You can get a lot more done if you don’t waste small bits of time! Here is a quick list of things you can get done while waiting to pick up kids from school.
School has started and now comes some of my favorite time of the day… waiting to pick up the kids from school. Twice a day I have to wait 10-20 minutes for the kids to get out of school.
I know that sounds crazy, but I can get so much done during that time. I thought I would share a list for you if you have to wait to pick up the kids.
- Bible Study
- Pray (use this time to focus on God and prayer time)
- Catch up on reading magazines and books
- Clean trash out of the car
- Clean out toys from the car
- Clean the windows
- Dust
- Vacuum (if you have a hand held vacuum).
- Clean out purse
- Go through receipts
- Clip/Sort coupons
- File fingernails
- Remove Polish
- Pluck Eyebrows (great in the car with wonderful light! :-)
For cleaning out the car, I just grab the cleaner and paper towels on the way out the door. I also just throw in a few plastic grocery bags for trash.
Tawra
What absolutely brilliant ideas! I tend to show up late to many things because “I have too much to do to just sit and wait for anything!” And what I love best about your ideas is that most of them are things I never seem to have time for but need/want to do. Thank you!
Anne
I just got lucky at the thrift store and picked up an expensive set of motivational tapes for $4.95. I intend to download these babies to an MP3 and improve my mind on waiting time (and housework time, too!)
if you are working on presents for whatever event keep them in a bag under the seat and they are good to go. I say keep them in a bag under the seat and make it look like leftover trash and the children will certainly never look at it since you might tell the commenter to put it in the house and that would be more work.
If you can never find a few minutes to yourself to enjoy a book or write a letter waiting is the perfect time. So keep a book and writing paper handy in the car.
I do not have to wait for children anymore but I do have a husband who loves hardware stores to wander through. Now I can only take the smell in those stores for a few minutes so I tell him to take his time and pull out a book or a cross word puzzle or my knitting. He can enjoy his time wandering and I can enjoy my time alone. I also use that time to pull out all the gas receipts, and fliers that accumulate from one trip to another. I also get rid of things he says are important at least to the house and he never misses them.
We keep books in both vehicles so when I need to grocery shop or find a store to wander in like wool shops he sits in the car nice and comfy and I don’t feel guilty about taking my time.
I always laugh and say the first summer I spent with my husband I got enough blocks appliquéd for a queen size quilt just working on it while I was waiting for him. I always carry a book or sewing in my purse for things like waiting at the doctor’s or even at railroad crossings. We have some really long trains here and I get stopped often by them.
I have started a “JOY” journal and I keep it in my purse. When I’m stuck in traffic or waiting on someone I use the time to write out the joys in my life. Not all days are totally joyous(!) so I down anything I am thankful for, or have seen. Today on a hectic Friday at the beginning of a long holiday weekend, the streets in the city were bumper to bumper. All the shopping centers were full, as well. I witnessed so many acts of random kindness, though! People in cars waiting and waving pedestrians through parking lots. I saw an elderly man push a young mom’s shopping cart to her car:)
It’s very helpful to look back on the joys when I’m having a rough day!
barb~
Brilliant! I love thus idea! Goodnto encourage self in discouraging moments, too!
Yep, cleaning out the purse is a great one, mine is always a disaster, need to clean it at least once a week. Also love cleaning out the car. Great tip. I make to do lists or a meal plan for the week, shopping list, etc. Have also used that time to weed through my coupons and get rid of the oldies. It’s amazing what you can accomplish in 15 minutes.
barb thank you for reminding me of a random act of extreme kindness that was given to me a week or so ago.
We had gone to the city so I was going into the grocery store with my husband in tow.
I was on crutches so I had to take him. He got the buggy and then noticed someone needed help getting the buggy out so he was helping her and a lady was running with her full buggy down the slope in the parking lot. She stopped the buggy and said if I waited till she put her groceries in the car she would come and help me in the store. I thanked her very nicely and said that my husband was coming with me. She said oh you must really need the help if you allow your husband on a grocery trip. Had to laugh because as a rule I do not allow my husband in my territory.
But her offer and her comment made the trip much nicer.
Thanks for the reminder.
I have to tell you that your post made me feel a LOT more normal today! I have four children ranging in age from 22 down to 7, so I have been waiting in car lanes for a long time at this point. One of my favorite activities to occupy this time is to keep my eyebrows well maintained. I have a GREAT pair of tweezers that I carry in my purse with my compact. The daylight is perfect for plucking my eyebrows and in that light I can see hairs I would be missing at home under the “fake” lighting. I always get weird looks from others in the car lane though….. LOL! Thanks for letting me know that someone else does this too! Great post!
I am so close that my son & I just walk to the school bus stop. While we wait for my daughter, I hula hoop! I bring my hoop, and my iPod and hoopdance for 20-30 minutes! Great exercise & fun, too! If I don’t have it, the bus driver asks where my hoop is. A great way to slip in some much needed exercise.
Hahaha aha! What a cool mom you are!
Great ideas! I agree. I love to wait in the car at school. I call it “me time”. Ha! I also use this time for reading cookbooks for different ideas and making menues. I carry a calendar and write on it what we’re having for supper, etc. depending on what the schedule looks like. It works great to be able to look at my calendar in the morning and know what needs started for supper than night. Lots of times when I start the crockpot or start getting things around, I’ll put the pans on the stove that the sides are going to go in and if it isn’t parishable, set the package in the pot so when I walk through the door from work, I can throw supper together really quick.
I always find something to do, too. I hate just sitting and waiting. Working on a grocery list and updating the checkbook are two more I often do while waiting for the kids.
I have a long train commute and read a book or two every month. If I were waiting for my kids to get out of school I might want to get to know the other moms to see which friendships I would encourage for myself and my children. Another thing you can do are stretches. We get exercise just cleaning house, but we also need to stretch. I do arm circles and throw pretend balls overhead and stand against an imaginary fence and try to lift my elbows up to my shoulders. And yes I do these on the platform waiting for the train. Even while talking to people.
Glad for the tip Grizzly Bear Mom. If nothing else it taught me not to think someone is a little strange making wild arm motions standing on the side of the road or some place but they are just doing stretching exercises. : ) :) Just joking. It was too funny envisioning it in my mind and had to tease you a little. Seriously though you what you said is a good idea and I do try to do exercise at odd times just because I can fit them in better then setting a certain time or place to do them. : )
Throwing you an imaginary ball overhand from DC!
Here where I am, the parents are worried that the kids might be getting a longer summer break as the teachers are on strike, and have been since about a week before the end of the last school year. The province (Canadian equivalent to state in the USA) is planning to offer $40.00 per student to the parents who apply for it to offset the cost of daycare, but lets face it, the parents just want the kids in school, and being educated. The $40.00 is what the province is NOT paying the teachers while they are on strike so they are showing how “fiscally responsible” they are…Ya right!
Be happy if your kids are in school already, as the ones here might not get in until October! Either way, September SUCKS financially for parents with all the additional fees and costs related to band, sports and clubs and bus passes for school! Ouch!!!
Another use for your MP3 player- download audiobooks from your public library for FREE. I am able to listen to books at work, and, though I love Audible, I always check with my library first to see if they have the book(s) I want. They even email me when an audio I’ve put on hold is available. Then I download it to my MP3 through my computer and done! I have friends who also download audio books to their tablets, but I find the MP3 much easier to carry (it’s a Sansa Clip, not much bigger than the size of a matchbook, and it holds tons of data. Some even allow you to add an SD card for larger memory. You can even buy fairly cheap refurbished ones on Amazon). And, even though the books are free to borrow, I make small donations to the library several times a year because they save me so much money!