The Well-Ordered Day: Simple Ways to Save Time and Find Peace

Finding More Hours in Your Day

Thoughts based on Emilie Barne’s writings…

“How do I get more hours in my day?” Isn’t that something almost every busy woman has wondered?

There is no magic trick that suddenly turns twenty-four hours into thirty. And perhaps the goal shouldn’t really be to cram more and more into our days anyway. But there are many little ways to stop wasting the time we already have.

Ten minutes spent hunting for the scissors. Twenty minutes making an unnecessary trip to town. Half an hour scrolling on the phone when we only meant to check one thing. Five minutes here, fifteen minutes there—and before we know it, a good portion of the day has disappeared.

A little forethought can make a home run much more smoothly. And when our days run more smoothly, we have more time and energy for the things that really matter—our prayers, our husbands, our children, our homes, and the people God has placed in our lives.

Here are some practical, down-to-earth ways to reclaim those little pockets of time.

🍂Keep a Running Shopping List

Instead of trying to remember everything you need when you happen to be in town, keep one running list.

There is the old-fashioned notebook approach, but a list on your phone works, too. Keep categories such as groceries, household, clothing, gifts, books, toiletries, and “things to look for.”

This is especially helpful for birthdays and Christmas. If you know what you are looking for months ahead of time, you can pick things up when you find a good sale instead of frantically shopping at the last minute.

And before you order something online, ask yourself, Is there anything else we need from this store? One order is better than five little ones.

🍂Keep Everyday Things Where You Use Them

Sometimes efficiency is surprisingly simple.

If you are constantly walking to the office or sewing room for scissors, buy another pair of scissors.

Keep a pen where you pay bills. Keep tape where you wrap gifts. Keep basic cleaning supplies in each bathroom. If you have two floors, consider keeping a small vacuum or broom upstairs rather than hauling everything up and down.

The same principle applies to things such as phone chargers, reading glasses, tissues, wastebaskets, laundry baskets, and basic toiletries.

Pay attention to what you are constantly hunting for. That is often a clue that the item needs a permanent home—or that you need a second one.

🍂Combine Tasks That Naturally Go Together

Multitasking isn’t always a time-saver. Trying to answer messages, cook supper, supervise children, and listen to something all at once can leave us frazzled and doing four things poorly!

But some tasks pair beautifully.

Fold laundry while talking to your mother on the phone. Listen to an audiobook while walking. Pray a Rosary while doing a quiet, repetitive household task. Listen to something worthwhile while driving. And having time with the children…doesn’t need to be paired with anything!

Keep something useful with you when you know you are going to have to wait somewhere—a good book, some correspondence that needs answering, or even a few blank thank-you notes. That’s a lot better than mindless scrolling on the phone!

The important thing is to combine tasks that don’t require the same kind of concentration.

🍂Put the Phone in Its Place

This may be one of the biggest modern time-savers of all.

Our phones are useful servants but terrible masters.

Turn off unnecessary notifications. Don’t feel obligated to answer every text the moment it arrives. If you are working on something important, put the phone in another room or turn on Do Not Disturb.

And beware of that innocent little thought: I’ll just check this for a minute. Ten minutes can become forty remarkably quickly.

Give yourself certain times to answer messages, check email, or catch up on things online rather than allowing them to interrupt the entire day.

🍂Learn to Graciously End a Conversation

There are times when we have all the time in the world for a good chat—and those conversations can be a lovely part of friendship. I always say, “People are more important than things…and schedules and lists, etc.”

But there are also times when the potatoes are boiling over, you are trying to get out the door, and someone wants to talk for forty-five minutes.

It is perfectly gracious to say, “I would love to talk, but I’m right in the middle of something. Can I call you another time?”

You don’t have to answer every phone call, either. Let it go to voicemail and return the call when you can give the person your attention.

🍂Decide What Actually Matters Today

A to-do list can be helpful, but a list of thirty-seven things can also be discouraging.

Try choosing your three most important things for the day.

