How do you prioritise everything you need to do when you haven't much time?

[Honey1975]

I have Fridays off work and every week I make a list during the week of all the stuff I need to do in the vain hope I can do it on Friday. The reality is I seem to get very little done!
I am just so behind in so many ways. I need to review all our finances, research savings, sort wills, review utilities etc but never seem to get to it.

We've just moved house so there's decorating to do and organising of rooms and where to put stuff, getting curtains ups etc.

Then there's the routine stuff like meal planning, food shopping. Last week I got sidetracked on the Friday when I was meant to do food shop so then had to go at the most hellish time of the week on Sat afternoon. I'm struggling with anxiety and that almost set off a panic attack so I vowed I would never do that again.
I also need to get a blood test done & book dentist. My dd needs a hair cut and ive got plan dh's bday which is next week.

Finally we never get round to researching & booking summer holiday.

I am feeling pretty unhappy in my job at the moment and so am also wanting to find some time to research other options.

I am not very good prioritising. I just make a list and then think well what on earth shall I do first as it all seems important!

I realise being on mn is not helping but I could just do with some inspiration from others as to how you organise all your tasks and get everything done?
Before I know it it will be school run and I've barely achieved anything. It's the same every week! Help please!

You don’t have to get everything done on a Friday. I think you’re putting too much pressure on yourself to cram everything in in that one day.
Some of the admin you can get done in the evenings.
Do an admin list for some jobs you could do just sitting down in the evenings with a cup of tea.
Join the moneysavingexpert energy club to help you with utilities.
Have a chat and decide where you want to go on holiday then just book it.
Do you have a dp/dh? Can they do some of it?
Fridays you should keep for shopping and a couple of tasks and some time for yourself.
Do your meal plan on thurs evening.

Totally agree with pp. Meal plan / shopping list on a Thursday night, then shopping first thing Friday. Nice breakfast and coffee then 2 hours housework whilst the washing machine does its thing. Quick sandwich, sort and put away clean clothes, few more bits around the house, iron whilst you catch up on a TV show maybe.
Life administration done at lunch time, or in the evenings.
Don't be so hard on yourself! Enlist kids / DP to do some tasks.

One thing at a time! Definitely get online shopping sorted- do this when u get a minute.
Admin jobs can be done in the evenings.
Prioritise health related issues-sort them first.
Buy a will kit from WHSmith and set a Friday aside for it.
Utlilites-go on comparison website, preferably cashback-sort it there and then.
Hope that helps.

Thank you both very much, I feel slightly calmer already!
I think you're right, I need to prioritise the food shop on a Friday. I was thinking I could get it delivered? Although that means I've got to make time to place the order but could do that one evening I guess.

I like the idea of doing some admin each evening.

I do have dh, he helps quite a bit domestically but admin and dc's calendar/school stuff is down to me and I can never keep up it with it all!

Thank you too Inca for those suggestions.

Take a tip from Flylady and allocate different days of the week for different things, so, for example, you always check events for coming week on say a Sun night, bed-changing Tues eve, or do finances Wed evening, meal planning Thurs night, and food shopping and 2 hrs organising house on Fridays (to suit your own schedule - and don't forget to include time for yourself), and stick to it! It stops that rabbit in headlights feeling of panic when everything is urgent all at once! You can say to yourself, it's ok "I know I am doing that on Thurs" or whatever.

I struggle in a similar way (cramming way too much into the time that I have) and I work part time.

I have a list of things that I need to do saved on one drive that DH and I can both access from our phones. I have it split into the days of the week and then after that I have a list of all of my "like to do" things which I rarely get to. Within the days of the week I include one housework chore each day and depending on whether it's a work day or not, I also include x amount of life admin jobs. Phone calls are saved up for my lunch break at work. My tasks are one colour and dh's are another.

The only problem is that I often feel bound by it and like I can't not do anything. This week I've had to back away from the list (which I rarely do) as everything has become a bit much (but we do have a number of major grown up things to sort out). Backing away has helped but today instead of the admin I have cleaned the kitchen, dusted and tidied and I will clean the bathroom when dd naps in a bit....and then I'll stop and have lunch before the school run. So I will rest. I will also suggest to DH that we forget dinner tonight and just have snacks. I think it's really important to be able to identify when things are too much and give ourselves a break...I'm not normally very good at this but I'm trying more.

