Not Getting It Done: How My Overuse of Technology Impacts Time Management

Last post, I started to talk about technology and how I've let it derail my goal of living intentionally and purposefully.  I wanted to dig into that a bit deeper, to not only share with you, but also for internal reflection.  My hope is to develop some ways to lessen the impact that technology has had on different areas of my life (without completely unplugging).

Probably the most tangible effect of my overuse of technology has been my productivity.  As I mentioned in my last post, I can't even imagine how I would have fared through 20+ years of education if I had this access to technology.

I make a to do list nearly everyday.  It's how I organize my thoughts, keep myself from being aimless, and most importantly, it's how I break things down into manageable pieces so that I don't get overwhelmed, as I'm apt to do so quickly.   What I find, however, is that at the end of the day, I'm not accomplishing nearly as much as I planned.  Sure, I could blame it on the fact that I am a mom of two preschoolers.  And yes, they occupy a lot of my time, and physical and mental energy.  But the truth is, the biggest reason I'm not as productive is because I'm spending too much time on my phone or computer.

I'm prioritizing entertainment.  It's not that I believe we should be in "go mode" 24/7, but I believe that entertainment should not be the focus of life.  Yet I'm living in a way that says otherwise.  My constant "need" to check social media or check out the latest shows to watch is making its way over doing the tasks that keep life running smoothly.  "Let me check this one more thing, and then I'll get busy" has become my mantra.  Rather than taking a break from my productivity, I'm taking sporadic breaks from the breaks.

Analysis Paralysis.  My husband and I talk about this concept often.  We both suffer from this condition in different ways.  For me, one way is that I spend so much time and energy looking up the best or most efficient way to do something and as a result, don't even do the task.  One thing is for sure, the least efficient way to do something is to not do it.  Furthermore, I'll be honest and say that my "research" often bunny trails so far off topic that I end up back at the entertainment focus.

Because I'm spending less time accomplishing goals, life maintenance just isn't happening.  When that happens, we become reactive to life rather than responsive to situations.  I'm sure technology is just one piece of the whole, but for me, I think it's a big piece.  And it's a piece I can take ownership over.

What can I do about it?

Make a "Must Do" list.  So, a goal I'm setting for myself is to continue with my to do lists, but to plan out my "musts".  These are things I will make a priority for the day, and will focus on these items before I let myself spend time on my devices.

Be conscientious in my use of technology.  I think this is going to take some discipline and repetition.  I've caught myself mindlessly picking up my phone, without any purpose or reason.   It's just become a habit of mine.  A habit I'd like very much to break.

I want to be intentional with my time, and a big part of that for me is setting aside time to accomplish necessary tasks first so that I have the luxury of down time later, without feeling like I should be doing something else.

If you struggle with time management, what are some tips that you have?  I'd love to hear about how you prioritize the musts in your life.  Leave a comment!

Next post, I plan to talk about the impact of technology overload on my family.

Until then,
Kelly

Too Distracted To Be Intentional

Eek, over a month has passed since my last post.  It's pretty embarrassing to fall so behind on a blog about being purposeful and intentional.  However, it's a good lesson to me that this is a process, not a bandaid.  And if I don't keep making the intentional decisions, chaotic life creeps back in.

Over the past several days, I've realized just how distracted that I've become.  I let "things" catch my attention away from my goal.  However, let me be perfectly clear when I say that what I really don't want is to become a slave to this ideal of being intentional.  For me, people will almost always trump my own plans.  (Probably will be something to evaluate in the future.)

As a just-barely millennial, my life has been marked by huge changes in technology and communication.  And while the goal of these discoveries in technology is to improve efficiency and communication, in a lot of ways, for me, it has stunted my ability to be as productive.  Or rather, I've let that happen.

Instead of using my phone and computer as a tool and a resource, they've almost become a security blanket.  I find myself picking up my phone the moment I open my eyes in the morning, mindlessly scrolling through newsfeeds throughout the day (that I've probably already seen), and carrying my phone around the house, lest I miss some text or notification.

I'll be honest, it's actually really hard for me to admit just how much I've let my phone take over my daily activities.  It's embarrassing to me really.  I know that the reality is that life has changed, and my kids will never know a time when smartphones weren't the norm.  But that doesn't mean I have to, or even should, teach them that they have to be connected to it.  I'm not showing my kids that I am engaged if I'm scrolling through my phone while I sit with them at the table during lunch.  Yes, maybe I'm physically there, but certainly not mentally.

And for me, it has become a huge stumbling block to my time-management.  I have no idea how I would have been able to focus through 20 years of school if I had the kind of access that I have now.  Each day I try to create a checklist of the things that I need to accomplish.  Far more often than not, my list doesn't even get close to completed.  Sure, unexpected situations come up sometimes, but the truth is, usually it's because I've been distracted by my phone or computer.

