You may not be able to create more hours in your day, but with a little intentionality, you can better utilize the hours you do have. Here are a few tips to help working parents make the most of those precious few hours at home.
As a little girl, I regularly dreamed about the day I would have my own home — what it would look like, how I would decorate it, the time I would spend cleaning it, the flowers I would grow, and how much I would enjoy spending my days in my space with my people.
All these years later, and it’s no surprise that I love being a stay-at-home mom (even though my kids are all in school)! However, I know not everyone feels this way. In fact, I dare say I’m in the minority.
Many of our friends, relatives, and neighbors are in homes where both parents work part-time or full-time outside of the home. In addition, I regularly get emails from working parents asking for tips to best utilize the precious time they have at home — allowing their homes to serve them instead of being slaves to home management.
For many working parents, coming home can feel less like a time to recharge and more like a second shift with meals, laundry, homework, yardwork, and that never-ending mental checklist waiting when you walk through the door.
And while I can’t magically give you more hours in your day, I do think there are ways to be more intentional with our time at home, helping busy working parents to reclaim a little time, energy, and sanity!
Here are 9 practical tips to help you make the most of your time at home…
1. Lower Your Expectations
Yup, we’re starting here.
Unrealistic expectations are one of the top reasons we feel dissatisfied with our lives (and our homes). So while I don’t want you to throw in the towel and become a total slob, it is important to realize that, as a working parent, you’re essentially doing 2 or 3 full-time jobs at the same time (your 9-5 job, your home management job, and your parenting job).
That’s a lot!
You will likely have to give up any ideas of perfection, and maybe even give up your “ideal” situation for now. Stop focusing on what you don’t have and stop comparing yourselves to those around you.
- Simplify your meals
- Simplify special events and holidays
- Give up expensive vacations and spend your time off at home
- Come to terms with the fact that volunteer work might not fit in your season of life
- Tone down your seasonal decorating
- Nix homemade lunches and let your kids get hot lunch
- Get used to the fact that your home will not be clean all the time
These are just a few of the hundreds of ways you could lower your expectations to make more time for whatever is more important to you regarding your home and family life.
Instead of feeling bad or guilty, simply remind yourself that it’s a choice. For a variety of reasons, you are choosing to work outside the home, which means you are also choosing not to spend as much time on housework, extra activities, meal prep, etc.
This is not a right or wrong choice, but it is your current reality. Align your expectations with your reality and you’ll likely reduce much of your guilt and stress.
Related Reading: How Lowering My Expectations Increased Productivity
2. Enlist Help
There are 24 hours in each day, and no matter how amazing you are, you can not create more time.
If you’re gone for 8-10 hours at work, and you sleep for 6-8 hours, that doesn’t leave many hours to do everything else you need and want to do to run your home and family well (not to mention do anything relaxing or enjoyable for yourself).
Practically speaking, you will save much-needed time, energy, and stress if you are willing to ask for a little help (and that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to pay for it.)
Here are a few ideas:
- Order groceries online and pick them up on your way home, have a spouse or teen pick them up, or have them delivered to your door.
- Enlist your family to help meal plan, cook, and/or clean (depending on their ages).
- Hiring a cleaning company (or a local friend/acquaintance) to do the basic cleaning tasks once a week while you’re at work.
- Hire a neighbor to mow your lawn (or pay your own child if they are old enough)
- Ask a friend or neighbor to pick up your kids or drop them off if you’re stuck at work.
- Order items on Amazon and use Subscribe and Save so you don’t have to remember to re-order them in the future.
Asking for help doesn’t mean you’re lazy or a bad person. It just means you’re human and can’t realistically manage everything every day..
3. Wake Up Earlier
I know simply waking up earlier isn’t the answer to every time problem… but it sure does help!
Dave and I have had long seasons where we woke up at 4 am every day because we got so much more accomplished when our kids were sleeping than we could at any other time of the day.
We don’t wake up quite that early anymore, but we do always get up before our kids so we can get ready, start our days, get breakfast going, and cross off a few important to-dos before our kids are awake and vying for our attention.
Even 20-30 minutes could make a big difference… give it a try!.
Related Reading: How to Get Excited to Wake Up Earlier
4. Protect Your Evening Hours
You do not need to sign your children up for every extracurricular activity they want to do.
You do not need to participate in groups or committees that regularly meet in the evenings (this is the first question I ask whenever I’m contemplating joining something).
