Efficient people! How do you do it?

[darkskydarkening]

I have two young kids and work (and I need above average amounts of sleep which doesn't help!) I have no family support and can't afford to buy any in. My house is a mess, i have projects I need to start and never get around to. I feel I am constantly chasing my arse and behind on everything. I constantly have to do lists and only get through the essentials.

How do I get more efficient? Do I just need to diary-ise (or whatever the word is) every second of my day? Do I need more routines? Help!
I don't want to live like this for the next 15 years!

Things which made a difference for me -
Never leave a room empty handed
Always put things back/in the right place once used - this single thing helped me escape the chaos/massive tidying pattern I got into.
I actually take inspiration in odd way from programmes like the sas challenge profs (new series tonight) and have caught myself thinking to myself ‘be more disciplined’ when I know I am starting to let a lot of things slide. Sounds odd but I really helps me pull myself together. If 18 year old boy soldiers can become organised and efficient in their living spaces then so can I !! Obviously I don’t take that to extremes but I helps me to think that !
iOS ten to podcasts/radio iplayer etc and frequently allocate a job to an episode - it helps a lot. Obvs you may not be able to do this often/at all given the age of your children but when they are at school it may help with routine stuff.

Strongly agree with everyone saying break it down.
I’ve recently had to deal with the death of two parents and all of the ‘stuff’ to do and ‘stuff’ I have kept etc. For several months I was kind of frozen and unable to deal with boxes of things i had because I couldn’t imagine doing it all. Thankfully I realised I couldn’t possibly do it all as one task nor was I in a mental space where I could even if it were possible, as was still very much grieving. I finally worked out I needed to do what I could when I could and that something was better than nothing. Got loads done in small steps once that clicked !!
Good luck op.

@hopefulhalf I want to be you

Thank you fading a bit as up early (running this am) but meals are planned and DCs are packing school bags as we speak.

@greenfieldsaroundhere

BlockSite is what I use to block MN on the browser. I tjink you can block apps too.

I need to get on with getting stuff done.

A good proverb I have taken to telling myself is: "in a year's time, you'll wish you had started today"

Aka "JFDI"!

I work full time, have 2 teen dc.

They, luckily, keep their rooms very tidy (most of the time) and have always been tasked, in return for some pocket money, with putting away their clean clothes as I hate that job.

I wipe down the surfaces and mirrors in the bathroom while I brush my teeth, and wash down the bath straight after a shower/bath.
I wipe down the kitchen surface every morning and unload the dishwasher first thing too, so everywhere is v clean and ready to make dinner when I get back from work.
I've allowed a few nights a week where the DC can feed themselves things they like as they are fussy about leftovers. I love leftovers, they get themselves pasta or something from the freezer that evening.

I keep the hoover really accesible and run it round just before I leave for work. The DC, when very little, knew that we were about to leave when they heard that noise and would get their shoes and bags ready.

I put some of it on to them. They had to sort their book bags once they were in juniors. They had to know what day they had to take their PE kit and had to get the bag out. It really helped them be efficient and organised in return if they weren't always relying on someone else to do it for them. Letters from school they read to me in the car on the way home, once they could read, and anything that was needed was sorted when we got home. Now it's all on email and an app, so easy to do in a dead few minutes.

Before I sit down in the evening, the house is tidy. Cleaning is so much faster then.

I’m not one for stuff though and everything has a home

My two tips:
Tip #1: I have hoarding tendencies and have made this work by never throwing anything out (as I find this difficult and stressful), but instead I put it in labeled boxes in the garage (I have a large garage). For example, I have the receipt and instructions manual for everything I've ever owned. I find that the filing and labeling (buy a labeler) process is far quicker and less stressful than trying to figure out what to keep or throw out.

Tip 2#: I love information so I spend all my car time listening to the radio, audiobooks and podcasts. It sounds like you spend a lot of time commuting so could do this. You mentioned wanting to read up on stuff for your new job....you might find that quite a bit of information is available in audio format. (as an aside...my dd has dyslexia, so I encouraged her to listen to audiobooks from a very young age and it really helped her with her confidence in school as it meant she could keep up with her classmates academically)

Bonus Tip#3: Cook in large batches and freeze (buy an extra freezer if you need to). Have kids play in kitchen area while you are cooking and this can be fun family time.