I'm reading about other people's lives rather than truly living my own.  What I'd like to focus on in my next few posts is how I've let technology impact different areas of my own life, and how I hope to make changes to my habits.

I'd love if you'd follow along, and please comment your thoughts - struggles, triumphs, things that work, etc.  Until next time!

Kelly

Frugal February Final Outcome

Sooooo, I'm just a little bit (okay, a lotta bit) late in writing this post.  I'd been planning on making one last post about how the month went for us last week, but we had family in town and a birthday this past week.  Obviously, it just didn't happen.  But I'm here now and wanted to give a brief rundown of how we did.

Overall, our spending was definitely lower than any of the previous months, which was the goal.  Thinking back over the month, I recognize that we hit up the pie truck pretty much every weekend.  The other unexpected expense was signing up for a half marathon since I missed out on my planned one due to getting sick.  That set us back about $200, unfortunately.

Overall spending

I wanted to see where our biggest savings and spendings went over the month, so I also broke it down by the places where we spend the most.

Groceries: We really tried to eat from our supply of food in our pantry and freezer, so our grocery bill is lower than previous months.  Especially November and December (Hello Thanksgiving and Christmas feasts!).  It doesn't seem to be a huge chunk of savings, but I figured that the groceries wouldn't be that impactful since we were eating out less so eating more meals at home.

Grocery

Target: Here's where things start get interesting.  Now, I did make a big trip to Target in January to stock up, but look at the difference in spending!  Again, I think a huge bulk of November and December is related to holiday spending, but the difference even from January is about half!

Target

Amazon: And here's the thing that surprised me the most when I started looking into the details from the month.  We did not have one single Amazon purchase.  Nothing!  Again, I think November and December are huge due to the holidays.  Not really sure what happened in January though.

Amazon

So, there you have it.  We certainly decreased our spending over the month, but this was probably not the most extreme we've been.  A side effect of Frugal February is that I'm finding it difficult to tell myself that it's okay to buy a few things that we were holding off on over the last month.  But, I'd say that's a very beneficial side effect.  It's like we hit the reset button on our spending.  

I'd love to hear how the month ended up for you.  Where did you see the most impact?  The least?  How has this challenged you to change your spending habits?  Let me know in the comments!

Kelly

Frugal February Friday #4

Hey guys!  Another week has gone by, so I wanted to share an update on how things are going.  Definitely slipped a few times, but overall I feel like it was a really good week!

As planned, I did buy some pie, but only went one time!  I know that doesn't seem like a victory, but the week before I went twice in two days. (I'm telling you, that pie is some serious business!)   One afternoon, I took the kids out for lunch but was able to trim the cost by using a gift card they got for Christmas.

My biggest success of the week was, again, our grocery trip.  Last week I spent about half of our normal, but this week our bill was a little over 1/3 of normal.  Yep, 1/3.  We were able to do that because we are continuing to use up what we have in the freezer and pantry.  At this point, we've used up our supply of meat.

I went back to the grocery store today to pick up items to get us through the end of the month.  Again, the bill came out to be 1/3 of normal, but in this case, it's not going to last us the entire week.

My goals for the last 5 days of February are to not eat out (except a pie trip on Saturday), to stay away from Target, and to go to the grocery store only for fresh strawberries for a dessert I'm making on Monday.  We are planning a trip to the store to pick up a few items for gardening this weekend, but other than that, I hope to not spend any more money for the rest of the month.

So how did week 4 go?  Tell me in the comments!

I plan on posting one more time in this series to share our final "results".  See you then!

Kelly

Keep The Clutter Out

So the topic of this post was actually suggested by my husband, which makes a lot of sense because out of the two of us, he is way better at doing this than I am.

One way that we have found to declutter is to take steps to keep clutter from even entering our home.  Prevention is way better than treatment, right?  So I wanted to share a few specific things that we do to keep the influx of clutter at a minimum.

Mail.  Our kids love taking a trip down to the mailbox to pick up the mail, so it has become a regular evening event for us.  One trick that we do is to very quickly sift through the mail to pull out any advertisements, credit card applications, or other "junk" mail.  On our way into the house, we dump those items into the recycling bin.  Then, those pieces of mail never even make it to our kitchen counter, where they used to stay for days before they were tossed.

Kids' meal toys.  You know exactly what I'm talking about parents.  We don't do a whole lot of fast food in our family, but we tend to hit up Chick-fil-a fairly often.  (Not this month though!)  I get it, I used to love all the little toys I'd get from my Happy Meals as a kid.  I still think back fondly on some of them.  And I love the types of items that Chick-fil-a includes; things like books, trivia cards, etc.  But they end up all over my house since my kids are still too young for most of them.  (Except the books, which hang out in our car.)   What we do now is evaluate the toy, and if it's not something that will be well used, into the recycling or donation box it goes.  I know that seems so wasteful, right?  Well, one cool thing that Chick-fil-a does (No, they are not sponsoring this post, I promise!) is allow you to swap the toy out for an ice cream cone.  Voila, no waste and a sweet treat!   Otherwise, I'm feeling convicted to start asking for them to omit the toy when we order.  My kids are at an age where they don't even miss it.

