Getting stuff done

I have to tell you a secret. I'm obsessed with The Frugal Girl. I'm pretty sure she doesn't know I exist, but I like to think that we'd be friends if I knew her in real life. You know, if I wasn't living roughly 3,000 miles away from her.

Anyway, she is doing a new series on productivity that I've found, so far to be very interesting and relevant. You see, ever since I started my new job I've been, well, busy! This is exactly what I've longed for, so I'm loving it, but the fact remains there are things around the house that continue to pile up during the week, things that I need to take care of on a daily basis not just once a week on my weekends off. Laundry is accumulated (for two people we seem to have an awfully lot of laundry), dishes fill the sink, litter boxes need to be cleaned...you get where I'm going. (I will warn you, this isn't rocket science, but if you're anything like me you need a reminder every once in a while!)

I tried something new this week, something novel and different that I haven't done since I got married. I got up with my husband in the morning. Geoff has to be at work (which is 30 minutes away) at 7, which means the alarm goes off at an hour I'm not exactly comfortable with: 5 am. I realize there are people out there who have to be at WORK at 5 am, heck, I used to be one of them when I worked at Dunkin Donuts! Since then, however, I've come to enjoy my sleep. Perhaps a little too much. (In my defense, however, we have a pillow top mattress that makes it difficult to get out of bed some mornings!) As a result, I have gotten more sleep in the past 10 months than I think I've ever gotten in my life. We got to bed early because Geoff gets up early. I typically get up and see him off, then go back to bed until 8:30 or 9. I realized this week, however, that this really isn't the best use of my time, especially since I now have chores to take care of along with a full day of work.
So I tried getting up with Geoff, and you know what? I didn't die. I didn't fall asleep at my computer, but I did get things done! The first day I tried this I made coffee, sent Geoff to work with some, loaded the dishwasher and cleaned the sink. Thankfully Geoff threw in a load of laundry, put some laundry away and we both lost the cat. A productive morning, and that was all done by 6:30 am! When Geoff headed out I sat down with a full hour to myself of poking around on the internet. I typically do this anyway, but there was something different about this time. This time around I actually had time to play without making me late or run around to get ready. I gave myself until 7:30, at which time I showered, dressed, put on makeup and headed out by 8:30 (though I usually get to work at 9:30 I was meeting someone that particular morning).
The best part of this whole thing, however, was the fact that I felt so good! Sure, it's early, and getting out of bed at 6 am isn't exactly fun, but it was necessary, and will continue to be necessary through this season in our life.
Next week I'm going to actually take The Frugal Girl's advice to heart and try to get to bed at a reasonable hour every night, but baby steps.

Like I said, this isn't rocket science, and most of you probably have been doing this for years, but it's taken me 10 months and a job to kick my butt out of bed, but I'm so glad it has.