My working week
So what do normal people do on their weekends, well I’ve not got time to consider that as I’m too busy.
Well… it is a stretch to think how you can do this on my diet of days but I really only have one day and three nights to work on the house in a normal working week.
At weekends I have two days off, but one of those days is taken looking after my daughter. Hopefully in the future she may be able to chip in with a bit of wallpaper stripping but that the moment I even think that chimney sweeping is out of the picture.
So that’s one whole day.
During the week I work one late night and another night is spent again with my daughter.
So that makes only three nights in the week to work on the house.
So I may speculate on what normal people do on their weekends when I may only appear to be working one. But that one day is uber-busy and the other is looking after a four year old. If you’ve looked after a four year old then you might realise that this isn’t exactly a relaxing day in the sun.
Anyway I have this trick now.
I figured out that when you have a day to work you have to work as much of that day as possible. There’s no room for slacking, putting on a bit of TV now and again and slouching off to watch a bit of Bargain Hunt, you just end up doing nothing. You have to work it so that every moment is pitched into the fray of getting things done, even to the level of when going upstairs then think about what you can take upstairs that needs to go upstairs.
Some tips:
- Don’t stop
- Start early
- Finish late
- Try to do another job if you have the opportunity to do it when doing something else.
- Despite the advice in the bullet above, try to remain focused, don’t be tempted to do something else that might seem appropriate, as most times you’re diverting your attention from the main job in hand – usually when it’s just started getting difficult – to do something that’s easier.
- Get all the tools you might need to the job to start with, don’t constantly move to and from your store for bits and bobs. It’s ok for one or two things but try to get the main gubbins to the job.
- If you’re working with tools try to remember where you’ve put them, get some organisation as to where you might place your pencil. I’ve spent hours looking for pencils, if I just make a point of putting them in one particular pocket then I could save ages.
This Sunday was my working day of the weekend this weekend gone and I started a little late at 10am. However I made up for it in spades.
I was working on that flipping secure door for the oil tank again and I was determined to get it done.
Starting at 10am I was a bit unhappy with myself but I was happy that I’d managed to forge out a bit of a night off for myself the night before which had involved a bottle of wine and a Dutch duo nearly winning the Eurovision Song Contest…. I realise I need moments off as it would make Jack a very dull boy.
So anyway I started at 10 and kept working, just kept working on and on, I set deadlines for lunch, sort of once that’s done stop for lunch, but what happened was that I just kept going onto the next job etc… In the end I didn’t break for lunch till 5 in the afternoon, a whole seven hours straight, superhero stuff it was. By the end the door was hung, the new lock box – that my Dad had helped mortice out the day before – was in place. The door catch hole had been adjusted as after tightening the bolts it had all gone out of kilter, chrome keyhole covers were in place, wood had been treated, more bolts had been inserted, cross-members were screwed in place and screwing a-go-go had been done to make the door as tight as a tiger.
Had a bit of lunch and at tea-time my daughter dropped in for a visit and after that I worked solid till around 11pm. I seem to remember sticking adhesive door number stickers to my bins in the dark, so much was my determination to getting things done, I seem to remember using a corded electric drill in the rain earlier in the day, this just seemed a natural thing to do at the time, perhaps not so sharp on reflection.
Still my door is fitted, it needs painting, but it’s great, the lockbox is so sunk back that it will need a longer key (job for lunchtime tomorrow) but the key does reach, it’s just a bit tight.
All in all a good weekend, if I didn’t have to work for a living then things would get done pretty quickly. As it is with the time I have I’ve taken up a couple of weeks just getting this door up and running.
Still all the while I’m getting quicker with doing jobs, my skills are improving and my powertooling is coming along famously, for instance I now use an angle grinder on a whim and the potential titchyness of a disk no longer surprises me.