Where do I schedule, 'make dinner?'

LanaDorazio

Registered
I am a full time 'operator of the world,' more specifically my family's world. We own a company that my husband operates from our home office (separate from the house,) and I run our large property, family, guest house, and many, many events we host in our home. We moved into this large property 6 months ago and I am still getting a handle on how to manage it all. I have cleaners every week, and a landscaper, but it's still kind of like operating a bed and breakfast with the amount of activity every day, and entertaining. (For instance we have had big events the last 3 weekends, with one Easter event for 60 people, soccer party for 40, and 15 year old birthday party with 20.)

Where do I put the big things like, 'cook meals,' 'laundry,' clean house?' These are things I have to do every day in some capacity to keep things moving, but then also all the other moving parts of kids, company, and other parts of life. I have always struggled with realistically planning enough time in the day to get all of those things done, and do next actions, which need doing too, but at the expense of dinner, which 2 teenage boys and a hard working husband need every day.

I'm not June Cleaver, but I do take pride in my work as our homemaker and want to run things like a business would so we have time and energy to hang out with the boys, play a game of pool in the evenings, and have friends over at the drop of the hat with food and drinks ready to go. I'd appreciate any help with knowing do I put 'cook dinner' on my calendar each day with a time, along with other household jobs? When things go awry, and we end up ordering pizza it makes me feel bad, so I've hesitated doing it.

Thanks for any advise in the wild world of homemaking.
 

TesTeq

Registered
I am a full time 'operator of the world,' more specifically my family's world. We own a company that my husband operates from our home office (separate from the house,) and I run our large property, family, guest house, and many, many events we host in our home. We moved into this large property 6 months ago and I am still getting a handle on how to manage it all. I have cleaners every week, and a landscaper, but it's still kind of like operating a bed and breakfast with the amount of activity every day, and entertaining. (For instance we have had big events the last 3 weekends, with one Easter event for 60 people, soccer party for 40, and 15 year old birthday party with 20.)

Where do I put the big things like, 'cook meals,' 'laundry,' clean house?' These are things I have to do every day in some capacity to keep things moving, but then also all the other moving parts of kids, company, and other parts of life. I have always struggled with realistically planning enough time in the day to get all of those things done, and do next actions, which need doing too, but at the expense of dinner, which 2 teenage boys and a hard working husband need every day.

I'm not June Cleaver, but I do take pride in my work as our homemaker and want to run things like a business would so we have time and energy to hang out with the boys, play a game of pool in the evenings, and have friends over at the drop of the hat with food and drinks ready to go. I'd appreciate any help with knowing do I put 'cook dinner' on my calendar each day with a time, along with other household jobs? When things go awry, and we end up ordering pizza it makes me feel bad, so I've hesitated doing it.

Thanks for any advise in the wild world of homemaking.
For recurring tasks I would prepare weekly checklist divided into daily checklists that I would review each morning to prepare a daily schedule.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
I am a full time 'operator of the world,' more specifically my family's world. We own a company that my husband operates from our home office (separate from the house,) and I run our large property, family, guest house, and many, many events we host in our home. We moved into this large property 6 months ago and I am still getting a handle on how to manage it all. I have cleaners every week, and a landscaper, but it's still kind of like operating a bed and breakfast with the amount of activity every day, and entertaining. (For instance we have had big events the last 3 weekends, with one Easter event for 60 people, soccer party for 40, and 15 year old birthday party with 20.)

Where do I put the big things like, 'cook meals,' 'laundry,' clean house?' These are things I have to do every day in some capacity to keep things moving, but then also all the other moving parts of kids, company, and other parts of life. I have always struggled with realistically planning enough time in the day to get all of those things done, and do next actions, which need doing too, but at the expense of dinner, which 2 teenage boys and a hard working husband need every day.

I'm not June Cleaver, but I do take pride in my work as our homemaker and want to run things like a business would so we have time and energy to hang out with the boys, play a game of pool in the evenings, and have friends over at the drop of the hat with food and drinks ready to go. I'd appreciate any help with knowing do I put 'cook dinner' on my calendar each day with a time, along with other household jobs? When things go awry, and we end up ordering pizza it makes me feel bad, so I've hesitated doing it.

Thanks for any advise in the wild world of homemaking.

