Time oh wherefore art thou time?

You will never find time for anything. If you want time you must make it.
Charles Buxton

Time and the lack of it is the curse of mothers everywhere. We spend so much time faffing around looking for shoes, mopping up spills trying to stem the tide of toys and clutter that by the end of the day we may feel exhausted but we haven't actually done anything. Then add in employment or self-employment and it makes for a very tired, frazzled mum if you're not meticulously organised with your time.

Excellent time-management skills have to be the key to juggling home and work but how do you acquire this magical concept? I write lists, then a list of lists but I still seem to be treading water when I should have completed three lengths of the pool.

Working mainly at home is especially difficult as you cannot just leave the dirty dishes or the unmade beds behind a locked door as you head off for the day but they are staring at you, mocking you until you feel compelled to tidy up before you get really annoyed. Then there's other deadly tools of procrastination readily available- Facebook, television, Mumsnet to name but a few. If you have a little one still at home it's nigh on impossible to get anything done during their waking hours without the help of Cbeebies, which in turn induces feelings of guilt.

So what is the answer? Well to be honest I don't know but I have written another list to implement and to help me organize my time and myself more efficiently.

1. Set a specific amount of time to do social media, answering emails for business and stick to it.
2. Keep on top of housework by doing dishes straight after dinner; making sure toys go way before bedtime so it doesn't become overwhelming; keeping clutter to a minimum; not letting the washing build up...etc
3. Deal with bills/paperwork as soon as it arrives and have a proper/storage/filing system.
4. Make sure I spend a couple of hours quality time everyday with the kids where I'm not multi-tasking with business, housework, dinner but focused fully on them.

That's enough to be getting on with but any other suggestions will be gratefully received!

“A wise person does at once, what a fool does at last. Both do the same thing; only at different times.” – Baltasar Gracian