Most of us live busy lives work, household chores, laundry, maybe a significant other and/or children. Along with maybe book clubs, arts and crafts alone or with others and handworks like sewing, crocheting, or knitting, building things etc. Besides some of us be adults students with homework to fit in. Anyway I could go on and on with this list but I am sure you all get what I am saying, “There’s often there is not enough time in 24 hours” to accomplish everything and still have time to relax, meditate, sleep, etc and don’t forget unexpected things like traffic problems, or an emergency can pop up out of nowhere to throw your daily schedule completely off. While we cannot plan every day down to the last minute most days are basically the same in most of our lives. Below are a couple ideas I have started using that you may find helpful too. Finding ways to prioritize helps you to keep a balance in your life thus making it less stressful and this, in turn, brings more positive energy to you in many different ways. Whereas when you are stressed you bring more negative energy and other nasty things towards you.

For spells and rituals, I have a section in my BOS where they stay until I have the entire thing finished. This includes the day and Moon phase that is best to do the spell and/or ritual on for what I’m doing, items needed for the spell and/or ritual, the entire spell and/or ritual and most importantly how I want it to manifest in my life or whoever I am doing it for. A small reminder here when writing a spell and/or ritual keep the outcome you want from it in your mind while you are writing it.

I have 2 special notebooks I use. One is a 3-ring binder, so I can add pages as needed and wrote “PROJECTS” on the front. With a project, I write what I need to do for the project by writing down each different step 1st, 2nd, etc how long I want to spend on each step with the last step being finished. I put a line through the step and then rip out the page when the project is completed.

For my 2nd notebook for my day to day responsibilities, such as making sure there is something new on CL and student or other people emails are check and responded to, most days I have what’s for dinner on it, I use calendar page made using a spreadsheet that I print off from my computer leaving a space at the very bottom where I can write in by hand last minute things that I may pop up that I need to do that month. (See example at the bottom) I have these sheets in a pocket folder all start the pages start on the right side and get moved to the left on the last day of the month. I take each month and put it on the wall next to my spot where I use my laptop the most, so I can easily check it out either before bed or in the morning with while having my first cup of coffee. I have typed in all the regular things I do day to day and month to month I have to do down along the first column that I make wider than the rest of them and write the month and dates for that month along the top.  Here again, I write down a certain amount of time I want to spend on each responsibly next to that responsibility in the second column. When I finish something I make a check mark in its column under the corresponding date. Even if it a one-time thing for that month, like a doctor appointment or a class I am attending that month I write them in at the bottom of the everyday list. My doctor and other appointment type things I also put into the calendar on my cell phone with reminders set to go off the day before and then a second reminder with extra time for getting to where I have to be.

Another thing I have started doing to save time when grocery shopping is looking at my calendar to see what’s on the menu for that week, then check my pantry and freezer to make sure I have everything in the house to make it. I then use a tip my younger daughter gave me, I make a shopping list on my cell phone so as I think of things we are running low on or something special I want like ice cream I can just add it right away and not forget about it.

It may seem silly to some people that I use different notebooks beside my BOS but this is what works for me. The day to day one is really important for me because I have Fibromyalgia and with it come memory problems. I have found all of this helps me to prioritize what I have to do so I can have some me time every day for meditation or reading or nice hot bubble bath or whatever I want to do for me time.

Example of my monthly calendar (I purposely left the time I assign to each thing out so it would fit right on here):

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