Get the Ball Rolling.

Recently we have been talking about ways to get ahead,  putting the things we need out there and asking and the fact that with ingenuity,  resourcefulness and determination we can do better than it might seem possible!

Today I am going to add some ideas on how to get more done because we might have the things we need but be short on time and so our dehydrator sits idle and our garden is unattended.   People say I get a lot done.  But I work within my limitations.  I am great on the "she works into the night" part but not on the early morning part!  I get tired too.  I hit the wall sometimes! 

Because I suffered migraines very badly when I was younger I had to learn to make hay when the sun shines because I would regularly have several days where I could do nothing.  So when I was well I cooked extra and did extra jobs and this helped me get through when I was sick.  When I had a bad migraine I was knocked out in bed unable to move.  It was terrible.   Days I felt well were so wonderful and I knew to get stuff done. 

Well life is like that. We all have times it is easy to do extra,  put up food and extra things like add to the gift cupboard and plant the garden.  Then there are times of illness or a crisis where there is just no time at all for anything!  So my favourite saying "make hay while the sun shines" is really true.  The sun is not always shining!  

Sometimes things hit without warning!  If we have meals in the freezer, the pantry is stocked and we are ahead we get through it better.   Often things hit but we had a warning.  Praise God when we have a warning!  The wise see what is coming and prepare!  

There are a lot of serious warnings right now.  We can look at these and make a plan and get busy or put them in the too hard basket and hope they will go away.  You know what I am going to say about this!  Get going!  While you have time and opportunities!

Europe is facing serious issues with a gas crisis that while news now it will become dangerous as Autumn and Winter arrive.  Many people are buying electric heaters instead of gas but if everyone does this will the electric grid keep up with this?  I am not sure.  I see prices are also rising incredibly and in the UK the combination of the cost of heating the home and the added costs of fuel and food are adding up to some very cold homes.  Wherever you are I consider you all my friends and so I take notice.   We all have a thing called normalcy bias... where it is hard to imagine or accept things could drastically change.  But things can drastically change!  There is time to prepare! 

Here in South Australia we face an increasingly wonky electric grid due to the fact they blew up one of the main electricity plants.  We have a lot of wind powered electricity but ironically this doesn't operate when it is windy,  or when it is hot.  Or when there is no wind!  We have a lot of solar.. but obviously this doesn't work when there is no sun.  We have had fuel rise in costs along with food and some things have doubled or tripled in price. It is not a few cents.  A lettuce is $10!  A roast beef $100! Last week in the city I noticed the meat departments were very different.  There were tiny tiny packages of meat.  Like little tiny roasts smaller than anything I have ever seen.  Kind of  "kids kitchen"  play size.  I stopped and looked and realised meat is so expensive now they have adapted and re packaged so that you can buy a tiny roast for one or two people and two tiny lamb chops etc.   All I could think is how would you feed a family of hungry teenagers!?   I could go on with new challenges we face.  We all see it in various forms wherever we live.  Many countries are attempting to get rid of farming and we saw how that turned out in Sri Lanka.   I have known people who haven't considered what they will eat if there are no farms? 

Well, this all leads me to maximising what we do get done when we are able to do it and while there is availability! It is a good time to be very very busy! 

One method I use all the time is from my Mum.  That is to get the ball rolling.  Almost every task has a series of steps.   Mum would always do several steps of the morning jobs the night before.  Mornings then ran much better.   But you can apply it to anything.  I will use making Chicken soup as an example.   Even when sick I can make a big pot of nourishing chicken soup very easily.   Knowing this is my plan and I am hopeless in the mornings I get the ball rolling the night before.   

First I will get the slow cooker out and sit it on the kitchen bench.   I will add some water.   I will set out the chopping board with a couple of onions ready to chop and my jars of soup beans.  Then I will get my chicken out of the freezer and sit it in the fridge.  