I learned to cook my first year of college. I cooked for 30 guys at least once a week for 4 years, and served as kitchen manager one year. Our kids now have kids, and I continue to cook all dinners at our house. A couple of tips:

  • The natural interval for meal planning is the week. You have to have a plan that will get you through the week, including some leeway for the unforeseen. If you plan on a weekly basis, you can move meals around if you need to.
  • Each day estimate how long approximately it takes to prepare a given meal, and work backwards from when you want to serve. Allow extra time.
  • Find recipes that minimize prep and can hold well until served.
  • Leftover main dishes are money in the bank. Stew, chili, roasts- anything that can be served twice.
  • Don’t worry too much about starches: you can cook potatoes, pasta or rice in less than 30 minutes. Vegetables are even quicker.
  • Always have meals you can make if everything goes to hell, even if it’s frozen pizza (with added toppings if you can). One of my favorite desperate meals is lemon pepper noodles tossed with tuna in olive oil. Add a salad and you’re good. Or sandwiches, fruit and salad. Or serve breakfast for dinner.
  • We recently redid our kitchen with a huge center island so people can hang out or help. Cooking dinner can be just as social as dinner itself.

Notice I didn’t say anything about calendar or scheduling. Cooking dinner is applied gtd: plan as much as you need to, and as little as you can get by with. Hope this helps!
 
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Oogiem

Registered
I'm not June Cleaver, but I do take pride in my work as our homemaker and want to run things like a business would so we have time and energy to hang out with the boys, play a game of pool in the evenings, and have friends over at the drop of the hat with food and drinks ready to go. I'd appreciate any help with knowing do I put 'cook dinner' on my calendar each day with a time, along with other household jobs? When things go awry, and we end up ordering pizza it makes me feel bad, so I've hesitated doing it.
A couple of suggestions that other have already mentioned

Checklists for the housecleaning and maintenance tasks, daily, weekly, monthly and seasonally. And then look at and use them, my own problem :) When you have time you hit the weekly, monthly and seasonal items and even schedule a day or a few hours to keep up with them.

A large freezer helps a lot with meal planning. We have a 2 big chest freezers for our own stuff and 4 additional ones for the for sale meat, that we can always take from too. I wrote a blog post about how I organize my freezer for ease of access, the trick is wine boxes.

http://desertweyr.com/freezer-management/

To take advantage of the freezer you need to plan for leftovers. We are in lambing now and I have zero time to cook. In the month before lambing I made lots of things that freeze well and can be cooked in a hurry. My goal is a hot nutritious meal with plenty of protein on the table in 15 minutes or less as we sometimes have only 30 minutes to eat before we head back out to the lambing pasture to help the sheep. These included cooked chicken wings, cooked and sliced chicken breast meat, smoked meats sliced and ready to go into tacos or a curry. Browned hamburger and onions, base for lots of meals, like sloppy joe's and tacos. Frozen pre-made spaghetti sauce, soups and stews. Spring roll, Asian meatballs, Middle Eastern meatballs with pine nuts (both great with rice or noodles). I also have an instant pot and I can cook a bunch of things in it from frozen to meal in an hour or so. I can put a chuck roast in from frozen and in an hour and a half have it fully cooked. Baked potatoes take only 8 minutes in the microwave. I make rice in big batches and store int eh fridge. I can heat up rice in 2.5 minutes. Rice takes 45 minutes to cook. I stock up on frozen veges so we can cook those quickly too, things like peas, corn and beans.
 

andrew732

Registered
I'd appreciate any help with knowing do I put 'cook dinner' on my calendar each day with a time, along with other household jobs?

In terms of the classic GTD system, I would say that yes, "cook dinner" and any other items that must occur at a specific time are calendar items, as opposed to next actions, someday/maybe items, etc. Like others have said, recurring items like this are particularly suitable for entering on a special "daily recurring calendar" or similar list, and then supplemented as necessary by any supporting material or lists. Personally, I separate my calendar into a "one time calendar" --for things like appointments and meetings-- and a "recurring calendar" --for things that happen daily or weekly and that I don't want to individually enter for every occurrence.
 

Erion Zane

Registered
To manage household tasks efficiently, it's important to prioritize and schedule them along with other responsibilities. Here are some tips to help you:
  1. Make a to-do list: Write down all the household tasks that need to be done on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis.
  2. Prioritize: Decide which tasks are most important or have deadlines and prioritize them first.
  3. Schedule time blocks: Allocate specific time slots for each task in your day. For example, dedicate 30 minutes to meal preparation and 30 minutes to the laundry before dinner. Find more 30-minutes meals here.
  4. Use a calendar: Add the household tasks to your calendar, along with other appointments and activities. This will help you visualize your day and make sure you allocate enough time for each task.
  5. Be flexible: Life is unpredictable, and things don't always go as planned. Don't beat yourself up if you have to order pizza or make changes to your schedule. The most important thing is to keep the household running smoothly and ensure everyone is fed and happy.
 
