Time Management & Me : Giving Hours a Purpose

I’m sharing my time budget today. I can’t take credit for this fabulous idea; it came from the equally fabulous Amy at Blogging with Amy. {Folks if you blog you really should read her.} It is based on the concept of the envelope system of money management.

A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.
— Dave Ramsey

If you’re like me you have days where you wonder where your time has gone. By creating a time budget you’re giving a purpose to each hour of your day. My budget is still in its infancy and as time goes on it is very likely to evolve as my responsibilities and desires change.

• Sleep 8.5 hours The 8.5 hours is what I shoot for. More often it’s 7-8 hours a night with the occasional 6 hours thrown in for good measure.
  
• Margin 2 hours This is my something came up but I have extra time so it doesn’t throw the whole day out of whack.
  
• Blogging 3.5 hours This is really all my computer time which includes Twitter, Facebook {personal and page duties}, email as well as writing and publishing posts.
  
• Cleaning 3 hours I can guarantee you I won’t spend a solid, continual 3 hours a day cleaning. This includes things like hanging the clothes out on the line and washing dishes.
  
• Bible Reading/Prayer/Getting ready for the day 1 hour
  
• Cooking 4 hours. This is my umbrella term for all things food related which includes eating and photographing recipes for Cookin’ Mimi
  
• Personal Time 2 Hours Aka Gibbs and Doctor Who time. This is my free time where I can do whatever I want/need to.

Your budget will likely look completely different than mine. I don’t have small children (or any children for that matter) so I don’t have to figure in time for homeschooling or going to sports or music practice.
Crystal goes into much better detail on how to create a time budget in her Time Management 101 series.

Last week I mentioned that I was going to share my favorite printables but that’s going to wait until next week.