You can say “no” to evening activities, even if they are fun, even if you’d likely enjoy them, even if your kids/friends/family really want you to say “yes”.
The fact of the matter is, if you’re gone all day at work and you want more time at home, you can’t also be gone all evening.
It’s a simple mathematical equation.
Saying “no” to certain evening activities might not be easy, but if you want more time at home with your family, more meals together, the ability to get to bed on time, etc., then protecting your evening hours is essential.
Relate Reading: 99 Effective Ways to Say “No”
5. Simplify Your Food
Meal planning and prepping do not need to be complicated, but it does take time, especially when you’re not prepared and doing everything last-minute.
Depending on how many hours you’re gone each day, here are a few meal-planning options to consider.
- Regularly go out to eat — expensive, but fun and enjoyable. Plus, no mess to clean up at home and fewer groceries to buy. Great for singles or couples without kids.
- Bring fast food or take-out home — faster and cheaper, but not as healthy, and you still have some mess to clean up at home.
- Subscribe to a meal-planning service — super fun (if you like to cook), but you still need time to cook the food, and they usually only provide food for 2-3 nights per week.
- Buy pre-made meals from the grocery store — cheaper still, but you need to be home to put them in the oven and clean up afterward.
- Use Your Slow Cooker — least expensive, potentially boring after some time, still requires some prep-work and clean-up. Even when I’m home, I love throwing ingredients in the slow cooker in the morning, and not needing to worry about dinner all day
- Try a Freezer Cooking Day — a great option if you have a day off during the week. You could batch-cook several meals and have them ready to throw in the oven for busier days.
You might gravitate towards a variety of these options throughout the week, depending on what season of life you’re in. Whatever the case, you should have a plan for your meals going into the week.
Maybe that plan is going out to eat every night, but just have the plan before you leave your house every morning(I promise it will make your 5 pm life so much easier).
Also, remember to have easy grab-and-go food options for breakfast, snacks, and lunches to make those meals faster and easier too.
Related Reading: How to Spend Less Time in the Kitchen
6. Get Family Members On Board
I’ve alluded to this a bit already in #2, but if you have family members older than 5 or 6, they are fully capable of helping you around the house.
The end results might not be fully up to your standards (see #1 above), but sometimes “done” is better than “perfect” — and it can be a great learning experience for your family too.
Also, consider using a large family wall calendar or Google Calendar so everyone can see the schedule and all stay on the same page in terms of weekly to-dos and activities.
Related Reading: 60+ Chores for Young Children
7. Use Vacation Days to Stay Home
You might roll your eyes, but this is one of my favorite suggestions for working parents who want more time at home.
Use your vacation days to stay home!
You don’t necessarily have to use all your vacation time at home, but just think how much you could accomplish with a full week at home. Also, think about how much money and time you’ll save by not planning and financing a vacation.
Just consider this idea — you might be surprised and actually enjoy it!
8. Reduce Wasted Time
If you’re like most adults with smartphones, you’re likely wasting more time than you realize — especially in the evening hours.
Whether it’s scrolling social media, catching up on the news, watching your favorite YouTuber, checking your email “just one more time”, texting with a friend, or even reading… our phones have the potential to become big time-sucks, causing us to get sidetracked, stay up later than we intended, and have difficulty falling asleep (due to the light stimulation).
Use your phones as tools to help you boost productivity, but don’t let them suck you into hours of “wasted” time every evening.
Related Reading: How to Touch Your Phone Less
9. Give Yourself Grace
Some days will feel balanced. Others will feel chaotic. Both are normal.
You are doing a lot… focus on the good, don’t dwell on the not-as-good, and keep moving forward.
Also, you might need to regularly check your expectations! (see #1 😉)
My desire is always that our time at home (no matter how brief) will “restore us from today and ready us for tomorrow”. If you don’t feel that way about your time at home, it might be worth giving a few of these tips a try. See if you can’t make a little better use of your time at home.
I’m not the expert here, though… I’d love to hear from any working parents (or grandparents)…
How do you (or did you) make the most of your time at home?
JJ says
Ironically, we homeschool(and my husband works from home), so my home is messy from people constantly being in it. I cook 2-3 times a day. We homeschool mostly at the dining room table, but our stuff grows legs and ends up everywhere.
