Time management is definitely important on the homestead. But before we can talk about how to manage our time, we have to assess how much time we realistically have to manage. That’s what I’m talking about in today’s episode.

(Listen to today’s podcast by clicking on the play button on the black player bar above, or find the Farmish Kind of Life podcast on your favorite podcast player!)

Summary of today's episode:

 

 Not everyone has time to bake a batch of bread—simply because they're not home long enough to do it! Not every family has time to sit down and eat a meal together. Modern homesteading means there is sometimes a disconnect between the homesteading life people want to have, and the reality of the actual hours they have at this point in their life to devote to the journey they envision.

 

Homesteaders who work full time outside the home certainly deal with their own set of challenges, but sometimes people who don't have as much time are actually more efficient with their time.

 

Oddly enough, being home (or being a full-time homesteader) gives you so much flexibility with your time that you can actually end up being less efficient than you thought you'd be.

 

Your normal is your normal—and that makes it hard to objectively (without tools) assess your time use and where your pockets of wasted time are.

 

When you are busy, you should look busy. If someone was to peek into your life at that moment, they should be able to tell that you're busy just by watching you.

 

Use the tools in the links below to figure out what hours in your day are left after the "essentials". You can also set a timer for 10-15 minutes, and then write down everything you did in that 10-15 minutes. Then repeat. You may be amazed to find out what your time is actually spent doing, or what you're not doing when you know it's being tracked.

 

Time savers can save a lot of time, but not if we're just using them to fit more stuff in. Technology can be amazingly helpful, but it can also be a major time suck.

 

Links referenced in today's show

We Drink and Farm Things minisode #20: Drink and Live a Frugal Farmish Life

It's Not About Money...except when it is (my frugal living book)

059: Homeschooling: Our Journey with Self Reliant Education

Off Kilter Brownies (grain/gluten free brownies)

Tool #1: Time Calculator

Tool #2: Where does the time go - find out if you dare

Tool #3: Where does the day go?

Tool #4: Time tracking tutorial

Subscribe to my Farmish Kind of Life podcast at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, PlayerFM, or other popular podcast players. All episodes of the podcast will also be linked under the podcast tab that you can find way at the top of this post in my menu bar.