Simplify: Create a De-Stress List

I have followed Money Saving Mom® almost a year now and have learned much. Crystal’s articles on Time Management have been in inspiration to me, but it’s still one of those things that takes time, putting it into practice and sometimes learning the hard way.

Even though I know that “I can’t do it all”, sometimes I plan like I can do it all. I am over ambitious and it takes me longer than the average person to figure out what I can or can’t do with my time. It is VERY important to determine your priorities, so you don’t get stressed with everything that you COULD be doing.

Learning the Hard Way

Last fall was one of those times in my life that I was becoming stressed out a little too often. It was a very busy time for my husband and I. Both of us were gone from the house a lot and the house was falling into a constant state of mess! The little time I was home, I would choose to cook meals (so we could stay within our budget) and try to keep up with everything I had to organize in life! I was definitely getting stressed out on many occasions!!

I didn’t realize what specifically was putting me over into the “stressed-out” state so easily until my husband suggested I make of list of what he could help with and what was stressing me out.

1. Create a De-stress List.

Sometimes when I’m overwhelmed, it’s hard to just sit down and write everything I need to accomplish, but it’s SO helpful!! After making my de-stress list and showing it to my husband I felt SO much better!! I gave the following to my husband to read:

My De-Stress List

I’ve realized I get more stressed in a messy environment. This is for both of us to work on. For example, I will be less stressed if the following is done by the end of each day:

- dishes cleaned and put away

- living room picked up enough for visitors

- clutter spots in office cleaned off

- clothes in bedroom picked up

Communication is important to help me not get frenzied:

- keep the calendar up to date
- communicate intentions for when we get home, how we will spend the day, what we plan to pick up, and how we are going to spend together time!

2. Write out everything you want to get done.

I also took the time to write out all:

- the big projects I needed his help with in the near future

- the organizational projects I felt like I needed to do

- the things I “needed” to get done before Christmas

3. Cross off what is not priority.

Then, I proceeded to cross off a few things from the list to give me more focus to what I really wanted to prioritized.

4. Schedule out what is a “high stress” for you.

With my busy schedule and the holidays approaching, I still wanted to get most of the planned projects accomplished and posted on my blog.

I put together a schedule of what I would be posting about for the next 8 weeks (with a little big of wiggle room). It was such a relief to know what I was going to post about! That way I could focus, one at a time, on each project.