How do you do it all?

Local moms chime in on the question: “How do you do it all and carve out a little time for yourself?” Their practical suggestions include: Outsourcing Options, Setting Up Systems, Meal Planning, Handling Clothing, Completing Chores, Work, Controlling Clutter, Finding Me Time and just plain old Advice. Pick some ideas that work for you and your family.

Outsourcing Options – Offload your least favorite activities so you can also enjoy your life.

Housecleaning
Laundry
Meal Prep
Errands
Monthly handy person/landscaper
Bookkeeping and Taxes
Childcare

Systems – Create systems within the home that make organization easy to maintain by everyone in the household or anyone that steps into the home to possibly help

Meal Planning

• Plan breakfast and dinner 2 weeks in advance. Dinners follow a predictable routine: spaghetti Sunday, meatless Monday, taco Tuesday, takeout Wednesday, freezer Friday, meatloaf or chicken Saturday.
• Breakfasts stay the same M-F: bagels, cereal, oatmeal, toast, waffle, yogurt
• Closing duties (top 5 things to do, every night, to make the morning feel less stressful) like clean the coffee filter each night so it’s ready to go first thing, clean the high chair, check/move laundry, and tidy p the kitchen counter.
• Pre-cooked healthy meals just go in the oven. Twice a week. It saves two nights of cooking and dirty dishes.
• Freshly (the meals are completely prepared) can go in the microwave or the oven.
• Costco’s lasagne, street tacos, fettuccini Alfredo, etc. are not the most healthful, but literally zero prep.
• Paper plates and a 1 pot wok
• School lunch meals couple times a week so you don’t have to make lunch every day
• Prep what you can for meals on the weekend while watching favorite shows

Clothing

• Figure out what clothes the family runs out of first, then buy more.
• Commit to only doing laundry on a certain day and everyone puts their own away.
• Older children do their own laundry
• Our son sleeps in his clothes so that he is dressed when he wakes up in the morning.
• Place a hanging rack right by the dryer. Hang things as you pull them out.
• Have 4 different bins to sort clothes into for washing: jeans, light, medium, and dark. When one fills, wash it.

Chores

• Whiteboards for grocery lists and “honey do” tasks
• Different chore color codes for each of us and for general household, so we know who is responsible for what and when

Work

• Streamline family business to only cater to best customers.
• Read the book The Pumpkin Plan by Mike Michalowicz.

Me Time

• Schedule a night out with girlfriends or the guys every couple weeks; set a date night on the books every couple weeks.
• Create a women group that forces me to meet once a week as if my life depended up on it.

Clutter

• A Place for Everything
• Do one thing on the weekend to simplify.
• Take a look at Fly Lady and Minimal Mom on YouTube
• Reduce clutter. Certain cluttered spaces = cluttered brain & anxiety.
• Prioritize and clear those spaces that irritate you the most, be it plastic toys or counter tops.
• Put more trash cans than you think you need throughout the house.
• Create a basket for each room that you keep in a central area for stuff that is in the wrong place.
• Straighten up before going to bed.
• Place baskets for toys, dog supplies, shoes in all rooms.

Advice

• I’m working on lowering my expectations about a spotless house…
• It gets easier though if you can just wait it out and accept lower expectations for this season of life.
• Loosen the reins a bit in the house and let things go a bit longer
• Say “no.”
• Go where the joy is.
• Have home days.
• Keep birthdays at home or go somewhere special with the family.
• Find a little thing that makes you happy and do it daily, like making beds.
• Trade babysitting with another mama.
• Have more than one kid; helped me have more time because the kids play and entertain each other!
• Make lists and set myself small but achievable daily goals for work and chores
• Get a second dishwasher silverware basket to load, and swap it with the clean one, heck, get two dishwashers!
• Keep a whiteboard calendar.
• Kids clean own bathroom
• Rest every day
• Hire a Professional Organizer like Jen Waddell, https://organizemesantacruz.com/