lawn that had been woefully neglected and about my efforts to revive it.

Uh oh, something happened to my momentum, probably life, but I was only able to post once in July. My sixth post, called Struggles with Lawn Care Part 2 showed the progress of the lawn after one month of constant, loving, attention on my part.

My seventh post was called 10 Reasons Why I Love Lists, and it appeared from the comments that I am not the only one who loves lists.

My eight post called 100 Self-Care Activities for Body, Mind, and Spirit was born from my need to recover from burn out after home-schooling my son.

My ninth post called Struggles with Lawn Care Part 3 was a short update on the front lawn.

The tenth, eleventh, and twelfth posts were called Fall 2018 Cleaning Challenge, 2018 Fall Cleaning Challenge Week 1 Review – Getting Rid of 1,000 Things, and 2018 Fall Cleaning Challenge Week 2 Review – Getting Rid of 1,000 Things.

I would like to thank all of you, dear friends and loved ones for patiently reading my ramblings. Your comments to me personally and on the blog have been so supportive. I hope to continue creating more content to inspire living a purposeful life. If you have suggestions for more topics, please reach out to me.

2018 Fall Cleaning Challenge Week 2 Review – Getting Rid of 1,000 Things

I started this challenge on Saturday, September 1st with the goal of getting rid of 1,000 things, mostly papers.

My work for weeks one and two resulted in getting rid of a total of 725 things. That means I only have 275 things to go!

I was able to get one of the four drawers in the filing cabinet to open and close easily. Sort of. This drawer contains:

  • My stationery sorted into categories.
  • Vacation planning.
  • Medical information for each family member.
  • The last seven years of income tax information.

There are many things I have discovered and determined while going through the papers:

  • I made a pact with myself not to buy any more stationery until I use up what I have.
  • We had a great vacation in 2007 to the Smokey Mountains, but I don’t need the brochures anymore.
  • My son had a lot of teeth pulled when he was younger!
  • This year will be so much easier to handle the taxes with the new laws stating that our standard deduction will be $24,000 for married filers. No need for itemizing.

I have changed my preferences to receive statements in electronic form instead of receiving physical statements. I have also determined that I will schedule a time to download documents and purge things in the office once a week. I have dedicated a binder for my schedules and procedures to keep better organized.

Hopefully, by next week I will have gotten rid of the total 1,000 things.