There are so many blessings that Trent’s challenge of autism
has given our family, but one that maybe easy to overlook is his need for
routine. He seems to have less trauma
when we can have some semblance of order in our lives. He likes a schedule. It has forced me to plan
and have back-up plans. But in a way it
has simplified my life. So, I can
balance everything to care for him, I have learned a few things that make my
own life easier to manage.
So, applying a benefit of autism to my homemaking tasks, I
schedule routine tasks. Since I need
EASY in my life, I use mnemonics, automatic scheduling features of ical, and
some silly word association techniques.
Perhaps some of these ideas can help you. I doubt any of mine will work directly for
you, but it might get your own mind thinking of how to tame your own time
management grizzlies.
1) Fix
it day. Since a stitch in time saves
nine, on the 9th of each month I have fix it day. My family knows to
stack up shirts with loose buttons, shorts with tears, alterations, etc. for
the 9th of each month. I then
set up the sewing machine, grab different colored threads and have at it. Since for me so much of mending time is just
the set-up, I only do it once a month. I
also heat up the glue gun for those types of repairs. Then after the stack is
finished, the equipment goes back up and out of sight until the 9th
of the next month.
2) My
plants were suffering until I set the 17th of each month as
fertilizer day. Here’s how my quirky brain came up with that. I fertilized one year on St. Pat’s day –
theme of green – so it seemed to fit. My
fertilizing is an attempt to “green-up” my plants, so this way I don’t wait too
long like 6 weeks or over fertilize after only 3.
3) This
next one definitely only works for me, but it might help you get some ideas for
ways to schedule repeat tasks in your own life.
My skin is weird, but after half a century with it, I have found that if
I alternate between two different soaps every other day, my skin will tend to
cooperate better. One bar is white, so I
use it on odd days. One bar is tan and I
use it on even days. Before I decided on this (and I refused to set up a
clipboard next to my shower) I couldn’t remember which one I had used last. The
mental calisthenics to get this scheme was this: albinism in most spiciest is considered an
oddity (all white soap = odd days), and I want an even tan on my legs (hence,
tan soap on even days). Ah, one less
thing to have to keep track of and waste brain time on. Again, I don’t think
there is another human on the planet that could use that scheme, but it might
get your brain to think of something with meaning in your life that you could regulate
to a regiment – so you can think of sunshine, puppies, and flowers instead of …
4) Thanksgiving
Day falls on a Thursday every year. That helps me organize one of my tasks in a
given week and Thursday is my day to write thank you notes.
Rather then continue with my list
of automatic reminders of repeated chores, I want to relate to you. I know that we all have so many
responsibilities that we are juggling, that if we can just let some of those
squishy balls fly through the air on their own without our having to add them
to our to do list, or log in our journal, we would be free to be more creative
with the task that are one-timers.
Some task repeat daily, some
weekly, a considerable amount monthly, and a few yearly, but when I can
relegate the planning to “inked” in subroutine in my brain, I’m less likely to
forget the task, more likely to enjoy the task because my time seems more
productive (all the sewing at once while the equipment is out), and my family,
like my plants, seem to understand the flow and thrive.
Of course, there are emergencies,
when all bets are off and I have to sew on a button RIGHT THIS VERY MINUTE, or
my thank you note writing has to wait for a week because of a doctor’s
appointment, but for the most part, scheduling makes my life easier –
especially the ones that are “on the tip of my brain” that I don’t even have to
write them down.
Now, go forth and conquer that
pile of lonely-only socks on the first of each month.
Now if only weeding could be
scheduled . . .
