Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to batch your weekend chores so you
Speaker 1: can enjoy your days off guilt free. After years of
Speaker 1: writing and talking about time management, I've realized that I
Speaker 1: hear some of the same complaints over and over again.
Speaker 1: At work, people lament that they spend so much time
Speaker 1: dealing with their inboxes that they never have time for
Speaker 1: deep work or strategic thinking. At home, people feel like
Speaker 1: they spend their entire weekends trying to get caught up
Speaker 1: with chores, and so they never have time for fun.
Speaker 1: While these complaints seem different, I eventually realized that they
Speaker 1: were getting at the exact same issue. Some activities expand
Speaker 1: to fill all available space, and just as you will
Speaker 1: never get and stay at inbox zero, you will never
Speaker 1: arrive at a perfectly clean house that won't then fall
Speaker 1: prey to toys, junk mail, and dirty dishes. Email and
Speaker 1: housework will both take any amount of time you give them.
Speaker 1: That means that any hacks designed to less an impact
Speaker 1: are going to be of limited use. And yes, you
Speaker 1: can write shorter emails. He probably should you could even
Speaker 1: write k instead of okay in your emails. And yes,
Speaker 1: you can develop a system for emptying the dishwasher that
Speaker 1: makes it take five minutes instead of seven minutes. Awesome,
Speaker 1: But fundamentally, the only way to make these activities take
Speaker 1: less time is to choose to give them less time.
Speaker 1: The good news, though, is that this approach does work.
Speaker 1: When I've managed to convince people to limit themselves to
Speaker 1: three to four email checks per day done at certain times,
Speaker 1: they do, in fact spend less time on email. And
Speaker 1: I think chores are best approached the same way. Batch
Speaker 1: them and designate certain times when chores aren't always options.
Speaker 1: Then you can enjoy the rest of your time without
Speaker 1: feeling guilty. Here's how this can work. Spend some time
Speaker 1: to day thinking about the chores and errands you normally
Speaker 1: do over the weekend. Be judicious what truly needs to
Speaker 1: happen and what's not critical. Well, you might need clean
Speaker 1: clothes for the week, you probably don't need to wax
Speaker 1: your floors, while you might need to go grocery shopping.
Speaker 1: You don't need to cook all your meals for the
Speaker 1: week ahead of time. Choose to make simpler meals that
Speaker 1: you can whip up in fifteen to twenty minutes on
Speaker 1: weeknights instead, Now estimate how long these tasks will take
Speaker 1: and what can overlap if all household members participate, how
Speaker 1: much time would it take to get through these things.
Speaker 1: Perhaps one party could switch clothes from the washings of
Speaker 1: the dryer and run the vacuum, while someone else goes
Speaker 1: to the grocery store and drops off the dry cleaning.
Speaker 1: Once you've figured out a rough window, designate a block
Speaker 1: of time in which you will do almost all of
Speaker 1: these things. For instance, maybe you decide that from ten
Speaker 1: to twelve on Saturday morning you will do the bulk
Speaker 1: of these weekend activities. Make sure this is a time
Speaker 1: everyone can participate. Make a game plan, then assess what
Speaker 1: things will need to happen outside the window. Ideally not
Speaker 1: too much. If you've got a reasonably sized family, You'll
Speaker 1: still need to do some dishes and empty the dishwasher
Speaker 1: on Sunday, even if Saturday from ten to twelve is
Speaker 1: the official chores and Errand's time, And perhaps the laundry
Speaker 1: that was washed Saturday during this window is still in
Speaker 1: the dryer outside the window and might need to be
Speaker 1: put away. But make sure to prevent scope creep. If
Speaker 1: one party is assigned to pick up and vacuum the
Speaker 1: basement playroom from ten to twelve on Saturday, and this
Speaker 1: is in fact done, then do not go redo it
Speaker 1: on Sunday just because there are toys out. Of course,
Speaker 1: there are toys out. It's a playroom. That's what happens.
Speaker 1: But so what. No one is going to come around
Speaker 1: at eleven p m. Sunday night to give you demerits
Speaker 1: for having toys on the floor, So just let it
Speaker 1: be and relax and have a glass of wine instead.
Speaker 1: There was a time for picking up the playroom, and
Speaker 1: now is not that time. If you start thinking this way,
Speaker 1: I promise your weekends will start feeling much better. Do
Speaker 1: you designate a time for weekend chores? If so, I'd
Speaker 1: love to hear about it. You can email me at
Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Podcast at iHeart media dot com. In the meantime,
Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making
Speaker 1: the most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to
Speaker 1: hear from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E. The
Speaker 1: number four then Breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
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Speaker 1: you listen to your favorite shows.