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dtj

Registered
This'll be an unpopular take, but there's just some recurring tasks that might not ought to be scheduled. If it's sort of an every day at 5pm, or 8am, that is. Of course if it requires some specific steps or timing, or a special occasion, then of course put it onto your calendar. To me thats a bit of over hyper-scheduling that would be the surest way to have me NEVER look at my calendar or tasklists. It's sort of like scheduling "Poop" in fascinatingly precise detail. :)

If I was to schedule "Supper", i'd have to block off like 7p-midnight for when circumstances decided for me to eat.
 

mcogilvie

Registered
This'll be an unpopular take, but there's just some recurring tasks that might not ought to be scheduled. If it's sort of an every day at 5pm, or 8am, that is. Of course if it requires some specific steps or timing, or a special occasion, then of course put it onto your calendar. To me thats a bit of over hyper-scheduling that would be the surest way to have me NEVER look at my calendar or tasklists. It's sort of like scheduling "Poop" in fascinatingly precise detail. :)

If I was to schedule "Supper", i'd have to block off like 7p-midnight for when circumstances decided for me to eat.
When you have kids (or people with health issues, for example), 7 pm to midnight is a bit too flexible. Still, I think hyper-planning is not GTD, and generally not effective. The best parents I have known have been organized but flexible, focused on the desired outcome of parenting.
 

Gardener

Registered
This'll be an unpopular take, but there's just some recurring tasks that might not ought to be scheduled. If it's sort of an every day at 5pm, or 8am, that is. Of course if it requires some specific steps or timing, or a special occasion, then of course put it onto your calendar. To me thats a bit of over hyper-scheduling that would be the surest way to have me NEVER look at my calendar or tasklists. It's sort of like scheduling "Poop" in fascinatingly precise detail. :)

If I was to schedule "Supper", i'd have to block off like 7p-midnight for when circumstances decided for me to eat.
I wouldn't schedule supper, but if supper is a problem, I'd create projects to solve that problem.

By "supper is a problem" I mean that we (the two members of the household, both adults) look up at 7pm and say, "Um...are we going to eat?"

This does happen to us not infrequently. So I have a project, "Keep food running." Right now it contains tasks:

- Wash the lettuce--because having lettuce all washed and ready to go makes it easy to get a salad in a bowl while the frozen hunk of casserole is thawing in the microwave minutes after that 7pm realization. The frozen hunk of casserole is generally the result of some deliberate Sunday cooking-for-leftovers, also triggered by a project/projects.

- Eat the broccoli--because I sometimes forget what's in the fridge. Yesterday I dealt with "eat the carrots" and as a result a box of glazed carrots is ready to reheat along with a hunk of casserole. (Yes, it should be "Cook the..." instead of "Eat the..." but, well, it's not.)

It could also contain "eat the scones" to remind us that raw chocolate chip scones are waiting to be baked and eaten, but somehow we never need to be reminded about chocolate chip scones.

Those are projects/tasks, not scheduling. But in the scheduling realm, Dana K. White, of A Slob Comes Clean, recommends "Laundry Day" for people for whom "a load a day" doesn't work. The idea is that one day a week, laundry is prioritized. You obviously do other things, but when the washer or dryer dings, you go tend to it promptly, until all the laundry is done.
 
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dtj

Registered
Those are projects/tasks, not scheduling. But in the scheduling realm, Dana K. White, of A Slob Comes Clean, recommends "Laundry Day" for people for whom "a load a day" doesn't work. The idea is that one day a week, laundry is prioritized. You obviously do other things, but when the washer or dryer dings, you go tend to it promptly, until all the laundry is done.

For things like laundry, those become closer to themes, and maybe put on the calendar, or perhaps a recurring task. Now that we are empty nesters, and my wife and I each do our own laundry, I do one load a week, and thats usually on fridays. And wednesday is garbage day. Because with garbage day we have recycling picked up every other week, I have it a task on my weekly printed out sheets, and I mark whether its recycling or not. Monday used to be grocery day, due to an NFL-based gas promotion, but thats no longer running, so its a free for all. :)
 

KachriT

Registered
I have recurring things like cooking and cleaning on a monthly routine, not as planned/scheduled items. I treat routines as a floating list of things to be done in that day/week/month whenever I can get to it in that period. For daily things, morning and evening routines are the first 30 min of the day and the last 20 min before bed, so in a time frame, but not scheduled. Cleaning is a weekly Zone task list - each week has a 'zone' and related task list. I do about 30-60 min a day when I have time and just do the next tasks on the list. I don't always get through the whole task list in a week, but I pick up where I left off the next time I have a minute or when I'm next in that zone. It's not 100% perfect, but flexible and 'good enough' for most days. We have daily: vacuum, check dishwasher, wipe counters/table, and fix beds, but these are done as part of the morning or evening routine, so not 'scheduled' per se.