When I worked full time i used to meal plan at work in my lunch break. If you can try not to out so much pressure on yourself (says she!).

We have been meal planning for several years now. Because I'm a very boring person, I've made a few standard weeks shopping lists to minimise thinking. We do a very quick calendar check/meal planning session on Thursday April Friday evening and then DH takes DD to the supermarket very early on Saturday morning while I either hoover the whole house or have a nap.

I've just gone down to a 4 day week and have a similar problem. Except that my DC aren't at school in the afternoon so in reality I only have 3 hours to do anything, including going swimming which I need for my back problems.

Food shopping - can DH do it on the way home one evening? That's what we do. I write the list. He buys it. Yes it means he gets home a bit later one night but so what? Or online shopping (although that is more expensive where we live so we don't do it)

Holidays - I get DH to research possibilities (after we've chosen where to go). He does it in his lunch break, then we look at it together and book it together one evening.

Housework - we have a cleaner. So all we need to do is keep the place tidy (everything has it's place and must be put back there). And I put a load of washing on every morning before going to work and dry it when I come home. Keeps on top of it nicely.

Everything else : I do a mix between what is really a priority, what is nice to have and what is easy and quick to do so I feel good about crossing it off my list

So for example, booking a dentist appointment is dead quick. So just do it!

Good suggestions here. I think finalise the online shop on Thursday evening - most of the supermarkets allow you to change your order up till a certain time the evening before delivery day. You'll have to book it earlier to get the slot (book next week's slot every Thursday evening too?) and put a certain amount in your basket to 'hold' the order but you can then edit that the night before delivery. That means you can be in the house getting on with house tasks while you wait for the delivery instead of battling round the supermarket.

One other thing that might help is that getting anything done is better than nothing. So just pick two other tasks, at random, from your list and do those. Then at least you've got somewhere, and it avoids all the agonising about which is most important.

Try writing a time next to each item so you can easily see how long each thing will take you.
ie book dentist - 5 min
Clean kitchen - 30 min
Hang curtains - 1 hour
Job research - 1 hour

I find that if I break the time down like that it makes it easier to see when I can fit a job in.

As for finding a new job - I agree it's horribly time consuming.

What sort of job are you looking for?

For me, job-hunting needs to be little and often.

Step 1 - decide what you are looking for (aasier said than done sometimes). Do this during your commute.

Step 2 - update your CV and write a cover letter (that you'll have to adapt to each company). Do this one evening after work.

Step 3 - start job hunting - I used to look almost everyday for months. then everything started to get on top of me and I decided to give myself a few weeks break. In that time the PERFECT job came up (and there were 6 positions opened!) but I didn't know until a colleague told me she was leaving and where she was going. Turns out another colleague had got a job there too. We all had the same profile/experience so I'm pretty certain I would have got an interview at least.

I was pretty gutted.

But 6 months later I started a new job elsewhere and it's really good.

Sounds like your DH isn’t doing a fair share.

Place marking for later-I could have written your op!

Your OP is a catalogue of what's flying round my head for much of my life!

Admin is generally an evening thing here. Ideally a day off for me would be an hour of blitzing "everyday" cleaning and tidying. Look up Flylady home blessing hour and also look into the cleaning ninja's 8 minute tidy. Then sit doen for a cuppa and think about the rest. Food shopping is online here or DH goes on a Sunday, and meal planning I fit into dead times like while waiting at DC's swimming or dance class. Things like booking holidays, I think the key is not to faff. Once you start researching, stick to it, grab some of your DH's time to talk through the options efficiently then make a joint decision and BOOK it. Don't do 90% of the work then get distracted and end up having to start from scratch later

A lot of those things can be done in those short intervals when you usually fiddle with your phone.

I have c. 15 minutes every morning after I'm up and ready while I wait for DC to come down for breakfast. It's amazing what you can get done in 15 minute (or shorter) bursts, dust the downstairs, clean downstairs loo, organise the fridge, wipe out the microwave, water the plants, change the bed, hang the laundry, but it's very easy to let that time go by picking up the phone instead.

I do most of my shopping lists, meal plans, finance stuff at work in my lunch break.

TBH for house work, I do the bits that show.