Today at Simple Scrapper

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Apr 20, 2011 | View Comments

Did you catch my post at Simple Scrapper today?  It’s all about budgeting your time and scheduling your week.  I’m experimenting with some new ideas, and would love to share them with you.  If you haven’t checked out the blog post, please head over to Simple Scrapper to see it!

A Day in the Life of Sir Scrapalot

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Apr 12, 2011 | View Comments

I write a lot about time management, mainly because it’s one of my greatest struggles.  Juggling a young family, a full time career, and Sir Scrapalot Designs is hardly easy, and I am always looking for ways to save time and get things done in a more efficient manner.  Often times, like today, I don’t get to sit down and engage in the internet until early evening, and spend a good amount of time playing catch up.  Ever wonder what my typical day looks like?  Today I’m going to share with you one day out of my crazy life.

• 5:00 am – Up and on the treadmill.  This is something that I’ve really just started doing again, but it’s getting my day off to a great start.
• 5:30 am – Showering and getting dressed for the day.
• 6:00 am –  Breakfast, a quick email check to delete or deal with anything that can be done quickly.  If I’m lucky, I get a chance to scan     my Google Reader and see what’s going on.
• 6:30 am – Help get everyone else ready to leave, get things together for the day, make coffees for my wife and I.
• 7:00 am – Departure.  We all load into the car, and head down to drop me off at school.
• 7:15 am – At school (what a commute!).  I check my mail, and then head to my room to get it set up for the day before my friends arrive.
• 7:30 am – Morning Meeting in my classroom (actually, this is just my friends gathering to chat and get ready for the day)
• 8:00 am – School Starts – My first class starts at 8:15, and my second class starts at 9:30.
• 10:45 am – Prep and planning period.  This is usually for meetings, time to work with my grade level co-teachers, or plan upcoming lessons.
• 12:00 pm – Lunch.  Another meeting in my room, during which my friends and I all try to talk, eat lunch, and check our phones for messages.
• 12:20 pm – Third Class begins.  Yup, you read that right.  I have a 20 minute lunch.  It’s not so bad since I have prep and planning right before, but the other teachers truly have 20 minutes to eat.  And that’s on a good day.
• 1:40 pm – Last class of the day.
• 2:52 pm – Dismissal.  Otherwise known as “my favorite time of day.”
• 3:00 pm – Office Hours, Extra Help, and After School.  If it’s a down day, I have a little time to check in on the internet and see what’s going on.
• 4:30 pm – Leave School.  Run to the grocery store, and return home to get dinner started.
• 5:15 pm – Dinner.  Discussions about what happened during our days, what we’re looking forward to tomorrow, and general conversation.
• 5:45 pm – Family Time.  Watching TV Shows, going for a walk, playing Barbies…whatever else the little ladies want me to do.  I also do the things that I’ll need to get done for the morning like ironing and packing my bag.  Occasionally, I get a little time to catch the news or start hopping online.
• 7:00 pm – Online Time begins.  The girls are usually in bed, and I can get started with the stuff that I need to get done.  Some nights, I am great about this time, and I’m really productive.  Other times, I sit here starting at the same websites, getting absolutely nothing done.
• 8:00 pm – TV/Online Time.  I have a few shows that I watch religiously, so usually around 8:00 is when I watch them and work, or I leave the computer and just watch TV.
• 9:00 pm – Back to the computer to wrap up whatever I’ve been working on for the night.  I usually try to get the things that I need to get done the following day together, and do another round of checking in before I head off to bed.
• 10:00 pm – Bed.  I usually read a little bit before bed, but if I’m really tired, the reading is usually short lived.  After that it’s lights out, and sleep until the next day starts again!

One thing I want to work on is making my night time online time more productive.  In a day, this is usually the only extended time I have online, so I need to make sure I am really making use of it.  While this is important, I also want to make sure I am taking time to do the things I want to do, like watching TV shows, and not spending all my time working.  And so, the battle rages on…maybe one day I’ll learn how to balance my time and get stuff done!

What does your day look like?  Let us know in the comments!

Spring Cleaning Your Google Reader

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Apr 8, 2011 | View Comments

This post is the last in the Spring Cleaning Week series, and was supposed to post yesterday.  Unfortunately, I scheduled it incorrectly.  So, today I am sharing the last part of the series with you!

In the past, I’ve talked about how I use Google Reader to keep up with the blogs I read.  There is no way I could ever keep up with all of the, around 80, if I didn’t have Google Reader to put them all together in one spot.  Like anything else, however, Google Reader can get cluttered up and needs a good Spring Cleaning.  A few weeks back, I learned of a really easy and effective way to clean my Google Reader, and I wanted to share it with you today.

If you look at the left sidebar on your Google Reader homepage, you’ll see the tag “Trends.”  I had never clicked on this tag before, and I had no idea what a powerful tool I was missing.  When you click on the “Trends” tag, a screen comes up that details all of the trends that Google Reader has noticed in what you are reading or clicking.  this is really interesting to see what blogs you are really reading, and what ones have items you are clicking on.  You can click up to the Top 40 blogs you are reading, and easily see what ones you aren’t reading at all.

Also included on the Trends screen, are you Subscription Trends.  This tells you which blogs are frequently updated, which blogs are recently inactive, and which blogs have the least followers.  When I am Spring Cleaning my Google Reader, I usually check through the blogs that are recently inactive and see if there is any that I need to unsubscribe from.  If I find one that I do want to unsubscribe from, all I have to do is click on the small trash can on the right of the blog name, and it will unsubscribe from that blog.  It’s easy.  I don’t often unsubscribe from a blog, but if it’s been a long time since they last posted, I usually unsubscribe – it’s part of that if you don’t need it, let it go mentality.

