Helping my parents age gracefully despite illnesses or deficits is important to me. Grace means refinement, to do honor, and show goodwill. That means I have to slow down in order to show grace and give honor and credit for all they have done for our family. In order to slow down, I must properly manage my time. Otherwise, I am hurrying about all of the time, barely finding time to do anything, let alone doing it well and showing grace.

Organization is Key

So I must organize my days, weeks, months, and years to be effective. Am I always organized? Absolutely not! But striving toward organization gets me closer to it than not striving at all. So here are a few simple things you can do to begin the journey toward better organization. We will go into more depth later.

1.  Create a “To-Do List” everyday. Give specific time-frames for various tasks.
2.  Allow 30 minutes to one hour for a work-out every day, possibly before everyone else wakes up.
3. Allow 30 minutes to one hour to work on tasks for your child/children, such as scheduling appointments, reviewing their grades (which are probably online), and determining what they need to improve. Include spiritual and character-building ideas to help your child. If we are conscious about developing good character and strong spiritual principles, we are more likely to achieve it.
4. Allow 30 minutes to one hour to work on tasks for your parents. Make a file for their income tax documents. Copy their medical cards and laminate them. If you have been granted permission to access banking and brokerage accounts, create passwords for the accounts and put them in your phone. I use “notes,” but there are apps for this purpose.
5. On the weekends, before you go grocery shopping, determine what you will have each day for breakfast and dinner. Shop accordingly. On Saturdays or Sundays, you can meal prep by either preparing the meals in advance or cutting up veggies and seasoning meats. I will try the frozen crockpot meals from Freezer Family and report back.
6. Determine you will wash clothes on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, for example. That way, your weekends are not spent doing laundry.   

Determine that you will dust, vacuum and mop on Friday, for example. You are leaving possibly Saturdays for the bathrooms, kitchen, and changing linen.

Quality Time

Now that you have it all organized, you can spend quality time with your parent(s). Maybe they enjoy hearing Bible stories or reading fiction. Maybe they have a book inside of them and want to dictate it to you. Perhaps they need help using the telephone to call a relative, and you can help them make the call. Bottom line, because you have organized your week, you have some free time to spend with your parent(s). You’re more relaxed, which in turn makes them more relaxed. You have given them joy and grace as they age in your home.