My workspace(s)

 I want to cry at this moment. I had this post almost finished when I hit a button and it was all gone and I couldn't undo it. SIGH

WorkSpace, they say you should share a photo of your workspace. I don't know who "They" are but I am guessing they didn't have 3 dogs, 4 kids, homeschool and run a business all at the same time from their home. OR they have this amazing room where everything for their business just fits and is (A girl can dream).

My "workspace" is organized and neat and tidy about 4 times a year. the rest of the time it's pretty much tidy chaos.

I am going to show my real workspace, not the "I just cleaned and want to make it look like all nice for a photo opt" no I am going to show you reality.

Let's start with the main floor. I work in a few different spots on the main floor.

The living room! This is where some of the magic happens. My sewing area is my machine along the wall on this awesome old-school sewing table that I found at goodwill. I sit on the arm of the couch with the TV playing either kid learning shows or one of my shows that I don't have to hear to follow (mindless background noise). Here I sew tutus, dresses, car seat covers, repairs, placemats, flags, masks and so much more. 

The floor! Here I cut fabric. I also lean against the couch to pin or put together tutus. I tape mugs and shirts here as well. Bows, headbands and so much more get done while I sit on the floor with the TV playing a show that I need to hear to follow.

In this room sits a long shelf with a mix of kids' puzzles and business supplies. There is an old dresser that my laser printer and cutting machine sit on top of. (group homeschool takes place here)

The dining room. In this room, I blog, answer clients, make my lists, design all the sublimation items, drink my tea and listen to Alexa who is in the kitchen. It looks stained? that is because this where I also refill the ink for the sublimation printer because the light is better in this room than in the rec room. (seated homeschool also takes place here) No there isn't food in that happy meal box, one the children is using it to keep stuff in.

Outside, this is by far my favourite place to be in the spring, summer and early fall. When the pool is up I can't do anything that will be ruined by getting wet. Here I sit, pin, cut, crochet etc. I even have a table to the side so that I can sew outside. (This is also where I paint)

In the rec room, along the back wall of the rec room, I have storage, my heat-press, my sublimation printer, my mug press and my desk. In this room, I print everything sublimation, while listening to the kids fight over the Xbox, toys or what to watch next. I head press everything in this room as well.

The laundry room (which I do not have a picture of) This room houses supplies for both the business and of course the house.
The picture below is my dream for the laundry room!

Would I love a well-organized space where everything has a place and is labelled? It's my dream! but I work with what I have and one day I will have a perfect space. Until then I work in the chaos that is spotless and organized 4 times a year.

Would you rather see the "photo opt" workspace or the reality?

New idea!

Time, I never seem to have enough of it no matter how hard I try. And if someone says one more time "well if Blaine were in school" I will rip their head off and fed it to the dogs, no really.

Its not about coming up with more hours in the day to get things done or putting Blaine in school it is about me making the most out of the time I have.

I am bad for getting onto a task and losing track of time and instead of getting time to do the other things I needed to do I have now run out of either time or energy.

Timers, my phone has this neat little feature which I am sure most new phones have it (insert sarcasm tone). As I write this blog my timer has been set for 1 hour. That means I have 1 hour to blog for today and if I happen to get more time later on then so be it but right now I get hour to get whatever thoughts are going on in my head out on the white screen of my blogger template.

This means that when I start a task, depending on what it is I have 1 hour to either finish it or move onto the next thing I need to do, which includes cleaning!

When it comes to Blaine or his schooling there is and never will be a timer. Playing and learning are done without limits!!

I use my timer for cleaning, baking, cooking, blogging, working, party planning, etc.

It is not used for shopping lol, as it takes me 5 hours and 10 stores each week. 

Take today for example. I have 1 hour to blog, 1 hour to bake, 1 hour to clean, 1 hour to fold and put away the laundry, 1 hour to work on my sisters baby shower, 1 hour to work on business stuff and so on.

I know it may seem pretty simple to most people to be able to just move from task to task but my brain doesn't and never has worked that way. What happens is I will start cleaning, get distracted by something in that room IE the book shelf needs sorted so I will move onto that and the cleaning wont get finished.

Unless Blaine needs/wants something then my focus is only on that activity for that amount of time.

Crazy right, wonder how much you can get done on one thing in an hour, well when my focus is only on what I am doing for that one hour I can clean the whole main floor, fold and put away 5 totes of laundry, start and finish 2 blog posts, cook and clean up an entire meal all before serving it.

When you force your mind to focus and tell it, "you only have 1 hour you got this" it just happens.

Client orders, sometimes I limited myself to 1 hour at a time depending on what it is and then an hour later on etc because I become hyper focused at times and hours and hours can go by and it isn't creating a good balance between work life and SAHM life.

How do you focus? How do you divide your time?

I will update in a months time and see how I did with this :)