Chores in your calendar
Time blocking at home
Time blocking at home means dividing your free time in advance into blocks with a theme: cleaning, paperwork, shopping, calling people. Instead of an endless list, you know when something will happen. Keep the blocks short, leave buffers free, and move a block when your day changes instead of dropping it.
A sample day for a working parent
| Time | What | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 7.00 to 8.15am | Get up, breakfast, school run | Fixed |
| 8.30am to 5pm | Work | Appointment |
| 5.30 to 6.30pm | Cook and eat | Fixed |
| 6.45 to 7pm | Block: kitchen after dinner, bins out | Household |
| 7 to 8pm | Children to bed | Fixed |
| 8.15 to 8.45pm | Block: two emails, look up the insurance | Paperwork |
| 8.45pm | Free | Buffer |
Six rules
- Blocks with a themeA cleaning block, a paperwork block, a calls block. Similar jobs together go faster.
- Short is better15 to 30 minutes on weekdays. Long blocks belong at the weekend.
- Priority 1 firstPut the most important job at the start of the block, not at the end.
- BuffersLeave some air after each appointment. A day planned to the minute always runs over.
- Move, do not deleteA block that does not happen gets a new moment straight away.
- Look ahead once a weekOn Sunday evening or Monday morning: which blocks this week? See how to plan your week.
Pitfalls
- Filling your whole evening. Rest is not what is left over; put free time in as a block too.
- Planning every job separately. Plan blocks and fill them from that day's list.
- Not changing the plan when your day changes. Then you give up after a week.
How SortYourMind does it
SortYourMind finds the time for you
Put in what needs doing, or tell SyMon. SortYourMind reads when you are busy and places SyMslots in your free time: blocks that fit your tasks. Priority 1 first, and always on the day you chose.
- Outlook connects directly: the app reads your appointments and places SyMslots as busy, without reminders
- Google Calendar and other calendars through the secret iCal address: the app reads when you are busy
- Recalculate: when your day changes, the app replans from now
- Waiting for reply: park whatever depends on someone else
No card needed. Basic stays free. Works in the browser on any device.