Chuckles Ponders Time

Doing a recent book tag about television watching got me thinking. Hands up who else thought that the pandemic and lockdown would lead to us reading lots of books and watching a ton of TV and films? *puts hand up*. Yet I've watched less and struggled with my reading as well. There are lots of reasons for the lack of 'fun' time we are having-personal or family/pet health issues, having to work in jobs deemed essential, extra shifts to cover sick co-workers, moving home, DIY needing to be done, deep cleaning and sorting out the home, general lethargy, increased housework, just not being in the mood...whatever it is, some of us are feeling less productive for watching and reading stuff.

I find myself wanting to go back and watch a lot of my favourite things and to watch reality TV tough jobs, cookery shows and fun mindless stuff like Pimp My Ride rather than try new series and things. I think it's probably like comfort eating for the brain or soul or something! The point is, I have a ton of dvd box sets waiting to be watched, a shed load of films to be watched, a ton of reality TV to catch up with and about four or five hours a night to do it. I need to cut the time spent on the computer every day if I want to find more hours to watch and read more but saying it is one thing, doing it is another!

I'm also doing the epic re-watch of drama series/soap Coronation Street. I'm writing my own episode guide of every episode I watch and I'm into my fourth or fifth year of it. I've watched the few episodes from the 60's I could find, and April 1976 to the start of 1992 (I'm on March). As the series is still running, I have a LOT to do! I can get through eight or ten episodes a night but it is going to take forever if I don't find more time! I also have my scrapbook to do and two houses to deal with so it isn't going to be easy to get down time to sit still and watch stuff! I also want more time to do my puzzles and play on the Wii which I haven't used once since I got it set up. How do I fit all of this into my days?

I'm constantly struggling over how much time I spend on the computer each day and you guys know I've tried to come up with solutions. I tried doing tons of blog posts in advance, blogging only on weekends, cutting out a few memes, stopped following a few people, even the odd week long blog break...but none of it seems to leave me with the extra time I need. So what is the right solution? 

END THE BLOG?
Are we going to have to end our blogs to get the time to do other things? Maybe, and I don't see me still doing this in five years if I'm honest, at least not at the level I'm currently on. I've been doing this for seven years. I may need to cut down the blog activity considerably if I want to keep going as it's just so time consuming. But that then asks the question of whether it is pointless to do a half version when I could just quit. I've discussed it with my dad but he can't tell me what to do. If I didn't have online blogger friends I know I'd quit the blog now to save myself the time and energy. I know I could still visit your blogs to keep in touch. But am I ready to just quit the blog? No I don't think so!

CHANGE THE BLOG?
I might have an idea to try. 

If I go back to writing blog posts each weekend Friday-Sunday or just Saturday-Sunday it'll let me do my weekend posts as normal, post Around The Blogs each Sunday and do TTT in advance for the coming week, and schedule the posts. Then I could maybe catch up on visits and comments for the first half hour that I get out of my bed around 7am-8am. That lets meread or watch stuff until my dad gets up between 10am and noon, which is my quiet time. In the afternoons when my dad is up and about I can be doing scrapbooks, cooking, housework while he watches his sport or reads the papers, or we can watch favourite films and TV shows. I go up to my room at 6pm for my own time which I can use for reading or watching stuff or playing on the Wii. After 6pm my dad watches films downstairs, listens to his music or uses his games console. 

This might be worth trying. So for the coming week I'll be limiting myself to a thirty minute catchup each morning. I can also use the time to update the stats on my Tackling The TBR and Around The Blogs posts. (I set up a new post for each as soon as I publish the current one, then add stats and links to the new ones daily until I'm ready to publish them) Hopefully the new plan works and gets me a bit of time back into my days!

Are you trying anything new for your blog? Are you trying anything to give yourselves more time?