How do you organize your time?
 

My sewing studio is organized to the point I can find what I need and most things have a home. Fabric is ruler folded, fat quarters are in drawers, strips, squares, and bricks have their individual places, as do all my tools of trade. :)

Now I'm working on organizing my time. Mostly I have household obligations and family matters taken care of before entering my studio. But my day seems to get away from me too quickly without a lot of sewing completed.

I'm trying to get my UFO's under control and have completed several this year. But I do get distracted and find I need more discipline to stay on task. So I'm asking for help or ideas on how you manage your time in your sewing room and perhaps I can glean from your responses to become more efficient in the use of my time. Thank you in advance for what ideas you can share.

You sound like you have plenty on your plate. Family obligations come first. Your mother needs your time right now and even though your grandson spends considerable time away from home everyday, his needs must be on your mind.

Quilting should be a time just for you and should be relaxing and fun. Since I live alone, (I'm a little old lady, almost your mother's age), I have none of your responsibilities. When I want to carve out more time to quilt, I just put off stuff that I don't enjoy doing and just open a can of soup for dinner, or make an uncomplicated salad for lunch and quilt happily away. My sewing room is a total mess, but I decided that the best way to organize it is to make a bunch of quilts and donate them. That way I decrease my stash, use up those spare pieces of batting, and shrink the stacks, bins, totes, shelves of fabric scraps. That eliminates all the time to organize.

SillySusan has said exactly what I was going to say - your sewing time should be a relaxing time for you.

There are only 24 hours in a day and, at the moment, not many of them can be used as ‘Me-Time’. Could you possibly explain to your family that you need some time to yourself - perhaps one afternoon or a few hours a week - so that you can have a break from your commitments and do something you want to do?

It is great that your studio is so well organised. This means that whenever you can escape there you will not waste time searching for something you need.

I am fairly good at time management and have found setting specific times and taking breaks really helps my productivity.
it does depend on what I am working on how I go about it but, a ( normal weekend just get to sew day) I allow myself 1/2 an hour to get organized, decide what I’m going to start with. Usually either time on a ufo or jumping into a specific project I’m in the midst of. When I am prepped and ready to start sewing I set a timer for 45 minutes. When the timer goes off I might finish a seam, iron something- whatever ( no more than 5 minutes) then I leave the room. Go get a drink, swap laundry from washer to dryer, get a snack, go to the bathroom, whatever- minimum 15 minute break. Then I reset the timer and get back at my project, or I set aside that ufo or whatever and work on something else. It is amazing how much I manage to accomplish doing it this way and the ( forced breaks) keep me from getting backaches, sore hands, shoulders, whatever. Even when I am at the longarm quilting for myself or a customer I set that timer & walk away ever 45 minutes.
You would need to decide what time works best for you between breaks 45 works great for me. Lunch time I stop, take an hour ( sometimes I am excited- really into my project) and itching to get back to it sooner- sometimes I decide I’ve done enough for a while & I stop. Timers are my friends.

I too am retired and live by myself. I also look after my 88 yo Mom who lives next door with my semi-disabled sister. I find that meal preparation uses up a lot of my time.....therefore when I cook I prepare several meals at a time and refrigerate or freeze the extras for those days when I want to sew or don't have the time to cook. I may spend all one day cooking, roasts, soups, casseroles, or multiples of things like pot pies, oatmeal, boiled eggs, roasted veggies, etc. Then I have meals ready to heat and eat. The instant pot and air fryer is a great help in this area.
As a bonus of aging that spotlessly clean house doesn't matter as much as it used to. Kitchen and baths are the main areas, I focus on, the rest.....whenever the mood strikes or when company is coming LOL

Time management or time use has been a bane all my life. So, in my professional life, university faculty now retired, I would set aside blocks of time for grading, other time for class planning. Those times were sacred. No student appointments and I did not check e-mail or answer the phone. I tried to respond to e-mail in the morning and at the end of the day. This kept me from getting caught wandering and running down rabbit trails. This significantly increased my productivity and lightened my frustration with just so much to do and so little time.

Now, your question reminded me that this would work at home. I am still adjusting to retirement and again getting caught in rabbit trails and just lolling about doing nothing. I know I earned the "nothing" time but I also want to be productive with this gift of time. Guess it is time to practice what worked in my office.

Rhonda Lee, I also remind myself that there are times and seasons when I can sew/quilt with more intensity and times when cobwebs will grow on the rotary blade and machine. As others mentioned your family is first. I have discovered the it may be important to "schedule" me time AKA sewing/quilting time. Love all the stages of your life. Looking back they are all precious.

I don't organize my time, I'm retired but have a part time/on call job, which has been quite busy, 175 hours last month and 60 hours this month, so far. My DH wants to know when I'm going to start working part time. LOL Anyway, if I'm not working, I'm in my sewing room. I would say just to decide how/what to prioritize.

3 tips that work for me:
* Once a week I defrost several pkgs of meat in a cake pan in the refrigerator & most days I prepare dinner first thing in the morning so it’s out of the way & ready to go. Laundry is next to kitchen so I do a load at the same time (multi task). Then shower & get ready for the day.
* Our house is little (1100 sq feet on the main floor) very open & easy to clean which I do Friday. Some Friday’s I do more than others. Wednesday’s I clean bathrooms. To clean up my sewing room (downstairs) I set a kitchen timer for 10 minutes and I can do much in that amount of time.
* Young adult family member stayed with us a while, he got up 4am made coffee & quietly read a book until time to get ready for work. This taught me I’ve probably had enough sleep by 5am so arise and get moving. Laying awake in bed or dozing really accomplishes nothing in my life.

I too am retired and live alone. (I am 80 yrs old) I set a "goal" for each day and don't allow myself to go into my sewing room until that goal is accomplished. It works for me. I don't have a family to care for though. My children are grown and raising their own families. I worry that some day I'll be their "priority", I want to stay independent as long as I'm able. I don't get to quilt every day, but when I do, I really lose myself in it. It's a great hobby and it has become my passion.