Time Management for DIY

Re: Time Management for DIY

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  ernursej member

  

  August 2016

  With time management in general, I always look at a few things:

  -What things am I trying to achieve?

  -How much time will each thing take?

  -What are the priorities for all the projects?

  First, I would list all the DIY and other things you are trying to do and then estimate the amount of time to complete them. Be honest with yourself about how much time something takes. I would add 15-20% time onto anything to deal with delays, interest waning and unexpected issues. I would also list your backup plan for anything you are doing yourself. Think about would you just abandon the project, outsource to someone else (list specifics of who) or scale a project back. This will help if something doesn't go right and even help with prioritization.

  I would then prioritize all your projects. Be aware that you may not be able to achieve everything you were originally thinking of doing.

  After you've prioritized, then start plotting chunks of time on a calendar, working backwards from your day, starting with the most important items. I would probably say that most people can only devote a few hours during the week (think 2 evenings working for 1-1.5 hours on a project) and then maybe half a day on a weekend.

  When you've done that, you've got your plan ... and can execute.

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  Knottie7944431 member

  

  August 2016

  I agree with all stated above.
  
  Make a list of all the DIY things you would like to get done, and prioritize it. Then really think to yourself do you think you would be able to get this all done in time? You are going to have so many other things you are going to need to do too, and you don't want to over stress yourself.
  
  I did a lot of DIY stuff for my wedding, like wedding fans for the ceremony, which I printed them all out, and got them all set up. Then I taught one of my bridesmaids on how to do it, and the fabulous gal finished it for me.
  
  However I did not get to everything I wanted to do. I narrowed it down to what was going to save me the most money in the end, and what I thought was personally important for me to do. After limiting myself to 5 DIY projects, setting up a timeline (and definitely give yourself wiggle room ) & noted who I wanted to ask to help. If people can't help with your projects, see if you could get people to help with other parts of your wedding. Like someone is in charge of all the RSVPs for this shower, or someone could be in charge of who all has RSVP'd to the venue.
  
  Also get a really good planner/calendar book, and list what all you want to get done by when. That will keep you organized and on top of your priorities.
  
  Just remember you might not be able to get to everything, and if you do that is amazing. The most important part is that you, and the people you love will be there on your special day.
  
  Best of luck! 

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  [Deleted User] member

  

  August 2016

  Knottie7944431 said:

    After limiting myself to 5 DIY projects, setting up a timeline (and definitely give yourself wiggle room ) & noted who I wanted to ask to help. If people can't help with your projects, see if you could get people to help with other parts of your wedding. Like someone is in charge of all the RSVPs for this shower, or someone could be in charge of who all has RSVP'd to the venue.
  
  

  No, please don't do this. Don't ask other people to help you plan your wedding or do your DIY projects. If someone offers, that's fantastic, but don't ask or make anyone do your work. If you ask, the person might feel obligated to help even if they didn't actually want to. It's no ones responsibility to plan your wedding (including the DIY projects) other than you and your FI. 
  
  As as for the examples given above, the bride shouldn't be involved in planning the shower anyways, so that is neither a task you should be worried about or delegating to someone else. Let the person organizing the shower deal with that. And I guess someone else could help with your rsvps (either of the parents often help with this), but again, only if they ask to help. But really, don't you want to know yourself who has rsvped yes or no? 
  
  I have one more suggestion for managing your time for DIY projects: see if there are parts that would be relatively cheap and much easier to buy, and then out together the final project (I.e. Half DIY). For example, paper flower walls are really popular right now but I can imagine that making all of those paper flowers would take a long time. It might be easier to buy pre made paper flowers and then out them together onto a wall yourself.

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  MesmrEwe member

  

  August 2016

  How best to manage DIY - only bite off what you can chew without making stress for yourself!  Start there!  Hiring it out will cost you less in most cases than DIY because you're hiring people who have all of the materials to do it right the first time for you instead of spending piles of money on materials you may or may not use and by the time you discover you won't use them it's too late to return because it's past the 60 days, etc.  You also have to figure the value of your time!  Instead of knitting the whole thing, I'd knit/crochet trim and put that around the edge of tulle because the trim will take a ton of time in and of itself not to mention the cost of all the materials is going to be INSANE to cover that much surface area!!!  That doesn't even account for the weight that thing will be on your neck!  I'd rather see you use that time and money to hire a vendor or 6 and not lift a single finger to DIY any of the details! 

  Also, do not plan that you will have anyone offer to help you with these DIY projects AT ALL!  Many brides have come on here in a near panic because it's two weeks to a month out from their wedding, they have TONS of DIY projects left to do for the last minute, and ZERO help in accomplishing them.  If you DIY the veil, stop there, hire the rest out and realize you're saving yourself thousands in the process! 

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  OurWildKingdom member

  

  August 2016

  MesmrEwe said:

  How best to manage DIY - only bite off what you can chew without making stress for yourself!  Start there!  Hiring it out will cost you less in most cases than DIY because you're hiring people who have all of the materials to do it right the first time for you instead of spending piles of money on materials you may or may not use and by the time you discover you won't use them it's too late to return because it's past the 60 days, etc.  You also have to figure the value of your time!  Instead of knitting the whole thing, I'd knit/crochet trim and put that around the edge of tulle because the trim will take a ton of time in and of itself not to mention the cost of all the materials is going to be INSANE to cover that much surface area!!!  That doesn't even account for the weight that thing will be on your neck!  I'd rather see you use that time and money to hire a vendor or 6 and not lift a single finger to DIY any of the details! 

  Also, do not plan that you will have anyone offer to help you with these DIY projects AT ALL!  Many brides have come on here in a near panic because it's two weeks to a month out from their wedding, they have TONS of DIY projects left to do for the last minute, and ZERO help in accomplishing them.  If you DIY the veil, stop there, hire the rest out and realize you're saving yourself thousands in the process! 

  This is why I'm using artificial flowers for the bouquets, hiring out the boutonnières and corsages (except for one that I'm making), and keeping our centerpieces very simple (coffee mugs with spoons and straws; our first date was at Starbucks).

  

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