My Monday’s are superduperdays, I’ll give them that.

But for a good chunk of the rest of the week, I work from home. This allows a less intense schedule. Inspired by Pamie’s most recent Weekly Procrastination post, I thought I’d throw my tips on the pile.

My morning starts the rest of the week at 5:00 am when I walk the dog.
Being a morning person stunk in college, but I’m okay with it now.

My coffee is 2/3 decaffeinated and 1/3 caffeinated.
(This way I can have more than one cup before inappropriate outbursts.)

I exercise, make the coffee, quickly scan work email for emergencies and make breakfasts for the toddlers. If there’s time, I do morning pages. We get dressed, I take the girls to school and we laugh and yell the whole way through.

When I’m back at the house alone, I eat breakfast (it helps!) and make my daily list.

Make a list first
My lists are super granular. I break everything down into 30 minute or less chunks of activity. I do it before getting into my email (besides my emergency scan). I list all the tasks to do before nine pm. I don’t let my list cover more than 2/3 of the page so there’s room for the inevitable tasks that pop up.

Every day, I’m surprised when my husband comes home, even though it’s been this way for 3 years. Gah. After realizing I’ve been hunched over the phone or the laptop for five hours straight and my neck probably hurt and my leg was asleep, I installed a stretch timer.

Thus the next tip…

Set up a Stretch Timer on your phone or your computer 
Bodies weren’t made for all this laptop hunching.
We’re at home! let’s take advantage of our privacy and get a little weird! Let’s swing these meat sack appendages around every 30 minutes or so, it feels good. I use the Stretch Timer widget and/or the timer on my phone.

By 4:30 pm, The pacing outside my office space has worn yet another hole in the carpet. All my people need something. So I take a break and start supper in earnest. When the food goes in the oven, or the food is simmering, I head back upstairs for a work check-in.

Take advantage of supper
You can make amazing suppers, just by popping in at various parts of the preparation process. Take tiny breaks to chill doughs, whip up desserts and use your food processor in a calm, measured and uncrowded kitchen. Some steps can take only a few minutes — use that stretch timer to your advantage.

By 5:30 pm, supper is on the table. We say what we’re “thank you” for and we eat together.  I love this part of the day.

Before bed, the girls dance and run and sometimes play Candyland and sometimes play dress-up and sometimes play with blocks and sometimes play babies and sometimes make a Hot Wheels track and sometimes fight and cry.

Just like you and me.

Usually it looks like this:

Then we bathe and pajama and read and tuck.

At 8:00, I check once more into work, as well as my side projects and writing projects and all the little things that seemed fun at the time. This includes working on my presentations, illustrations and party preparations.

By 9:30, I finish up my prep for tomorrow. Depending on where I’ll be, you could find me getting notes, clothing, packing, tomorrow’s dinner and bus fare ready for another day.

30 minutes tonight is worth an hour in the morning
That last half hour of the day can make or break your next day. Put out as much as you can for tomorrow. I put out my makeup and hair-doing supplies, my clothing, dog walking doodads (leash, bags, coat), the coffee, the girls’ lunches, everything I can.

Hope some of these scheduling tips help you pack a wee bit more into your day.