Do you use Google Reader?  Is Spring Cleaning your Google Reader something you think you’ll need to do?

Spring Cleaning Your Email Subscriptions

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Apr 6, 2011 | View Comments

I am a stickler for keeping my email inbox clean.  I’ve written many times about how I keep my inbox empty, and how I organize my email.  Recently, I updated how I was organizing my email and keeping them tagged, but that’s for another post.  Today I want to talk about something that I am always fighting with in my inbox – email subscriptions.  I’m not going to lie…I subscribe to a lot of email lists.  Whether it’s emails with coupons, or designer newsletters, or marketing newsletters…there’s a ton of them that work their way through my inbox each day.  It can get overwhelming.  Here are a few tips I have for cleaning up your email subscriptions.

• If you are consistently just deleting it, do yourself a favor and unsubscribe from the newsletter.  If you’re not reading it, it’s just extra noise that clutters up your inbox.
• Set up a folder for them, and filter them directly to the folder.  In gmail, you can set up filters that will automatically label the emails and send them right to the appropriate folder.  By doing this, the emails are bypassing the inbox and you can go in and read them when you have a few minutes.
• See if you can change your subscription options.  There was one newsletter that I was getting everyday, and it was just overwhelming.  I took a minute, and went in and changed it to a weekly email, and I really haven’t lost anything.
• If they do make it to your inbox, read them immediately, and take any actions that you need to.  I try to do this every time, I quickly read the email and decide what action I need to take.  If I can do it in less than two minutes, it gets done then and there.  If I can’t I add it to my task list, and move on from the email.

Email subscriptions are great ways to stay in touch and find deals and information about the things you like.  What’s key is making sure you keep them from overpowering your email inbox and making you crazy!

Do you subscribe to email newsletters?  How do you keep the clutter down?  Are you subscribed to the Sir Scrapalot Designs Newsletter?

To The Cloud…

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Mar 7, 2011 | View Comments

Have you seen this commercial? I think it’s absolutely hysterical, especially the part when the wife gives the camera the puzzled look. Isn’t this how we all feel about “the cloud”? What is “the cloud” and how on earth is it going to help me? According to Wikipedia, “the cloud” is really just another way to refer to the internet in what is called cloud computing. If I understand it correctly, it means that you rely on using internet applications such as Google Docs to do most of your computing. Again, this is really only what I think it’s about…I’ll admit, I’m still a little unclear.

One thing that I know I am using “the cloud” for right now is backing up. I have been backing up my files to offsite for some time now. I had been using Mozy, but since their enormous price increase, I have switched to Backblaze. Backblaze takes all of my files from the computer and backs them up to “the cloud.” That way if anything insane happens here, my files are backed up “in the cloud.” I also started backing up my blog using a WordPress Plug In, and sending it to my Dropbox account. Again, I am taking my files and backing them up to “the cloud.” Recently, I’ve been looking for ways to back up my email to “the cloud” as well.

So, I guess while I don’t know exactly WHAT “the cloud” is, I am using it to my advantage.

Are you using “the cloud”? How are you using it?

Fighting the Battle for Better Time Management

Posted by Aaron aka Sir Scrapalot on Mar 2, 2011 | View Comments

Do you ever feel like getting better at your time management is a battle?

A while back, I wrote about fighting the Energy Eater over at Simple Scrapper.  Lately, however, I’m starting to see that the path to better time management isn’t about fighting one enemy, but a larger ongoing battle.  One that takes time, one that will go on for a long time.  Sometimes, I’ll be winning the battle, sometimes I’ll lose.  Right now, I feel like I’m on the losing end of the battle, and here are some things that I am planning on doing to start winning this battle again.

• Stop watching all TV in “real time” - The invention of the DVR is a wonderful thing.  The ability to watch a show at a later date, while fast forwarding through the commercials and boring parts is really one I need to take more advantage of.  Some shows need to be in “real time” (how would anyone survive without my weekly American Idol Facebook/Tweet Along?), but others can definitely be saved for later and watched in a much shorter amount of time.
• Prioritize – I love making to do lists.  They make me feel like I am working towards something.  However, a to do list is only as good as the action it promotes.  One thing I want to start doing is creating a master to do list, and then drawing from that master list to create specific “Things that I Need to Do Today” lists.  By prioritizing what needs to be done on that given day, I keep myself from trolling my long to do list for easy tasks or tasks that are fun, and focus on what really needs to be done.
• Doing tasks now – I am famous for putting tasks off.  For example, I’ll get an email asking me for an image, or to share my ideas on something and instead of getting that done right then and there, I add it to my to do list and move on.  This is great for tasks that require sustained attention, but for something like sending a graphic or responding to an email, I need to just do it in that moment.  One rule of thumb that I’ve read about is if you can do it in less than 2 minutes, do it.  If it can’t be done in less than 2 minutes, add it to the list and move on.

These ideas may seem simple, but in reality they are the things that are keeping me from winning the battle for better time management.  The reality is, I don’t know the definite answer, I don’t know of the “cheat code” to win the battle for better time management.  The best I can do is try as many different things that I can think of, and take you along for the ride.
What strategies do you use to win the battle for better time management?