One part of my goal of becoming the Four Hour Mom includes automating as much of my life as possible. I have to say there are a few things I have been doing for years to make my life smoother. One key "automation" is ordering groceries from Peapod which is Stop and Shop's online grocery ordering program. This has been a lifesaver. I originally started ordering one summer seven years ago when I was pregnant and on bedrest with my third child (codename: Oscar). After Oscar was born I went back to grocery shopping to save the delivery fee but gradually realized that the time saved by not shopping in the grocery store and the sanity saved by not bringing three small children to said store is well worth the $7 or so dollars it costs to get groceries right to your door.
At this point, the hardest part of having groceries delivered is finding 2 hours that I will be sure to be home.
I highly recommend Peapod (or any grocery delivery service) to anyone interested in saving some time and sanity. If the thought of incurring delivery fees is distressing, there are frequent free delivery offers and occasional discount delivery coupons.
I realized the other day when I was contemplating how a Virtual Assistant could make my life easier, that I really don't need a Virtual Assistant. I have three assistants right under my roof. I think at 10, 8 and 6, all three can contribute to the orderly running of this family. So, after some deliberation, I have come up with Four Daily Steps for my 3 darling "assistants." I have also assigned each assistant four chores for the weekend.
Four Daily Steps
- Make bed
- Clear your step (each family member has a "step" upon which I pile their stuff/crap/clothes/shoes etc. that needs to go away)
- Help with one meal (three meals, three kids - it should work)
- Pick up clothes/toys/junk in bedroom each night
These steps were met with some resistance - but the weekly four were meet with downright hostility. I don't think they realize that (a) they already do most of these chores every week, and (b) if the house is clean, mommy is happy. If mommy is happy, everyone is happy. I will continue to try to make them understand this concept. (Seems so obvious to me)
Four Weekly Jobs
Four Hour Kid 1 (10 year old) Blog nickname: Foxtrot:
- Clean bathroom on first floor
- Clean bathroom in basement
- Tidy bedroom
- Wash and dry own load of laundry
Four Hour Kid 2 (8 1/2 year old) Nickname: Bravo
- Dust living room
- Dust dining room
- Dust porch/computer desk
- Tidy basement
Four Hour Kid 3 (6 1/2 year old) Nickname: Oscar
- Empty garbage cans in bedrooms/bathrooms. Replace bags
- Tidy room
- Tidy basement (with Bravo)
- Sweep stairs
So, since there was some initial backlash, it might take some time to fully implement my Four Step plans. I do not think I am over-burdening them. Chores are good for kids...aren't they?
I thought since it is Friday and I am the "Four Hour Mom," I would share four facts about myself:
1 - I am an only child.
2 - I used to play the tenor drum in a bagpipe band. My husband plays the bagpipes. We met in the bagpipe band. (When we got married we had 30 pipers playing at our reception. It caused quite a stir at the reception hall).
3 - I am a nurse.
4 - I recently went to China.
Perhaps I will think of four more facts for next Friday.
Isn't there a saying, "You've gotta have money to make money?" I also think that holds true for time. I am obsessed with making more time, but I have no time to make more time. I have been checking all the organizational blogs/websites and am starting to put together some plans to make my life more streamlined. I LOVE Tim Ferriss' idea of a virtual assistant. He has one from India. The VA will answer emails, do research, and handle whatever tasks he assigns. I don't think my current life requires a "virtual" assistant. I don't have too many "business" related tasks to take care of. Right now, my life is mostly work and kids. I rather doubt that a virtual assistant can take anyone to swim team, hockey practice, Girl Scouts, or basketball. Since I am a nurse, there are not really any work related tasks I can dole out to a "VA" either. I do have some employee evaluations that I have to do. I doubt my boss, or the people being evaluated would appreciate my VA being involved. I also could possibly have used a VA to handle Girl Scout cookie orders. For now, the VA is not in the cards for me.
