Priorities- time management tips?

Cecilia - posted on 02/11/2010

Thanks sooo much for ALL the suggestions, they are all really helpful and I will start using them/ thanks for taking the time to reply/ I know you are as busy as I am...thats is why I needed to hear the advice all of you had to give!

Amy - posted on 02/10/2010

Marcy - I Just started folding laundry while DS in in the tub. I cut his hair in the tub, clean the bathroom, and fold a load of laundry. DS likes to be in the tub for at least an hour, so it works out well for the two of us. If only I could get DH to start doing that too...lol.

Marcy - posted on 02/10/2010

Cecilia-I do a lot before work (and before my kiddo gets up). He is in pre-school full time and I pick him up at 5 which leaves a really small window for us to be together. I go grocery shopping one time per week with a list (sssshhhhh...I make it at work). I buy a lot of the pre packaged veggies that you just need to wash and are already cut up for you. I also do a ton of cooking in the crock pot...and I use paper plates all the time. Bad for the environment I know but it works for us.



In regards to cleaning...I hired someone. She comes every other week and it costs $75 for her to clean my whole house. I know everyone is on a budget but I pack my lunch and we eat home almost all the time so this is my luxury. I would rather eat pasta 7 nights a week then give her up.



Laundry seems to be an ongoing battle...its not the washing and the drying that kills me its putting it away.

I like a clean house and its taken me a long time to be okay with just having a clean house and not an organized house. Right now there are coffee cups in my sink and the living room is covered in art work and Thomas the Train tracks. You could however eat off my floors...that is if you can find them.



Its a constant battle for all of us working outside the house moms. P.S. Lysol wipes are a huge help also. When I give my son a bath at night I often times wipe down the bathroom with the wipes while he is in the tub or I have even brought laundry in there and folded it while he is playing with his tub toys.

Sandra - posted on 02/10/2010

I personally start my afterwork day by making dinner and we all sit down to eat. Right after dinner we spend time playing or coloring or whatever my son would like. Then I can move on with the rest of life's requirements w/o skipping over my no. 1! It is easy to wrapped up in all the things that "have" to be done. I have forced myself to learn that some things can wait.

Amy - posted on 02/10/2010

I know how you feel, There are days I don't spend much time with my son at all because I'm busy doing house work or I'm at work.

My biggest suggestion is try and see if you can do more things at once, work on your multi-tasking skills! For example, when you make supper, work on the dishes while you cook, that way you can try to get at least part of the kitchen clean while cooking. When your bathing your children use that time to clean the bathroom. (as long as they can sit in the tub by themselves), that way they can play and enjoy the watter while you talk to them and get a little cleaning done.

Try to pick at least one day a week where you don't do too much cleaning and focus on your child(ren).

We also boxed up everything that isn't used daily, or put them in our storage closet. This got a lot of clutter out of the way, so there's less to pick up every day. It's worked wonders for us!

I'm not sure how old your kids are, but if there at least 1 or 2 you can start trying to have a Pick Up time before bed, that way you teach them that they need to pick up there mess and you can "play" while picking up all there toys. Our son is almost 2 and we just started doing that with him.

What my husband and I did was take a look at what all needed to be done, and try to find ways so we could do them less often, or try to do multiple things at once.

Good Luck!

Shelley - posted on 02/10/2010

Can the work related things & house to do's wait until your child goes to bed? I have done much soul searching over the last year and have found that my daughter will not look back and get a warm fuzzy over how much I worked. She will however remember that I set aside time to spend w/just her in the evenings watching a fav show of hers, reading books, coloring, etc. Maybe house stuff can be done in the AM before going to work or you can schedule 1 or 2 things to do each night & put them on a dry erase board. As far as that work related stuff......you've already put your time in during the day. Put your foot down w/yourself & wait until later. It's hard to do & you might feel guilty for a bit but your child is only small for so long. Good luck :)