By Justin Lukasavige

Often times I meet with people who claim they are too busy to maintain their finances, search for a better career or even clean their own home. While I agree that paying a cleaning service $60 per month is a great idea if you could better use that time with family or make more money during that hour, you really do need to carve out the time to take charge of your life.

Take balancing your checkbook for example. In its simplest form, balancing a checkbook consumes minutes each day. If you use Quicken or Money it may take even less. The problem usually lies in the amount of time required to initially set up any system. So how do you find the time?

That just happens to be an easy answer; you don’t find the time. You cannot make the time either. We all have the exact same 168 hours available each week. Making more time is impossible. The answer to this question lies in prioritizing.

Is it more important to watch a movie or TV when you come home from work, or to take a walk with your family or even develop your household budget for the first time? What about getting out of the rut you have been in for the past seven years and find a career you are passionate about? It all comes down to prioritizing.

Make a list of everything you want to do during your week. Make sure to include not only work on your finances, resume, job searches, cleaning, working, eating and driving, but also family time, exercise and personal development.

At the top of the list put the most important thing in your life and begin to work backwards. No time left at the end of the day for TV? You either have to reprioritize and put TV higher (hopefully not at the cost of something more important) or you don’t get to watch TV.

It has literally been months since I have seen even thirty seconds worth of TV. I cannot tell you what is happening on the latest reality TV show, but I can tell you that I am passionate about what I do for a living. I also know exactly where every dollar of my family’s income goes. Set your priorities straight and the rest will follow.

Justin Lukasavige is a Life Coach, and owner of Lukas Coaching. You can view more free articles, download free books, and become a member of the Reader’s Group at no cost by visiting http://www.lukascoaching.com Career & Life Coaching

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Justin_Lukasavige

For more information and support for creating more time for yourself and what’s important to you, visit http://www.GalileoLS.com/consult.html for a free coaching consultation.

By Peter Murphy

If you procrastinate at home you may suffer some consequences from disgruntled family members who have to carry your share of the workload.

A worst-case scenario is that your procrastination and lack of motivation may carry over to other members of your family, resulting in absolutely nothing being done.

All the disorganization and clutter in your home will most likely result in chaos and disarray to the point you have no clean clothes to wear and can’t find your books or briefcase.

However, all is not lost because you can learn how to overcome procrastination at home by following a few simple suggestions…

1. Make a list of tasks that must be done daily, weekly, monthly and so on. Then think about how each task can be simplified.

For example, the first thing you normally do when you get home is change into comfortable clothing.

You can eliminate one task right here by hanging up your clothes when you take them off instead of waiting until bedtime, when you most likely will throw them over the back of a chair.

2. Once you have made your task list, prioritize each list.

It could go something like this:
(1) talk and listen to your children and/or spouse to learn about their day;
(2) get dinner started (you already know what cook because previously you made menus and shopped for food;
(3) make some time to talk to family members while dinner is cooking;
(4) immediately after dinner clear the table and load the dishwasher instead of waiting;
(5) do other necessary chores such as laundry while helping children with homework. This list is an example only; your list may be entirely different. The important thing is to get it done.

3. Prevention is the key to having less to do around the house. Put mats down around all entrances to prevent dirt from being tracked into the house, thus making vacuuming easier.

Some other preventive measures you can take now to lighten your load and help you overcome procrastination at home are so simple you’ll wonder why you didn’t think of them sooner.

4. Ask family members to break all habits that result in messes, and minimize those that can’t be helped. Become aware of the messes around the house and analyze the reason for them.

You can coat some surfaces with a sealant to keep them looking shiny and new and make cleaning easier.

If you have surfaces that can’t be cleaned such as a wall with flat latex paint, you can repaint with a cleanable paint or cover it with a washable wallpaper. Seal off crevices and cracks that let dust and pests get into your home.

5. Other tips include avoiding high-low carpet patterns and embossed floor tile; it collects dirt and is hard to clean.

Indoor-outdoor carpet also shows every piece of lint or dirt that gets on it (and it really doesn’t add much fashion to your floor anyway).

Elaborately textured ceilings and walls collect dust and cobwebs and should be avoided.

Other elements to avoid include unfinished wood that shows stains, dark colors on floors, furniture and countertops, and large collections that have to be moved around to clean.

With a little forethought and ingenuity, you can teach yourself and family members to simplify your lives and learn how to overcome procrastination at home.

Peter Murphy is a peak performance expert. He recently produced a very popular free report that reveals how to crush procrastination and sustain lasting motivation. Apply now because it is available for a limited time only at: http://www.getmotivatedstaymotivated.com/special.htm

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Peter_Murphy

For more information and support for creating more time for yourself and what’s important to you, visit http://www.GalileoLS.com/consult.html for a free coaching consultation.