Planning a Schedule

I went shopping again today. Necessary things for my husband's work -- forgot about them until this week -- but it needed to be done. I think that makes four days out of five this week that I have gone shopping, and I haven't been doing recreational shopping. Ran out of milk one day, needed spinach another (one of the kids was making dinner that night, and who am I to tell a kid not to use spinach!), needed things for work today, etc, etc. This is why I need to create a schedule. If I had a schedule I wouldn't spend so much time (and gas) running to the store. Statistically, I would spend less money if I run to the store only once a week. I would be less tired, and I would be more able to focus on creating a home that consists of the physical and emotional contents I desire, without the clutter it presently holds.

It's really hard right now to create a schedule. School schedules are different, dance schedules are different, and we have activities that occur no other time of year. But this is the time we most need it, and this is the time I have. I need to start creating a shopping list for once a week shopping. I need to base this list off a menu plan to eliminate last minute grocery needs.The new year will run more smoothly if I get the schedule planned soon, so it can be implemented with a minimum of confusion. For example, when will I do my grocery shopping? I can squeeze it in when my daughter is at dance, but will I skip that to go out with the other mothers, thereby blowing my schedule? I need to decide now so I don't shoot myself in the foot.

I also need to consider all the other elements that need to go into my schedule: church meetings, kid meetings, occasional grandparent visits, other things I haven't thought of yet. And, oh, yeah, FAMILY TIME which is a large part of the reason I want to refocus family time at home. I only have a limited amount of time left when my children will both be at home. If I want to have a firm foundation for them to reflect on, and if I want to maximize the amount of time we have together, I need to eliminate the extraneous activities -- including multiple trips to the store every week.