I have however been working on meal planning. Tim Ferriss' 4 Hour Work Week does not devote much time to this topic. I don't think he has kids or a spouse that like to get 3 squares a day. So I have been reading other sites for ideas. I read Another Suburban Mom's @ anothersuburbanmom.blogspot.com idea to make shredded chicken and store it to have later in the week. So, that's what I did. I made potroast on Sunday for dinner and while that was cooking, I threw 3 chicken breasts into the slow cooker and 7 hours later it was cooked and ready for shredding. It worked great. Then tonight, used the already cooked chicken in enchiladas.
Perhaps someday I will be so on top of my game that I will be able to actually MAKE the enchiladas beforehand and will have 2 meals made at the same time. But again, need more time. Ran out of time on Sunday, so had to put the enchilada assembly on hold until today.
I did realize that by thinking ahead for a week at a time, I know what we are having for dinner so I can defrost something if necessary. Also, this plan is great for shopping lists. I am starting to see the light. I might become an organized mom with nothing but freetime on my hands!
I thought that the hard part about having a blog would be setting it up. It was actually incredibly easy. I immediately learned that the hard part is really the writing. I have thousands of things floating through my head all day about what I want to say about our "lifestyle redesign" experiment, how we are going to get started and what I plan to do here at The Four Hour Family. When it comes to "putting pen to paper" (or fingers to keyboard), I realize this is going to be tricky.
Early in The 4 Hour Work Week, Tim Ferriss suggests that the readers think about what they would do if they didn't have to go to work from 9 to 5 everyday. When I went to bed pondering that question, all I could think was, "I would stay home and clean my house." I was a bit annoyed at myself for being so unimaginitive that the only thing I could come up with was house cleaning. But, as I have been giving some thought to this question, I am finally starting to formulate a clearer picture of the life I want to lead.
If I did not have to go to work every day....I would be a stay at home mom! I realize that for some, this "dream" ranks right up there with... I want to have root canal or I want to have surgery without anesthesia - but hey, this is my dream!
Upon further reflection, I do realize that my dream of being a stay at home mom is not really be because I want to clean my house better.(Later chapters of the book are devoted to how to get people to do the stuff you don't want to do for you while you do all the stuff you DO want to do).
So I am starting a list of what I want from my Four Hour Lifestyle:
- I want to be home everyday when my children get off the bus
- I want to help with homework
- I want to be present for my children (instead of trying to run around like a lunatic doing 20 things when I get home from work)
- I want time with my husband every day.
- I want to be able to visit my parents, who live 10 hours away, anytime I want.
- I want to be able to have a cup of coffee any morning of the week with a girlfriend or two
- I want to summer at the beach
- I want to read lots and lots of books
- I want to have a clean house (sorry, I really do want this).
- I want to stop living paycheck to paycheck.
- I want to travel with my family while our kids are young and we can have fun together
Now that I have gotten started, I think I will be able to think of many, many things that I want from creating a four hour work week.
You may be asking yourself, what about the rest of the Four Hour Family, what do they want from life? Well, Four Hour Dad has not yet finished reading the book - so I imagine one of the things he is going to want is time to read a book. I will let you know what he wants as soon as the information becomes available.
As for the three Four Hour Children, they have not yet been included in this discussion. I think they are stuck with 6 hour school day for the forseeable future. No way am I planning to be Four Hour Home Schooling Mom! Please see above where I stated, "I want to be home everyday when my children get off the bus". I am not totally crazy. I did not even start this plan until all 3 of them were in school full time.
So now that I have a loose outline for what I want from my new life, time to start thinking about how to start making it happen...
Last week I read The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss. I loved it! I have decided to conduct an experiment applying the steps in Tim's book to my family to see if it is truly possible to live the life we want to live. This blog will recount our journey from a family that is sick of "the daily grind" to a well oiled machine that can go anywhere and do anything at the drop of a hat. I hope that by documenting our experiences here, I will stay will focused and committed to this experiment. Perhaps others who stumble upon this site will get excited about the possibility of changing their lives as well.
My plan is to start making changes in our lifestyle - based on The Book's Four Steps. As each change is implemented, I will document what we do and how we do it. For those of you who haven't read the book, by all means, please read it! But if you just don't have the time, I will explain each step as I go.