There will still be laundry, meals, dishes, children, phone calls, and the thousand little duties of home life. But ask yourself: If I accomplish only three extra things today, which three would make the biggest difference?

Do those first.

And if there is one unpleasant job hanging over your head, consider tackling it early.

Making the dreaded phone call, paying the overdue bill, cleaning the awful cupboard, or filling out the paperwork may take only twenty minutes—but thinking about it can steal your peace for three days.

🍂Work With Your Natural Energy

Not every hour of the day is equal. Some women can conquer the world at 6:30 in the morning but can barely form a coherent thought by 8:30 at night. Others need time to get moving and do their best work in the afternoon.

Notice your own rhythm.

Do paperwork, writing, planning, difficult cleaning, or other demanding work when you are at your best. Save folding laundry, tidying drawers, watering plants, or other mindless jobs for your lower-energy hours.

Do the same with children when possible. Don’t schedule the most demanding schoolwork when everyone is tired, hungry, and cranky.

🍂Use Pickup and Delivery Wisely

Grocery pickup, pharmacy drive-throughs, online ordering, automatic prescription refills, and delivery services can save enormous amounts of time.

But use them thoughtfully.

A service that saves you two hours may be worth a small fee. A service that causes you to spend twice as much because you are constantly ordering things probably isn’t!

Convenience is helpful when it serves the family rather than quietly draining the budget.

🍂Break Big Jobs Into Tiny Ones

This one has helped me so much!

A large job often remains undone simply because it feels too large.

Don’t “clean the refrigerator.” Clean one shelf.

Don’t “organize the basement.” Fill one donation box.

Don’t “sort all the family photographs.” Work on them for fifteen minutes.

Don’t “deep clean the kitchen.” Wash the cabinet fronts today and clean the refrigerator tomorrow.

A job does not have to be completed in one heroic burst to count. Ten minutes a day for six days is an hour of work—and an hour can accomplish quite a bit.

🍂Use a Timer

A simple timer is one of the best tools for a homemaker who tends to get distracted or overwhelmed.

Set it for fifteen minutes and attack a room.

You’ll be surprised how much can happen in fifteen focused minutes: make the bed, gather laundry, clear the dresser, empty the wastebasket, put away shoes, and straighten the nightstand.

Timers work beautifully with children, too.

“Let’s see how much we can pick up before the timer rings!”

It turns an endless chore into something with a beginning and an end.

🍂Prepare for Tomorrow Tonight

Ten minutes in the evening can save thirty minutes of confusion in the morning.

Look at tomorrow’s calendar. Lay out anything that needs to leave the house. Put the library books by the door. Thaw the meat for supper. Lay out your clothes. Have the dishes done and your counters and table cleared.

If you have children going somewhere, have them gather what they need the night before.

Morning emergencies are often evening jobs that weren’t done.

🍂Stop Waiting for the Perfect Moment

Procrastination has a convincing little voice:

I’ll do it when I have more time.

But sometimes more time never comes.

Make the appointment.

Write the note.

Clean the drawer.

Put the photographs in the album.

Start the project.

You don’t have to finish. You simply have to begin.

Five minutes of doing is usually better than thirty minutes of thinking about doing.

🍂Let “Good Enough” Be Good Enough

Perfectionism can steal tremendous amounts of time.

There are things worth doing beautifully. There are other things that simply need to be done.

Every drawer doesn’t need to look like a photograph in a magazine. Every meal doesn’t need three side dishes. Every birthday doesn’t require handmade decorations. Every room doesn’t have to be spotless before you invite someone in for coffee.

Sometimes the floor needs a thorough scrubbing.

Sometimes it needs a quick sweep.

Wisdom is knowing which day is which.

🍂Become a List Maker

I have always been a list maker. There is something wonderfully satisfying about getting all those little things that are swirling around in your head down on paper. And, truly, a list can bring a surprising amount of peace to a busy woman.

Instead of continually thinking, Don’t forget to call so-and-so…I need to pick that up in town…I must remember that birthday…I really need to clean that cupboard…—write it down.

Once it is on paper, you don’t have to keep carrying it around in your head.