Not sure if my meal planning counts as 'scheduled' or not (it feels 'not' in practice - it's pretty flexible and can be ignored on days when everything is up in the air. ) I schedule a 30 min Monthly Meal Planning task at the end of each month. (I go through a recipe folder where I stash any new ones as I find them and drop meal idea into days on a printed blank calendar grid. Once it's filled in, I start a weekly shopping list for each week with the ingredients I'll need for that week's recipes and note in my planner any prep steps that have to be done ahead of dinner making - they usually get added to the morning or evening routine. All of this sits in a folder in the family area near the kitchen with the week's menu on top so if I'm busy, anyone can check the menu for the day, grab the recipe and get started.) I review the plan and shopping lists each week as part of my Weekly Review, so more routine-driven than scheduled.
 

gtdstudente

Registered
I am a full time 'operator of the world,' more specifically my family's world. We own a company that my husband operates from our home office (separate from the house,) and I run our large property, family, guest house, and many, many events we host in our home. We moved into this large property 6 months ago and I am still getting a handle on how to manage it all. I have cleaners every week, and a landscaper, but it's still kind of like operating a bed and breakfast with the amount of activity every day, and entertaining. (For instance we have had big events the last 3 weekends, with one Easter event for 60 people, soccer party for 40, and 15 year old birthday party with 20.)

Where do I put the big things like, 'cook meals,' 'laundry,' clean house?' These are things I have to do every day in some capacity to keep things moving, but then also all the other moving parts of kids, company, and other parts of life. I have always struggled with realistically planning enough time in the day to get all of those things done, and do next actions, which need doing too, but at the expense of dinner, which 2 teenage boys and a hard working husband need every day.

I'm not June Cleaver, but I do take pride in my work as our homemaker and want to run things like a business would so we have time and energy to hang out with the boys, play a game of pool in the evenings, and have friends over at the drop of the hat with food and drinks ready to go. I'd appreciate any help with knowing do I put 'cook dinner' on my calendar each day with a time, along with other household jobs? When things go awry, and we end up ordering pizza it makes me feel bad, so I've hesitated doing it.

Thanks for any advise in the wild world of homemaking.
LanaDorazio, I feel your pain . . . on this end . . . ideally . . . anything that has to be done on daily basis is done first thing in the morning. Cooking Breakfast would roll immediately into 'cooking' Lunch and Dinner [Finish Cooking {like Fine Restaurants}/Reheating is not the end of the world and can't let 'Perfection' be the enemy of the Good and my head would 'blow-up' with 'thinking' all day . . . "I have to Make Dinner/Supper" ], would be doing Laundry [Minimum Two Hampers: One Cold-Water, One Hot-Water to eliminate Sorting] while cooking since Washing Machine doesn't need monitoring. Wash Kitchen and Bathroom Floors before showering and wipe down Bathroom Fixtures with the damp Bath Towel just used to dry self after showering. I dustpan sweep when I go down the stairs -- when nothing else is in hands -- and likewise sweep [Push Broom] when JUST NORMALLY going/walking from room-to-room. Sink [Dishwasher], Strainer, Dryer, Garbage/Trash are always EMPTY and as such always Current-&-Ready Means! Hope at least one practice helps you do more GTD living. Ps. "Next Action" include, for greater Efficiency and Less Waste, a 'Batch Mind-Set [Before, While, After]' Pps. When something gets my attention, it might be ignored the first-time . . . it might be ignored second-time . . . by the third-time 'no prisoners . . . furniture is flipping'! An underlying GTD principle on this end is to make as many Maintenance "Next Actions" as 'invisible' as possible and keeping Cooking, Cleaning, Laundry, etc. as "Next Actions" and not allow them to become operational gum-ups/death-nail "Projects." Lastly, you might not be "June Cleaver," just the same your doing great and Mrs. Cleaver is my heroine in identifying any envious Eddie Haskell's prowling about the world up to no good in order to sabotage those of good will !
 
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Blanka Dibtr

GTD Connect
I really got into GTD when I was a homemaker myself. I optimised everything in the house and around the kids - my conclusion in short: when the reminder is in front of you (dirt, laundry, trash, etc) you don't need to have it on any list. When there is an event to get ready for, such as the big parties, then have a slot in the diary to clean up for the latest suitable time. When it comes to recurring tasks reminders: will it help you more than annoy you?
As for dinner: in a weekly review have a plan for when and what you will need - for example go to the store before you start cooking - and then work out the next actions reminders.

