As a (devotee) homemaker, we have many responsibilities. Along with household services and caring for our family, we also must be sure that our Bhakti sadhana is fulfilled meticulously. To accomplish all this you need to master skills to manage your time effectively.

At the beginning of my devotee life, I couldn’t manage everything well.
Some days I got absorbed in my household duties and my sadhana was put aside. And when my sadhana went well, the housework lingered.

I learned so much from senior (Vaishnav) devotee homemakers on YouTube.

I admired their hard work and dedication to managing home and sadhana so efficiently.

There were some challenges that constraint me to achieve everything. When I analysed my time I saw there were many silent time wasters.

Today I’m specifying 3 major productivity-killing activities that occupy a larger part of your life.

3 EFFECTIVE WAYS TO MANAGE YOUR TIME AS A HOMEMAKER

Manage Your Time #1 Get off your phone/device:

The very first step to managing your time has to be ditching your phone.

Mobile phones have become a central aspect of our life. It’s easier to lose ourselves in endless connectivity.

In the present era, there’s no big housebreaker like your screen time.

Being a devotee, watching materialistic things is restricted. Still, even the Bhakti-related notifications/comments/topics can make us wander from the important task at hand at that very moment.

We pause to check 1 or 2 notifications and before we know it hours pass.

There are few things you can change for good. Since phone usage can impede concentration (destructive for our Bhakti).

You can customize or turn off notifications from unwanted shopping apps, social media apps, etc

You can remove pointless apps (which you haven’t opened in months) from your phone.

Use your phone for Bhakti-related activities only. Set time limit.

See your phone after fulfilling your duties — Mangal Arati, bhog offering, Shringar sewa, Shayan sewa, cleaning sewa, family sewa, and all.

You can use your phone during your breaks but make sure you return to service shortly after.

Never forget, being a devotee, dependency on any materialistic thing isn’t advisable.

Manage Your Time #2 Bucket System:

Don’t let the clock dictate your life. Instead, have a bucket system.

I don’t know what the world means with the bucket system of productivity but for me, it’s plain, simple, and efficient.

In my concept of a bucket system, I have 4 buckets (lists) for all the tasks I carry out in a day.

In other words, 4 categories/fields of tasks.

For instance,

• 1st bucket includes Bhakti Sadhana-related where I have grouped all the crucial sadhana activities (chanting, reading, hearing, sewa, etc)
• 2nd bucket is all about housework. All the daily/weekly cleaning duties and other important sewa are listed here
• 3rd bucket is family-related sewa (Individual care, festivities/occasions, outings, etc)
• 4th bucket is self-related (exercise/grooming/shampoo routine etc)

My day-to-day routine consists of activities from all of these buckets.

With this sort of bucket system, sorting or prioritising the most important tasks for the day has become a breeze for me.

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Manage Your Time #3 Prioritize:

Having a schedule is a must in order to increase your productivity and get things done.

After categorising tasks in different bucket, your list may look overwhelming.

So it’s important that you prioritise your duties as per their worth/significance.

With buckets, writing a to-do list would just be a matter of minutes. Since you have a list ahead of you.

While making a to-do list, to try to keep it short.

Embrace the power of three.

Meaning, picking only 3 tasks from each bucket. So that the list is shorter.

Because fewer tasks are usually manageable.

Bonus Tip:

Organise your space once every week so that you can operate easily.

Maintain a Work-life balance. Work efficiently while you’re working. Choose quality over quantity.

Be sure to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below. Thank you so much for reading. Happy Homemaking!