Do You Need Help with Time Management? #hsreviews

I’m not sure if I’ve told you this before, but taking care of this big family and house can be overwhelming.  I’ve had to create schedules to make sure everything gets done in addition to our schooling.  I definitely needed some help with time management.  That’s where The 7 Minute Life™ Daily Planner  came in.  I received a physical planner as part of the TOS Crew.   Have you heard of it before?  I hadn’t, but am really enjoying my time with it!

The planner is designed by The 7 Minute Life created by Allyson Lewis.  She has already written the Seven Minute Difference and the 7 Minute Solution.  Her credo is that change can happen in an instant, the moment you decide to change.  This is true with her life as she was diagnosed with hypertension and different auto immune diseases, causing her to also have seizures.  

The 7 minute life is available for $24.95 and is geared towards homeschool moms or just moms in general.  It is a physical planner that you can write in and touch.  I have tried many different planners and they’re always missing something that I need so I’m trying to squeeze it in.  In this planner there are some areas that I would not be able to use so I was able to mark those out and put in what I need.  

The 7 Minute Life Daily Planner is designed to enable you to:

• Define your values
• Discover your purpose
• Set written goals
• Monitor your physical health
• Get rid of clutter in your life
• Have a daily written plan of action
• Track your progress

They physical planner is 7.3″ by 8.5″ and divided up into sections spanning 270 pages.  These sections are:

• Unfinished task reports
• Daily Progress Reports
• Monthly Calendar at a Glance
• Annual Calendar at a Glance
• Monthly Progress Report
• and more(learning resources at the beginning how to use and so much information)

I don’t know about you, but I would have a hard time fitting anything else into my life.  It’s full.  I have 9 kids.  I homeschool.  I cook all of our meals from scratch in allergen friendly organic and GMO free versions.  And the list could go on!  I have a to do list a mile long!  My house is never clean, I can’t remember the last time I had the entire house dust free(living on a gravel road probably doesn’t help this at all).  As you can see I’m in need of  change!  I need to get organized if I want to get everything done.  I definitely could use some help with time management! 

So, when the 7 Minute Life Daily Planner came up as a review through the TOS Crew I knew I wanted to try it.  Anything to help get me organized and on track with my life.  I wanted more carefree minutes with my kids and less stress.  Less running around with the I have to accomplish this much today or the battle against the house will be lost!  Yeap it’s a battle in our house.  

I was intrigued with the part of the “monitor your physical health” section.  I am having health problems including adrenal fatigue and hypothyroidism.  There is more going on but those are my major factors along with Celiac an autoimmune disease.  I wanted to know what was involved in monitoring my health the 7 minute way.  It involves a section to mark off how much water you’ve drank(just put an x on the cup) plus a section to write down meals or at least mark that you ate them(I have a habit of forgetting to eat myself though I always feed the kids).  You also have four sections to make sure you do daily.  These four are sleep, exercise, reflection(Bible study), and reading.  With my health problems it is hard for me to sleep.  Seeing it staring at me on the page makes me more conscious that I need to try and get more sleep.  Exercise is definitely something that is important on a daily basis and something I have been trying to incorporate into my life.  I love to read!  I would love to be able to read daily and I’m trying to start getting that in daily.  And of course the reflection time is my Bible study or morning devotional time.  

Let’s talk a bit about sections I don’t really use.  The Daily Contacts part.  I don’t have daily contact with anyone outside of my family normally.  I spend my days at home with my children.  So, my kids are my contacts!  There are 25 lines.  I have 9 kids and 1 husband.  So that equals 10 contacts that I have on a daily basis.  I ignore the numbers and by every other one I put down a child’s name.  My husbands name goes at the top.  This section is for me to be more intentional in spending one on one time with each child and my husband OUTSIDE of school.  That might be reading a book with just that child, coloring a picture, dancing around the house, or just sitting and cuddling.  On the line with their name I jot down my intention of time for the day.  The second line is for me to come back and put down what I did.

There is a section for appointments.  I am using that to block out my time.  For instance, we try to do school from 9am until noon in the morning.  So I block off that time.  Nothing will be scheduled during that time so as not to disrupt our schedule.  If we have doctor appointments to schedule I will do those in the afternoon.  I think keeping a routine is the best for my children.  They need the stability and routine.  Some of them have some emotional problems(reactive attachment disorder) which causes them to need structure and schedule more than a normal child.  Deviating can throw them for a major loop and mess with my entire day or week even!  I put down our meal times but not my personal Bible time as it happens before the times start.  

Another section is the 5 before 11.  This is the What I will do. . . . . 5 before 11 that helps you prioritize the top 5 things for you to get done that day. By choosing only 5 you’re not setting yourself up with a huge list where you will “fail” and not get it all done.  Five is reasonable and doable.  These 5 things are to be written down the day before.  That way when you get up the next morning you have only 5 things that you need to focus on and accomplish straight off.  It makes sense that this would be great for working at a “real” job but what about us stay at home types?  What do we put down?  Well, for me it varies by day.  For instance, on Saturdays I do baking!  So one of my 5 things would be to bake so many loaves of bread, clean the kitchen, pay bills, balance the checkbook, and then one more thing that I’d decide.  I do not put school on my list.  It is definitely something to accomplish daily, but I don’t want to make myself feel that I have “failed” if my kids aren’t done on time.  I might put down a field trip or a special art assignment in there though!

I could tell you so much more about how I’m using the planner and what I still need to work on to make it work the best for me and keeping myself accountable, but this is getting long and I really don’t want to spoil it all for you.  I think you’ll enjoy discovering some of the aspects for yourself and customizing them just for you!  I highly recommend this planner for you if you need help with time management.  You don’t have to be a homeschool mom or a working mom to use this planner.  You could even be a male running your own business and find this planner useful!

You can find out more about the 7 Minute Life Planner by finding them on social media.  They have a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest,  Google +, and YouTube.  Also don’t forget to head on over to the TOS Crew Review Page to check out the other moms thoughts on the planner!