Keep lists for the ordinary things as well as the bigger projects: errands, groceries, phone calls, things to order, gifts to buy, household projects, upcoming events, seasonal jobs, and preparations for holidays.

🍂Plan Your Errands

Your lists can save time outside the home, too.

Instead of making five trips into town when one will do, keep a running errand list. Before you leave home, look it over and arrange your stops in a sensible order. Post office. Bank. Grocery store. Library. Pharmacy. Hardware store.

Think through your route before you pull out of the driveway.

And keep an “errand bag” near the door for things that need to leave the house—library books, returns, packages to mail, something you borrowed from a friend, donations, and so on.

When errand day comes, grab your list and your bag and go.

Simple—but it works.

And Speaking of Planners…

All this talk about lists and planning brings me to something I have been quietly working on for quite some time.

🍂A New Traditional Catholic Planner!

It isn’t quite ready for sale yet, but I wanted to give you a little sneak peek.

I wanted a planner that wasn’t simply a place to write appointments and to-do lists. I wanted something that would help a Catholic woman gather the many pieces of her life into one place—the practical and the spiritual. Because our days aren’t divided neatly into “spiritual life” and “everything else.”

There are meals to make, appointments to remember, errands to run, people to call, laundry to fold, birthdays to prepare for, children and grandchildren to love…and through all of it, a soul to sanctify.

So I have included plenty of room for the practical things we have been talking about—priorities, chores, notes, goals, and those all-important lists.

But I also wanted little reminders of what all this order is for.

There is a Saint of the Day, a place for the Virtue of the Week, Gratitude, and a spot for “Offering My Week For…” so that even the busiest week can be intentionally offered for someone we love.

There is a checklist for the spiritual things of the day…this is the part I especially love and am looking forward to! Up to this point, I wrote those things myself in my list book. Here they are written for me so I can just check them off each day!

There are monthly pages for goals and notes, a place in the beginning of the book to look at the year as a whole, and plenty of room for the ordinary planning that keeps a household moving.

And because I don’t want a planner that makes me feel like a failure when life doesn’t go according to plan, I have tried to keep it simple and peaceful.

A planner is a tool. It is there to serve us—not rule us.

Some weeks every little space may be filled in. Other weeks may have scribbles, crossed-out plans, grocery lists in the margins, and several things carried over to next week.

That’s real life.

The purpose isn’t to have a perfect planner. The purpose is to help us remember what needs remembering, make wise use of our time, and bring a little more order and peace into our homes.

This planner runs from January through December, but I purposely made it so that it is not tied to a particular year. You can use it any year. And you can jump into it in the middle of the year, it doesn’t matter, it will work either way!

It isn’t available quite yet, but I’ll be sharing more pictures and details soon. I’m getting rather excited to finally share it with you!

🍂One Last Thought About Our Time…

We cannot manufacture more hours. And perhaps we shouldn’t want to fill every hour anyway.

A well-ordered day should leave room for the little one who wants to tell us a long story…the teenager who suddenly decides to talk…the husband who would enjoy a cup of coffee together…the friend who needs a listening ear.

And, above all, there must be room for prayer.

We don’t organize our lives simply so we can accomplish more. We create order so that the necessary things don’t crowd out the important things.

A little planning, a good list, less perfectionism, and a willingness to begin can bring a surprising amount of peace to a busy home.

We cannot make the day longer. But we can become better stewards of the hours God has given us.

And perhaps that is the real goal—not squeezing one more task into every spare minute, but creating enough order that there is time left for the people, duties, and quiet moments that matter most.

“This art of housekeeping is not learned in a day; those of us who have been engaged in it for years are constantly finding out how little we know, and how far we are, after all, from perfection. It requires a clever woman to keep house; and as I said before there is ample scope, even within the four walls of a house (a sphere which some affect to despise), for the exercise of originality, organizing power, administrative ability. And to the majority of women I would fain believe it is the most interesting and satisfactory of all feminine occupations.” -Annie S. Swan Courtship and Marriage And the Gentle Art of Home-Making

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