Cutting the Commute

I am feeling much better this morning. It's the calm after the storm. Last night my sister cleaned my house and today I don't have to drive for school so that should give me some time to catch my breath a bit. Granted, by the weekend things will probably be wild again, but such is life, right?

So now that I have a minute, I thought I'd try to simplify my life a bit so that I don't have a mental breakdown during the holidays. After a little bit of thought, I have decided that the biggest time drains on my schedule are all the activities that require me to drive places. I don't live anywhere close to anything, so any time I need to go places it eats up a massive amount of my day.

Here are some examples of common drives I make (these are round trip times):

Take the kids to school - 40 minutes

Grocery shopping - 40 minutes

The gym - 30 minutes

The church - 50 minutes

M's activity days - 20 minutes

My sister's house - 80 minutes

My mother's house - 90 minutes

The bank - 140 minutes

Now I do try to combine trips as much as possible, but even still, that's a lot of time in the car. Once you add in the extra time it takes to make sure I have everything I need and to get all four kids loaded in the van, there's quite a bit of time added in on either side.

Common sense tells me that if I want to free up my life I should eliminate some of this driving time. But what? School? Nope, out of the question. Grocery shopping? Yeah right. The church? No, that's on the necessary list. Activity days? I guess, but M loves them and it's only a couple times a month. My sister's house? I teach my niece piano once a week-- should I just tell Kylie tough luck? That seems kind of mean. Besides, that's my contribution toward the trade off where Camie comes and cleans my house. My mother's house? Miss taco night on Sunday???? No way, that's the night I don't have to cook. The bank? I don't make that drive often, but when I do, I kind of need the money from the checks I deposit, and I always combine it with some other errand. I guess going to the gym is strictly "good," not necessary, but it is my sanity-saver. I need that exercise, and it's so much easier to exercise when someone else is watching my kids!

Well, it looks like I'm right back where I started.

Darn it, this prioritizing stuff is hard.