So. I was losing my mind with never feeling like things were put away. I came up with a system that works for us. I have 3 older kids(middle and upper elementary) and one younger. She is the Jr. Assistant. Apparently job titles empower them? I used the pickerwheel(.com) to start the first rotation. The pickerwheel solves many of our family’s, “Who goes first/for that?” without me being accused of showing favoritism. Each job lasts a week. We do “chores” every day(either after lunch or dinner depending on how the day is going and activities). One kid vacuums or sweeps all of the main living areas. One kid helps me in the kitchen cleaning up and unloading the dishwasher. One kid goes around and finds whose stuff is whose and either puts it on their bed for them to put away after or gives it to them to put away right then. It has been working so well for us! Many hands make light work. They each pick a song to play while we do chores, and we all enjoy it. The “vacuum” kid gets to pause for their song. We do the same with laundry parties. Yep, that’s what I call them. I have one kid unload it all and bring it to the living room. I throw their clothes to them while I fold my own. They fold and put away–all while we each pick songs. For our family, making it fun with picking songs has really helped! I think like you emphasize, tweak what is not working and find what will to fit your family in the season you’re in. This would not have worked for me when my kids were little. When they were little I was also working from home, so having a Mother’s helper was a huge blessing! My friend’s two middle school aged girls came once or twice a week for a couple hours so I could hustle hard to get things done. It was awesome!
Anna says
Someone to come in to clean and help with the kids would be great! But in this small area it doesn’t seem to be an option just yet…hopefully in the future.
But with my husband and I working so much I’ve learned to cut corners so to speak.
1. Each room has a purpose: Bedrooms are for sleeping, relaxing and tv/computer time only. So there is no extra furniture or toys in there to clean up during the week. The living room and playroom usually are the only two messy rooms through out the week/weekend. This helps with only needing to do a big clean up in those two rooms during the week/weekend. No fighting kids to clean up there rooms on the weekend! A plus for me! Plus anytime during the week there is a space to reset and relax when the other side of the house might be in chaos.
2. A boys and girls bathroom: It helps with cleaning the bathrooms and deep cleaning when needed as boys and girls messes are different. Boys more toilets and floors need to be deep cleaned regularly compared to girls. Girls counters and sinks need more deep cleaning. Plus the girls are more into neater and cleaner areas and the boys realize how messy they can be and need to clean up more but they hate cleaning the girls stuff. LOL
3. Vacation Days: We never take vacation days to catch up at home. But we do take them to rest and reset ourselves. Usually the night before we might be up a little later cleaning and getting things done so we can actually rest and not worry about the next day. We’re also a little more motivated to get things done the night before knowing we can have a full day to ourselves.
4. Extra Cleaning: Now this may sound horrible but some of the get out of jail is extra cleaning for the kids. If they want their tv, video games or get out of grounding then they have to do extra chores and we have points assigned to each cleaning and a total # of points for each punishment. (Now that they have gotten older to do some of these things, it actually helps out a lot more…so the desire to hire someone to do them is less.)
5. Laundry: Hanging more clothes than folding. I found that it was frustrating to constantly see clothes falling out of drawers in the kids room or all messed up in the drawer for the kids to find. So hanging become easier to keep away clutter. In addition, I have found that my young kids can easily help put clothes on hangers and put them away much easier and neater than when we tried with folding and trying to get them in their drawers.
6. Have a Plan: I think this is the biggest thing that helps me. Is writing what is causing my frustrations, exhaustion or feeling like a failure and then making a plan to specifically address those things. Then keep reevaluating and finding solutions. I find some months that the things that bothered me last month aren’t an issue anymore cause we found solutions that worked and other times I find the solution we tried didn’t work and we try a new one.
7. Each person has ONE thing to keep clean during the week: My youngest has the art area cause she loves art so its a mess EVERYDAY, my son has the shoes and backpack area by the door, my husband has dinner clean up. These 3 are the biggest areas that get messy rather quickly during the week. And all of them really take 10 minutes or less to clean up.
Andrea says
WOWOWOWOWOW — thanks for this very long and detailed reply Anna. This will be SO helpful for others!
Margaret says
A day late to the party here.
Since I work 3rd shift and sleep days I’ve had to figure out how not to let my evenings get sucked down the Internet rabbit hole. I’ve found a simple solution that works well for me. I eat breakfast while I read the local paper, and then check blogs and news sites while I sip my coffee. Then it’s up and at ’em. I close the computer and don’t go back until the whole to-do list–food prep, dishes, floors, restocking, dog training, dog-walking, exercising, laundry if needed–is crossed off. Most of the time I’ll still have at least an hour before I need to get ready for work.