In the morning I will stagger out and turn the cooker on.   Pressing "High" is manageable at that point!  Then next I will throw in the beans and chicken.  Now the soup is on the go I will add things as the day goes on.  Chop the onions then some celery and carrots.  Later some herbs.  And so it goes.   It is easy as I was half way there.  This also works because when you have started something with many steps already done it commits you to keep going!  It is easier to keep going than go back!   I use this psychology on myself all the time! 

I am forever thinking of what I want to get done tomorrow or later in the week and just do some or two steps to get the ball rolling.   It is Sunday afternoon now and I know I need to send a couple of parcels this week so in a minute on the way to the kitchen I am going to sit a couple of packing boxes on the dining room table....  and get these jobs going.  I do end up with lots of balls in the air but some are near completion and it is so satisfying to finish each one!

My second main method to get things done is to divide and conquer.   I use this when the job is huge and daunting. Or perpetual like weeding or dusting.  Or for something I don't like!

The messiest room,  biggest mess, hugest task like painting the whole house...  is easy if you break it down.   Once my craft room was so shocking I didn't know where to start.  So I made a rule I had to deal with or put away ten items a day.   I would literally go in and count 10 items and call it a day.  After a week I was really getting there and this motivated me to keep going.     I painted the whole house in a year in Adelaide by picking an area each week to work on. I remember week one was my little laundry which I painted yellow.  It was a small job and looked lovely.   Each week I picked a wall,  doors,  skirting boards...  something and over the year it was all done.    Oh and then I did the front fence. With weeding I just try to pull a few weeds a day. Consistency really does work.  A few minutes a day in the pantry or garden or any area really will work.  I also use the Flylady trick to set the timer for 15 minutes and go go go!    In the evening I often heat a hot pack in the microwave.  I have a big one that takes five minutes.  While it is on I go fast in the kitchen and see how much I can do before the timer goes off!  It is AMAZING what you can do in five minutes.   So when something is too painful for words maybe commit to five minutes. Put on the timer and move it!  

Many times we put off a job because it is unappealing only to find out it took hardly any time at all! 

Getting stuff done is a big subject.  Cath posted a very good and thought provoking video The Thieves in your Life.   We might have many goals but seriously,  so many things steal our time and money.  It takes some serious re evaluating to manage this.   I do not have the TV on in the day or most evenings.  This alone gives you hours more a week.  Changing circumstances mean we have to do different things.  

I wrote ages ago on this subject in  Your Time.   It is good to know our mission,  our priorities,  and it is ok to say no to people or to requests that are not in our budget.  In fact it is not just ok it is vital!  Countless people would love your time and money.  But as Patera (Appalachian Homestead) says these people are NOT going to be there to help feed your babies!  

My third big help is to get the Handmaidens working.   If I can get the day going,  the dinner is started in the slow cooker,  the bread maker is making me some dough, the washing is on,  the dishwasher is going, then it is a whole team working. You might have a robot vacuum that is even better.   In Spring Andy is hopefully putting a dripper system in to water the orchard.  I have over twenty fruit trees now and they need a lot water and it takes a while.   It will be like having an extra helper to know the dripper system is doing this for me.   This help is valuable! 

 As summer ended and I had a lot of produce coming in the slow cooker was full of apples, the dehydrator was full of pears,  my apple peeler and corer was the best helper I had!  Jam in the microwave or on the stove.  I could motor through things fast! Another slow cooker might be full of tomatoes.   It feels good to have all the hand maidens busy! 

We all think and work differently but these are some things that work for me.  They are still working for Mum.  She has turned 80 now and she still outworks most 20 year olds!  She cooks and takes meals to help the girls.   She makes bags of kindling for their fires.  She runs a large home and garden.  So the things I have learned from her truly work!   I hope you will think of her if you use her method to get the ball rolling to increase your productivity!

In the evening when Mum does stop she works on blankets, baby clothes, little hats and provides for all the babies and for any need she hears of and for missions.  

What are methods that help you get extra done, deal with a lot of produce,  add to your pantry or garden?  I am planning my week and thinking of a baking day... which is another subject of its own but boy a baking session or meal prep session can be very productive! 

Now lets get the ball rolling on a very good week! xxx