My lessons learned over the years of homemaking with GTD:
- Reminders for such things as cleaning annoy me, as it is not always necessary, or not when the reminder is for. I don't clean because it is a Tuesday, I clean because I see the dirt - that is my reminder for the next action.
- I break down the tasks for small enough actions, so it does not have to be a block in the calendar. I do like to clean all at once, but life gets in the way, so it is doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen after breakfast while the kids get ready to go, putting on a load of laundry while I brush my teeth, etc. I don't clean all windows at once, but do one at a time when I air the house. I clean the shower when I have a shower, etc. for cooking, I either have "make lasagna for dinner" or buy groceries for lasagna, make ragout, bake lasagna - whichever suits my needs in a given period of my life.
- For family dinner - exactly my thoughts, guilt that I don't have fresh cooked meal on the table? I have 2 picky boys and a husband who constantly has a remark that is it x/y/z again? I tried the cooking a whole roast pot or similar thing so I don't need to cook every day, but then they all whine that we eat the same as yesterday. So the best version of my system is like this: Decide the next 3 meals I will cook (which may not be just 3 days) shop for them and cook them in the order of the freshness of the ingredients - otherwise I waste a lot of stuff. Have one backup meal such as pasta sauce and pasta in the pantry. When it comes to "big meals" that does not require much input but cooks for 3-5 hours, I start in the morning, in the first slot I get (usually after school drop off). If the preparation requires a lot of vegetable peeling, etc, I divide the task to prep and start to cook. When I know it is a 30 min recipe, I make everything ready (all put on the counter and checked in the fridge) and cook while everyone is together at home. If it is a big meal that would suit multiple dinners, I try to make something else for the second day and then return to the big meal on the next... or reuse what I have, such as make a pasta sauce from the stew and bake it - feels different, but in fact it is the same.
 

dtj

Registered
I sometimes challenge myself to see how many tactical tasks I can do concurrently, like start laundry, start some longish cooking (think ham in the oven), stream a movie, while I am sorting through some "dash and stash" boxes of paperwork. And whatever else I can wedge in there.
According to my themes I will have tactical tasks that never hit my proper organizational system, to avoid clutter. I ends up on my daily card, or maybe my weekly sheet. Honestly, most cleaning happens when something annoys me (aka "event driven"), rather than according to a schedule. Things like cleaning my desk happen when its feeling cluttered, or I have some time like waiting for my next zoom meeting. Just pick away at it.
 

gtdstudente

Registered
What is done on this end for what ever it might be worth to anyone interested: "'make as many Maintenance "Next Actions" as 'invisible' as possible and keeping Cooking, Cleaning, Laundry, etc. as "Next Actions" and not allow them to become operational gum-ups/death-nail "Projects.'" Thank you
 

Jinho

Registered
I have recurring things like cooking and cleaning on a monthly routine, not as planned/scheduled items. I treat routines as a floating list of things to be done in that day/week/month whenever I can get to it in that period. For daily things, morning and evening routines are the first 30 min of the day and the last 20 min before bed, so in a time frame, but not scheduled. Cleaning is a weekly Zone task list - each week has a 'zone' and related task list. I do about 30-60 min a day when I have time and just do the next tasks on the list. I don't always get through the whole task list in a week, but I pick up where I left off the next time I have a minute or when I'm next in that zone. It's not 100% perfect, but flexible and 'good enough' for most days. We have daily: vacuum, check dishwasher, wipe counters/table, and fix beds, but these are done as part of the morning or evening routine, so not 'scheduled' per se.

Not sure if my meal planning counts as 'scheduled' or not (it feels 'not' in practice - it's pretty flexible and can be ignored on days when everything is up in the air. ) I schedule a 30 min Monthly Meal Planning task at the end of each month. (I go through a recipe folder where I stash any new ones as I find them and drop meal idea into days on a printed blank calendar grid. Once it's filled in, I start a weekly shopping list for each week with the ingredients I'll need for that week's recipes and note in my planner any prep steps that have to be done ahead of dinner making - they usually get added to the morning or evening routine. All of this sits in a folder in the family area near the kitchen with the week's menu on top so if I'm busy, anyone can check the menu for the day, grab the recipe and get started.) I review the plan and shopping lists each week as part of my Weekly Review, so more routine-driven than scheduled.
Do you add your workout sessions as "scheduled"? I find those a bit more floaty in time(especially right now that I've got a bit better at it, even prepping for an amateur running event hosted by local running store)
That's actually a nice system to put those outside of scheduled items!
 
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