Andrea says
Good plan! Thanks for sharing what works for you — I’m sure other 3rd shifters will benefit from this!
Katherine says
I work very part time- two days a week- and we have a sitter here to the house for the afternoon with my four kids. I totally echo having your kids do chores and pitch in around the house. Lots of work up front, but WORTH IT.
Also, after having so many different sitters over the years, I learned to communicate very clearly that I will hand the house over to the sitter in fairly tidy condition and he/she needs to hand it back to us the same way. Dishes cleaned up, living room tidied, etc etc. Coming home after work and seeing the downstairs in good shape is WONDERFUL.
I wanted to write that because I have many friends who are shocked when they come home and see that the sitter allowed the kids to leave messes everywhere, or the sitter didn’t clean up lunch that day, etc. I tell our sitter that it is our kids’ job to clean up, but please oversee them and make sure it gets done. I think that should be an up front part of the conversation with any sitter or nanny you hire.
Avia says
Yes, I have been shocked over and over to come home to mess. (This would be just when teenagers watch my kids in the evenings). I have learned that I have to be very clear with my expectation.
Andrea says
yes yes! Good point to mention. I never did much babysitting, but whenever I did, I ALWAYS made sure to clean the house to the same (or better) condition it was when I arrived. I would definitely expect the same of any babysitter we hire (although, now that I think about it, we’ve actually never had a babysitter come!) I think we need to get out more! LOL!
Sam says
Hi
I shared this comment on an earlier post of Andrea’s, but sharing again here for other working Mamas. Keep at it and don’t give up! 🙂
“I’ve been a long time Andrea follower and I work outside the house 40 hours a week.
These are things I’ve done to help myself (based on lots of her tips) and after many years, finally have it working.
Anything for the morning, I do the night before, including packing lunches and clothes. Both kids have “Good Morning Kits”. Carry-totes from the dollarstore with everything they need for the morning (clothes, hair ties, diapers etc). I also pack school bags night before.
My house has been purged and everything has a home.
I take a few minutes to meal plan for week before grocery shopping. My meal plan includes all meals…I even tried “pre-packing” their breakfast in the fridge on their special trays and they loved it. Fruit, veggies, and a larabar, then I made them a protein smoothie while they ate.
Kitchen is completely cleaned up after every meal. My kids help now.
Laundry – as soon as there is a load. I do it. Wash, dry, fold, put away. I don’t wait for the weekend. I set up a blanket near me and my toddler son plays with toys while I do it.
Kids messes – I keep an eye on time and build in 5-10 minutes for them to clean up their toys.
Saturday – general clean up if needed. Everyone knows they have to help.
Sunday – Day of Rest!
***You have to be home to tackle home life. I was overscheduling my weekends with social stuff and have cut back to usually one activity a weekend and my kids are limited to 2 extracurriculars.
Good luck! You’ll find a system that works for you!”
Andrea says
Thanks so much for re-sharing this! It’s super helpful and I know others reading this will get so many good ideas!
Meghan says
Andrea, all of your tips are fantastic! I am way less stressed being a working mom with three kids than I was when I had two because we have a nanny who comes to the house. Getting the kids out the door to a sitter’s in the morning was so stressful. She also does the kids’ laundry and cleans the first floor(main living floor) and the kids’ bathroom. Coming home to a clean and orderly house is wonderful. I don’t ask her to do my and my husband’s laundry, but she folds it if it’s in the basket or dryer. When my youngest goes to school I have to make sure I hire someone to come to the house at least once a week. I have definitely simplified the types and variety of meals I cook. I do a ton of freezer cooking. Generally we eat something “new” Sunday-Wednesday and eat leftovers on Thursdays.
I love Walmart grocery pick up. It’s not perfect but I could never go back to grocery shopping ever again. As a treat, I go to Aldi every couple of months because I love it.
During baseball season with two boys playing, we have games or practice 5 nights a week and Saturday mornings. There is nothing but the essentials happening from May-July.
I think your post was so important – I sometimes compare myself to non working moms and that is not a fair comparison.
