10 Places at Once

That is how I feel lately.
I have a fellow etsyblogger teammate, Roseworks Jewelry, who helped inspire & motivate me to get it together and manage my time and work/creative priorities in order. She is doing a blog series on time management right now, she's up to part4 :)

I have 4 shows coming up: Nov 14, 16, 20 and Dec 6...with a possible on Dec13. The closer it gets, the more I worry about "stock". I do not have loads of things to sell, but since they haven't been selling on etsy, I wasn't in creative overload. Now I need to be.

When I make my bags, I tend to cut out about 5 at a time. So they get made in "batches". They are, generally, not the same styles. And 1 or 2 are newly drafted. I iron them together, fuse the interface on together and then sew them one by one. It can take me 3-5 hours for one bag depending on the complexity of the construction and all the "add ons". So to stock up, will take quite some time. Especially since I stay at home with a toddler. Working only happens 3-6 hours a day. I might have to just let the house get yucky for the next couple of weeks. *shivers*

That is my big number 1 on the to-do list. 8 more are spent on the computer.

I realize that the time spent on the computer needs to go down to accomplish my stock up. This is where 8 of my "10 places" occur. Between e-mails, etsy forums with my teams, editing photos, twitter, entrecard, Project Wonderful, craftster and, well, here...something needs to go.

E-mail is a must. I have all my places set to notify me of new posts, convos, followers, adverts, bid notices and, of course, etsy sales. That's 2.

Etsy forums...I would miss it too much. But I can check in only 2 times a day. That's 3.

Editing photos is a must. But, I can do one while waiting for tabs to open on the things that will stay on the list. That's a 3.5.

Twitter is always in the background, so that one stays right where it is. That's 4 .

Entrecard can be visited only to log in and when I see that an advert is awaiting approval. And I don't drop many because of computer slowness anyway. That's keeps it at 4.

Project Wonderful can be put on "automatic" using campaigns. That still keeps it at 4 .

Craftster can be kept to personal messages only. I won't be starting my winter coat sew along back up until the shows are over. That is still a 4.

Blog. I love it too much to leave it be. I can try short posts and fewer items in the treasuries to cut down etsy browse time. That makes it 5.

So I just cut the computer in half, 8 things to 4...which is better than the throwing it out the window I usually want to do :)

The last thing on the to-do list: being a mom, wife, cook, maid, cab service and finder-of-lost-things. This was the biggest of the ten things, but oddly enough, the easiest to shave down. My oldest is 13, so he can take care of himself most of the time...and is starting to insist on it anyway. The toddler is in preschool 5 days a week, that helps. Taking daily naps still helps even more. The maid, cook, & cab service can use my co-pilot (aka husband) for a large amount of the time. The finder-of-lost-things, well, everyone can go find their own stuff or go without :)

Phew - 10 things down to 6...could be better. But at least 4 of these things are cut back on time suckage.

Now all I have to do is just say no to the temptation of creating new styles with every batch. Oh, and decide which 3 to focus on. My goal is 3 styles, 10 each. Although, with each batch the "style" may change to another in the same category: small, medium or large.