Homestead Dreamer

Finding the time..

I know this might sound funny to all you expierenced homesteaders out there. But I'm going to ask anyway..How do you find the time??? Ok, ok dumb question. My dilema is that I'm struggling with time constraints.  For instance I bought the wheat grinder. Ground the first batch of wheat, to season the grinder. That's it! I can't see to find the time to do it again and start making bread. I personally seem to be in a constant struggle with keeping the house orgainized and clean. I wonder if I'm expecting to much, or if I don't give out enough responsibility to the children. For instance, I can't sit and do school if the house is out of order. So each morning I clean first, this could be a short time like 30 mins or a longer time 2 hours, depending if the children we're up before me. Sometimes my middle guys are up before mommy. Not too much before, because the arguing will usually wake me! ;)  (working on that with the children also).   Anyway it seems as though I barely have time between chores, school, and candlemaking for our business. To get on track with making the bread. Am I wierd or what? :) It seems so simple yet so hard at the same time. We don't have to much extra activity going on. At least I don't think so, but we also live in NJ, everything is pretty fast paced. I have no farm to care for as of yet, and I'm thinking how will I do it then??  Just a struggle I'm working through right now. Interested if anyone else had this kind of trouble, when switching lifestyles?

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10:40, 2006-Feb-1 .. Posted by Katiecakes

I don't have children but I do work full time outside the home so I understand time constraints. I do know for me personally good organization/scheduling is key! Get yourself some kind of planner/calendar and use it (print one off the computer). This is the biggest thing for me - I keep a planner with a daily list of to dos, errands, meals, etc. I rank the to do list in order of importance so if something unexpected happens the lower importance stuff can be moved to another day. If your children are old enough, I do think they should have chores, etc.

As for bread baking. I do grind our own grains and bake bread as well. I am learning to do large batches as time permits and freeze the loaves so that if next week I can't make bread we still have a supply in the freezer. Obviously if you don't have the freezer space, this may not be an option for you. In general, bread freezes extremely well.

Good luck, there are some wonderful people on homestead blogger who post their personal schedules, etc. and they constantly inspire me and I imagine they will do the same for you...

Finally, remember you aren't perfect and sometimes life gets in the way of your plans - don't be too hard on yourself and start over tomorrow.

Finding the time

11:43, 2006-Feb-1 .. Posted by MomAtHome

I'm still struggling with whether I could be using my time better instead of spending it blogging. But anyway, as for finding time for all you have to do -- and I'm new at this homesteading thing, too -- I've found great encouragement and advice in a book entitled "Managers of Their Homes," by Terri Maxwell. Check my blog for the link to the Titus 2 web site. I need to revisit my schedule since having another baby, and will need to revisit it regularly as our lives change. But having a working schedule has helped immensely with our school hours. I'm still trying to implement the other parts. Check it out.