Books.  This one is two-fold.  I love to read.  Like, really and truly love to read.  At this day and age, maybe it's a no-brainer, but as much as I love to read with a book in my hand, I tend to go the e-book route.  I know, that's not super original, but it doesn't have to be.  Also, my kids just love books.  So we go old school and take trips to the library on a weekly basis.  The "new" books keep them engaged, but rather than having our book collection get out of control (and expensive), back to the library they go.  Again, I know it's not an original concept, but it's not something we've always done.  And it may be something you don't normally do.  I highly encourage you to try it out.  It's a fun activity for the kids and helps keep our belongings in check.

Okay, I am dying to hear ways you keep clutter from even making its way into your home.  Please leave a comment and share your tips, because I'd love to try to implement them in our home!

Kelly

Frugal February Friday #3

We are officially more than halfway through Frugal February!  This week we've had some successes and some not so much.

One of my goals for the week was to not eat out at all this week.  Sooooo, there's this pie place.  And they have a food truck.  And they came to the area.  So we went.  Twice.  I regret nothing.

Otherwise, we've done a pretty good job.  I managed to cut our grocery bill in half of what it typically runs.  Yes, half.  I planned our meals around what we already had stocked in the freezer, so only had to buy fresh items, like dairy and produce.  We still have plenty of snacks in the pantry, so I only purchased two non-perishable items: a carton of broth and a box of pasta.  Again, the reason I was able to spend so little is because I'm using up items we already had.  But, isn't that the point?  Spend less, and use up the surplus.

I've managed to go out to the store several times and really only buy the items I went for, rather than purchasing any extras here and there.

Next week, my plans is more of the same.  But this time, I'm already planning on more pie...

Would love to hear from you.  Leave a comment to share how your Frugal February is going!

Kelly

Letting Go of Kids' Crafts

Let me preface this by saying that I am not the most sentimental person.  So, if you find value in holding onto things for the memories, this may not be the post for you.  Or maybe you can modify it to your needs.

Crafts.  Your kid comes home from preschool/daycare/Sunday school with a piece of artwork or craft that they created.  It's adorable, so you keep it.  Next week, same story.  Pretty soon, you have every single piece of paper they've ever even scribbled on.   If you're anything like me, eventually these pieces of paper become just that.  Pieces of paper cluttering up my home.  (Mom of the year right here.)

What got me started on my simplifying journey was the overwhelmed feeling I got when I would look at the kids' playroom.  So I did something about it and significantly reduced the amount of toys, books, and "stuff".   Let me tell you what, if you have kids, I highly urge you to give it a go.  The weight that has been lifted is incredible.  They can take out every single toy in that room, and it can now be cleaned in 5 minutes.  And it's not bare either.  And they play!  (Anyway, I'll save that for another post...)

Initial purge.  Part of the playroom simplification included getting rid of all of the piles of crafts and artwork we had sitting around - on kitchen counters, in the playroom, on our desk in the study.  So we piled it all up, looked through it to see if there was anything we really wanted to save.  If yes, we either kept it or  took a photo of it, then recycled the rest.

I felt like it was important that I explained what I was doing to my 4 year old.  I did not want her to think that we didn't care about her creations.  She seemed to get it.  One thing that helped was explaining to her that most of the time,  the most important thing is the doing of the craft, not necessarily the end product.  That it's about the experience and having fun.

Don't let it accumulate.  When you start to notice pieces of paper gathering, it's time to decide what needs to be recycled.  As I mentioned previously, we had been working on this for the past year, but loosely.  What ended up happening is that we would have a huge stack of art that needed to be scanned or photographed, and eventually we would just say, forget it, and dump it all without even looking at it.   By staying on top if it, we are being more discerning about what we keep and what we don't.

Another tactic we use is having an in/out rule.  We have a set up of kids' art.  When they bring home something new, it takes the place of something already hanging up.  Every week, our kids bring home a lesson from Bible study.  Each week we replace the previous lesson.

Be discerning.  Don't get me wrong, not everything gets recycled.  If it is something generic, out it goes.  But we like to keep things that capture a significant moment in time.    So something that has a cutout or tracing of my child's hand?  That goes to their memory box or gets photographed.

Our plan is not to purge every single thing that our children spend their time creating, because I think that misses the point of what we are trying to accomplish.  We have to be mindful of what has value, and not just what we think.  If my daughter brings in a picture that she is so proud of, it has value to her.  I want to teach my children to help make decisions about what stays or goes.

How do you manage arts and crafts that come into your home?  I'd love to hear any tricks or things that work for your family.  Leave a comment to share!

Kelly