It is no joke that life on planet mom can be nothing short of crazy many days. Between the normal problems of busy schedules and housework and the added problems that occur with sickness and your children’s arguments, you may barely feel as if you are keeping your head above water most days. However, many smart moms have discovered ways to order their days and use modern technology to make their day-to-day life easier. Put some of these five tips into practice right away, and watch your life be transform.
Make a Weekly Schedule
Sticking to a weekly routine will help you meet your goals and to feel as if you have really accomplished something at the end of every day. Our ancestors had the right idea when they designated certain days as being used for certain activities. For example, mothers in centuries past used one day for laundry, one for bread baking and one for housecleaning.
While these options may not fit your goals, you can use them as ideas. For example, you might want to make one day be your shopping day, another be your day for picking up around the house and cleaning the bathrooms and a third day be for doing yard work. Start by making a list of your usual weekly activities; then, assign each activity to a specific day. If you get off because something else comes up or your children need extra time, be sure to give yourself grace and resist those feelings of guilt that may creep into your heart.
Cook Ahead
You certainly know how much money you can save by cooking at home rather than eating out frequently. However, cooking your supper can take an hour of your precious evening time. Consider cooking even a few of your meals ahead of time on one day that you designate. For example, you could use a free Saturday to pre-cook meals and freeze them in disposable aluminum pans. Another option would be chopping and dicing all of your meat and vegetables for a variety of slow cooker meals before freezing it.
Invest in Home Automation
Home automation lets you harness the speed of today’s technologies to benefit your schedule and sometimes even your wallet. Nearly anything can be automated in your home, but you will need to consider what activities eat up most of your time. For example, automating your thermostat may save you money, but will probably not save you more than a couple of minutes in your month. However, getting an automated doorbell with audio and video capabilities can save you time answering the door. You may also want to consider a smart refrigerator that helps you with your grocery list or a robotic floor cleaner to do the vacuuming and mopping while you are asleep. If nothing else, home automation will give you several fewer things to worry about.
Shop Online
Online shopping can save you tons of time and may not even cost you more if you find sites that offer free shipping on orders of certain amounts. Consider a subscription service for some of your household products, such as toilet paper and cleansers. In addition, see if your local grocery store offers a shopping service. With these services, someone will do your shopping for you and either deliver it right to your front door or help you load it into your car.
Split Duties with Other Moms
You can save time that you would normally spend on watching your children by taking one day per week to trade off childcare duties. One day, you can watch the children for one or two other moms. Then on two other days of the week, these other moms will watch your children for you, giving you time to clean, cook or even kick back and do some of that relaxing that you desperately need.
As a busy mom, look for ways that you can work together with other moms to make all of your lives easier. Perhaps you can cook very large meals together and share your extra servings with each other. Another option is group babysitting or errand runs for each other. Remember that moms must all live together in the busy world, and by helping each other out, you are participating in the village effect that is going to help you raise your kids with a minimum of chaos.
