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Life can be challenging. Add on a chronic illness or four and life can be down right hard. Not matter what our situation is, we all have only so much energy in a given day, some days we have less than others. Finding ways to make our energy last as long as possible is always helpful.
Through the years I have discovered (usually by accident) small ways to extend my personal spoons with energy saving activities. These strategies are used with a hope and a prayer I could accomplish at least part of what needed to be done that day. Most days, even now, I am not working with a whole lot of energy, or anything else for that matter.
1. I set up my kitchen in a way that is convenient and efficient for me.
2. I do freezer and double batch cooking so when I am having one of those really bad days, I have food already prepared.
3. I keep meals simple. Complicated recipes with unusual ingredients just can’t be part of my life at this time. So, I spend less time in the kitchen (saving my energy) and I am not purchasing ingredients that will seldom be used (saving money). I would call that a win-win. Smoothie anyone?
4. When I do laundry, I do not fold my underclothing or pjs. Nope, I just throw them in my drawer. Heck, I wear pjs so often (I call them my official uniform), there is no point in making them look nice in a drawer.
5. I hang up clothing that does not need to be washed after wearing. This saves me from doing so much laundry……….and I have the kids do the same.
6. I do one load of laundry per day.
7. Unfortunately, I spend a lot of time in bed. So, I keep my side table well stocked. No need to go searching for things I need/want on a regular basis.
8. I take care of mail as soon as it comes into the house. This sounds like a trivial task but I have found that it piles up very quickly. So now I sort through every piece, recycling what I don’t want, opening bills and placing them in my to-be-paid slot and then take any reading material and put in my room for later viewing. By dealing with the mail immediately, I also keep track of all bills coming in so there is less chance of them getting misplaced.
9. I combine errands. Just getting out of the house can be tiring, so I try to combine as many errands as I can physically do each time I head out out the door.
10. I keep my calendar on my phone so it is with me at all times. It took me a long time to start using my phone calendar as I found it frustrating. But once I got use to using it on a consistent basis, I found it extremely helpful. When I am at an appointment, I find it much easier to make follow-up appointments as I always have my and my kids schedules at my finger tips. I still keep a calendar, ok, two on the wall, just in case I misplace my phone, again.
Until next time…….YOU, my friends, are superheros.
