Setting aside a fixed to write? hmm ...

I agree with the others on the notebook, napkin, post-it, back of envelope. I have found ideas strike at the most inopportune times and a few choice words written down will mark your thought for later exploration. I use a tape recorder b/c I have a 45 min ride to and from work and cannot trust my memory to remember the brilliance (ahem) it sometimes comes up with from the car into the building. As a matter of fact, I'm "smarter" about story stuff in the morning, when my mind isn't cluttered from the events of the day.

If you try and carve out a niche of daily or weekly time you'll find that will get filled with something else, so these moments will become more valuable to you. My kids are now older, 25 and 19 and they and my 17 mo grandson live with me and I have no more time now then I did when they were young. Life fills in each moment so even if you can spare 20 minutes sometime during the day to get anything written, even a sentence or two, you'll be further along than if you try to follow a set schedule. You will also find that what becomes important to you in life gets more attention. I like to write and sew and I find minutes each day to do both, even if it's to read what I previously wrote or fondle my fabric and pins.