FAQ: How do you get places on time?
I get asked all the time how I manage to get places on time. It cracks me up because people seem to think I am super organized or have this method of getting out the door on time since we are generally on time people. Not the case!
It starts with mindset. I don't think my time is more valuable than yours, so I don't want to keep you waiting. I also don't like missing out or feeling rushed so being on time is a priority...more than those extra 15 minutes of sleep! I also give myself the grace to know that sometimes we just aren't going to be on time, but that should be the exception not the norm.
So how do I do it? Simple really! I start by studying my people and knowing how long it takes me to get from point A to point Z getting out the door. And as a side note, breaking it down into little chunks helps because I can estimate better when I can get places that spring up based on where we are at in our getting ready process.
So lets say we are starting from getting out of bed (for the kids...assume I've been up for 1-2 hours and have showered, read my Bible and enjoyed the last bit of silence in my day).
Downstairs:
Get breakfast ready to serve (including unloading dishwasher) - 10 minutes
Upstairs:
Get boys out of bed and dressed - 15 minutes
Harass girls to get up and get dressed - 1 minute (kidding they are usually up and have the baby dressed for me!)
Downstairs:
Serve and eat breakfast - 30 minutes (includes basic clean up)
Shoes and coats on - 5 minutes (we start on this as they finish breakfast so this 5 minutes is really just from the last kid finishing eating...and that prize usually goes to Isaac)
Bags / supplies / stuff and kiddos to car and buckled - 5 minutes
And then of course there is travel time which my handy dandy GPS figures out for me!
So to be somewhere on time I add it up....I need about an hour from bed time to in the car. We rush on days we have to be somewhere early and I've been known to do breakfast in the car if we really need to hurry. So if I need to be somewhere at 9:30, it takes me 30 minutes to get there (9:00), I start at 8am.
As a side note, all of my kids who need help dressing are usually dressed every morning except for the rare PJ day. This makes it so that if we need to get out the door quickly, I can send the girls upstairs for clothes, help the boys with shoes and be out the door in about 20 minutes. Then I add travel time to that and can estimate pretty accurately when we can arrive somewhere.
So that's it. No big secret. I just give myself enough time and and plan ahead as much as needed!
Elizabeth
It starts with mindset. I don't think my time is more valuable than yours, so I don't want to keep you waiting. I also don't like missing out or feeling rushed so being on time is a priority...more than those extra 15 minutes of sleep! I also give myself the grace to know that sometimes we just aren't going to be on time, but that should be the exception not the norm.
So how do I do it? Simple really! I start by studying my people and knowing how long it takes me to get from point A to point Z getting out the door. And as a side note, breaking it down into little chunks helps because I can estimate better when I can get places that spring up based on where we are at in our getting ready process.
So lets say we are starting from getting out of bed (for the kids...assume I've been up for 1-2 hours and have showered, read my Bible and enjoyed the last bit of silence in my day).
Downstairs:
Get breakfast ready to serve (including unloading dishwasher) - 10 minutes
Upstairs:
Get boys out of bed and dressed - 15 minutes
Harass girls to get up and get dressed - 1 minute (kidding they are usually up and have the baby dressed for me!)
Downstairs:
Serve and eat breakfast - 30 minutes (includes basic clean up)
Shoes and coats on - 5 minutes (we start on this as they finish breakfast so this 5 minutes is really just from the last kid finishing eating...and that prize usually goes to Isaac)
Bags / supplies / stuff and kiddos to car and buckled - 5 minutes
And then of course there is travel time which my handy dandy GPS figures out for me!
So to be somewhere on time I add it up....I need about an hour from bed time to in the car. We rush on days we have to be somewhere early and I've been known to do breakfast in the car if we really need to hurry. So if I need to be somewhere at 9:30, it takes me 30 minutes to get there (9:00), I start at 8am.
As a side note, all of my kids who need help dressing are usually dressed every morning except for the rare PJ day. This makes it so that if we need to get out the door quickly, I can send the girls upstairs for clothes, help the boys with shoes and be out the door in about 20 minutes. Then I add travel time to that and can estimate pretty accurately when we can arrive somewhere.
So that's it. No big secret. I just give myself enough time and and plan ahead as much as needed!
Elizabeth
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