Andrea says
oh yes, everyone I know who has a nanny come into their home says it’s SO MUCH LESS STRESSFUL! I’m glad you could make this work for your family — also, your nanny sounds amazing!
avia says
I work outside the home full time and my husband owns a business that can be 24/7 depending on the day/week. So he can never be counted on to be home and most times he isn’t. So I just have to think and plan like I’m a single parent or I will start to become resentful.
1. I have cleaning lady that comes in every other week and does all things on your priority list except laundry. I’d love find someone to do laundry and even meal prep!
2. I currently wake up at 5 and have to leave the house with my kids at 7. I have been contemplating getting up earlier ever since I first read about you and Dave getting up at 4. But I haven’t decided yet if that would be more beneficial than more sleep. One thing I have been thinking about is finding someone to come to my house early in the mornings (about 6), get my kids up and to school/daycare. That way I could leave the house at 6 and get off an hour earlier.
3. I very rarely will allow an activity during the week evenings. There’s just no way I can do it. We’ll see what happens as my kids get older and want to joint different activities.
4. This is the hardest part for me. Before kids I loved meal planning and cooking lots of different meals. I have had to accept that I just can’t do it and the world will keep spinning. Right now I have some easy and quick dinners (if you can even call them that) that I can get on the table within 1/2 hr of walking in the door. I hope to someday really cook again!
7. YES vacation days at home with no one!! I would love to do this at least once a month but I’m still working on the logistics. I would easily give up actual vacations to use all my days as home catch up days. I’m not sure my family would agree though!
8. And yes on the wasted time although I have to remind myself that it’s OK to have some down time. I can very easily spend every second being busy and still never feeling like I get everything done. It’s important for my to give myself permission to have some relaxing time – which for me is usually reading.
Thank you for all your ideas and thought on this! Now you can see why I posted on your personality post that although we are the same personality type – our lives look a lot different! Ha!!
Andrea says
I completely understand about weighing the pros and cons of more/less sleep versus getting more/less accomplished — it’s a constant give/take situation. In my experience (as someone who apparently doesn’t need huge amounts of sleep to feel very rested) the extra time in the morning is SO beneficial for me, for my happiness, for my productivity, etc. I honestly think my entire family benefits from my early mornings as I am a happier person all day long when I can get a bunch of stuff accomplished first thing in the morning!
That’s just my personality and experience though. Not sure I could wake up super early if I had to be “on the ball” working all day long without time to relax while the kids played or napped! Do what feels right for YOU!
Alicia says
I completely understand what you’re saying about not being able to count on your husband being home to help, or you end up feeling resentful! I have found that I have to do the exact same thing. My husband easily works 12+ hour days and I have found I/we are much happier if I just plan on him not being home. It sounds terrible, but it helps so much with my expectations. And while I did for several years , I don’t work outside of the home anymore but I do have 4 (soon to be 5!) kids to take care of! My #1 lesson learned has been to LOWER my expectations ! And I’m perfectly okay with it!
Avia says
Right. Expectations can get me every time!
Andrea says
Thanks for sharing this Ladies — and WOW Alicia! Congrats on #5. woohoo!! We’re stopping at 4, so we won’t be able to compare pregnancies and baby stuff anymore 🙂
You ladies are amazing for doing everything you do with husbands who work so much. My saving grace is the fact that Dave is almost always home by 3:30 every day so I can finish cooking dinner in peace. It’s just the little break I need in my day before dinner and bedtime routine starts.
I’m thankful you shared your perspective and what helps you get through those LONG days home with kids. I’m positive it will be helpful for others reading this post!
Alicia says
Haha thank you, Andrea!! I thought of you when I found out so was pregnant this time, but remembered you saying you were done at 4!
I’m trying to be better about being more organized and structured, but I have to remind my perfectionist self OFTEN that I can’t get everything done because I’m often a one woman show, and that’s okay!!!
Alicia says
*I was pregnant
Gail says
Now I am retired, but when both of us worked outside the home as teacher and engineer, I cooked doubles on Sat. and Sun., giving us two weekday meals. I made quickies Wed., went out with the kids Thurs., and quickie Fri. again.
I did laundry while I graded and lesson planned almost next to the washer and dryer, and I cleaned as needed only. Sometimes it needed it for a while!
Andrea says
That’s a great dinner schedule — gives you plenty of time together at home as well as a few nights “off” from the kitchen!
Thanks for sharing what works for you!
