6 Time Management Tips For Stay-At-Home Moms
Moms work around the clock with the To-Do list never coming to an end. Now with the online schooling, work from home family members, and less to no house help, time management plays a crucial role. The pounding load of work can only bring stress and the best way to deal with it is to shuffle and manage time so that moms get time to spend with their children, quality time with their partner, and also enjoy the almost forgotten ‘Me-Time’ too. Here are 6 time management tips for stay-at-home moms:
1. Organize:
When you know what is where and what is to be done, half the stress is gone. In a nutshell, being organized simply means keeping the house in order, sticking to schedules, and being disciplined with the routine. Planning helps a great deal in this. List down the work and time allocated for it and every night before going to sleep, go through the next day’s list so you are prepared for it.
2. Delegate:
While it’s tempting to do everything on your own and ensuring things are done properly and on time, it’s impossible for one person to do it all. Delegate the work to other family members so that your time is not spent doing the minutest work in the house while others sit in front of the TV. Husband or any male adult can do the grocery runs, kids can clean their room, teens or young adult kids can help fold the laundry. Work should be for everyone in the house and not just for moms.
3. Say NO when needed:
The best tip for any mom is to learn to say “NO”. Yes, moms easily give into silly requests and demands just so they don’t disappoint the opposite person and land up being busier than before doing things they really didn’t want to do. It’s important to look at your own work priorities and say no to such demands. Nothing comes in between your will and time.
4. Take Short Cuts:
Wherever it is possible, take a shortcut. Get pre-chopped veggies instead of wasting time chopping them every time you start cooking. Get canned paste and purees to speed up the cooking process. Get fitted bed sheets than regular ones which are easier to manage and set the bed. Allocate your time where it’s most needed like pick and drop kids, get homework done or clean the house. And where you can, make the cut.
5. Be flexible:
While we want to stick to the schedule and be on time, we also need to be flexible enough to include and accommodate unexpected things that most moms encounter like a sick child, car punctured during an errand run, out of ingredient during cooking. These things are unplanned and we need to have a time cushion and an alternate action plan in place to beat that one schedule hiccup that could otherwise have ruined your entire day.
6. Self-care:
Moms tend to lose themselves amidst all the work and responsibilities and it’s easy to put self-care at the end of the list. Self-care is not a luxury but a much-needed break for moms because if you are not well-rested and rejuvenated, you won’t feel motivated and function to your fullest. So get some quality sleep, eat healthily, take time to work out, and sip your tea or coffee in peace.
Follow these simple and doable time management tips and trust me you will be able to get more work done in a day than you could have otherwise.
Meet Hansa Kajaria – A mom of 2 kids and resides in Mumbai with her family. She holds a PGDBA- Finance qualification and has worked as a Financial Analyst in the Insurance sector. Currently, she is a Stay At Home Mom. A voracious reader who blogs and writes in her free time. You can read her work at – www.mummatalks.blog.
You can follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as well.
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