Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind, Part 4
This post is the fourth in a five part series about time management for parents of kids with special needs. All the strategies and tips have provided by DifferentDream.com guest bloggers. (For Melissa Gamble’s tips in Part 1, click here. For Amy Stout’s strategies, click here for Part 2 and here for Part 3.) Today’s tips come from time management mavens Rebekah Benimoff and Laurie Wallin. Here’s what they have to say about managing your time.
Rebekah Benimoff’s Time Management Tips
One of Rebekah’s sons had juvenile diabetes, the other has sensory issues, and her husband is a war veteran dealing with a traumatic brain injury. The two phone tricks she uses to stay ahead of their needs can be adapted for many other situations:
- Set timers and also reminder alerts on your phone for checking blood glucose levels and when to change out insulin pump sets.
- Set an alert for an hour or two before, and then 30 minutes so you can plan ahead as needed.
Laurie Wallin’s Time Management Tips
Two of Laurie Wallin’s four daughters deal with mental illness. She says she employs these practical suggestions to manage her time:
- Get enough sleep: Parents manage time better and have a better attitude when they’re rested. For us, it meant having family come stay with us a few days a month, swapping childcare with a friend, or at times hiring in-home help so I could nap.
- Plan the night before: If we go into the day with the list and the items we need already prepped, we’re ready to get things done as moments of opportunity open during the day.
- Organize the essentials: Save time looking for misplaced keys by installing a hook for them on the wall by the garage. Have an expandable file folder with slots for each day of the month. File bills and other mail to follow up under the day it’s due.
Laurie adds that life with special needs creates chaos naturally. Organized chaos helps parents spend time on what matters.
How Do You Keep from Losing Your Mind?
Have you noticed how many people are using smart phone technology for time management purposes? Have any of you discovered good apps to pass along? If so, leave a comment about them or any other time savers you use. Come back next week for the last post in the series about how to manage your time without losing your mind.
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind: Part 1
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind: Part 2
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind: Part 3
Managing Your Time Without Losing Your Mind: Part 5
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By Jolene
Jolene Philo is the author of several books for the caregiving community. She speaks at parenting and special needs conferences around the country. Sharing Love Abundantly With Special Needs Families: The 5 Love Languages® for Parents Raising Children with Disabilities, which she co-authored with Dr. Gary Chapman, was released in August of 2019 and is available at local bookstores, their bookstore website, and Amazon. See Jane Sing!, the second book in the West River cozy mystery series, which features characters affected by disability, was released in November of 2022.
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I was really meaning if I should unexpectedly find myself in the hospital with our daughter, too.
What a super idea – a home management notebook. What a good idea to keep paper copies in case something would happen to you. Hopefully that precaution will never be needed. But like the Boy Scouts always say, be prepared.
Jolene
I have created a home management notebook. It is just a large binder with binder pockets in it. They come with tabs so you can easily label. I have binder pockets instead of sleeves because they hold a lot more. Some of the tabs I have are bills, investments, applications in progress, SSI, attendance, flex plan, EOBs, nursing, wish lists, recipes to try. I keep a copy of bills in the folder even though I pay online so that if something happens to me someone else can know what to pay. I only keep EOBs that are in question, receipts to file with flex plan, and latest investment or SSI information. Everything else gets permenantly filed or shredded. Usually I just tuck mail and receipts in the notebook until I can take care of it. That way things aren’t getting lost and if I need it quickly it is all in one place.