Avia says
I like your dinner schedule and I’ll have to think about it to see if that would work for me!
Lynn Arnsdorf says
Looking back, should have hired cleaning help, that’s A#1, even if it was just floors and bathrooms. Second, I wish there had been grocery delivery or pickup! absolutely love shopping online, select a pickup time, and they load it in my trunk! Something I did do right was your suggestion to limit activities on weeknights! This is a must if you want sanity, IMHO. Don’t fall for the pressure (we put it on ourselves) to sign your kids up for everything and anything…crazy! Your kids just want to be with you, so take ’em for a hike. One other thing….marry a “doer”, or you’ll be doing all of it.
Andrea says
The grocery delivery is amazing! I used it when James was born and had 3 kids 3 and under. It was fantastic!
They have since raised the prices on the store closest to me, and now that my kids are older, it’s not as hard to take them out — but if I worked full-time outside the home, I would definitely go back to using grocery delivery!
Heidi says
I think the key for our family is just to give ourselves grace. My husband and I both work outside of the home and I have relapsing multiple sclerosis. He also coaches high school football. My mom helps us with child care as well as things around our house. We eat simply, eat out when we need to, and just let somethings go.
Andrea says
yes! And wow, you do have a lot on your plate (I know how busy coaching seasons are — Dave used to coach 3 sports!)
Good for you for letting some things go! I just blogged about that a week or so ago too 🙂
Rhonda says
I work half-time, which in some ways I feel is harder than working full-time or staying home full-time (but mostly it’s pretty good!) It’s hard to get in a daily routine when working days are not always M-F, but I do have time to keep up with chores. I have benefited over the years from “hired” help. #1 I mainly purchase clothes through a stylist service – clothes come in a trunk to my doorstep and returns picked up from my doorstep (used for the past 3 years). #2 I recently hired an interior designer to help with furniture purchases and some small remodeling projects (we never know where to start on our own). And #3 I have had someone clean my house for a number of years. We started when I was either pregnant or first child was small, and kept her because she is local and reliable and it is the dedicated time when we clean up clutter before she comes. I think overall it has allowed our home to be in better shape over the years. It doesn’t break the budget since it’s only once per month, and we still doing cleaning in between when the “full house” clean is done.
Andrea says
I know a handful of people who say they feel working part-time can feel more overwhelming than either working full-time or staying home full-time. It’s like you have one foot in each world, but can’t totally commit to either — so you are not alone in that frustration!
I’m glad you have hired some help — that’s definitely the way to go if you can swing it financially!
Mandi says
I love all of these, but #9 is so important! I can quickly grow discontent when I surround myself with homeschooling moms who don’t work because they have so much more time than I do for things like field trips, coffee dates, etc. When I spend time with other working, homeschooling moms who “get” the challenges of juggling both roles, I end up feeling much better about the choices I’m making and less focused on the things I’m missing out on!
Andrea says
yup, I can totally understand this (not the working/homeschooling part, but the socializing with like-minded people part!)
Brenda says
One thing with menu planning that I have found helps is to have 3-4 dinners planned for the week and then I let me husband pick what we have each night. He knows that eventually all 3-4 meals will need to be eaten so its more of what meal do you want when. And then we decide what day he wants to cook dinner and he grills something that day. Then we have a couple days for leftovers of quick things that they kids request. (We used to have ‘loud discussions’ when I would get home with a plan for dinner and he had something else going. This has help with that.)
Also, I would really really stress that parents make #5 a priority with their kids. Kids can help a lot and it makes them feel like they are part of the family, although they complain a lot, lol. I started folding all the laundry into individual baskets for each person and then I deliver them to their rooms and they have to take care of the clothes. I have to do my best to not go look at their dressers/closets or I’ll want to re-do all of it. It will also help when they move out on their own. They won’t be totally helpless with their first apartment/dorm room.
Andrea says
great tips! Thanks Brenda!
Jo says
I work outside the house and can’t say I am on top of everything but I do know where I go wrong and where I could make changes to make things better….sometimes though for whatever reason I do need an evening where I just need to go to bed as soon as the kids have gone, sometimes i fancy going for a swim in the evening and sometimes i just want to read magazines and have a long bath. I have to lower my standards sometimes because if I do these things I won’t have time for everything else – fact – I just have to make peace with the fact something will not get done. I think it is about finding an overall balance. That being said…this is what I do to try and keep all the balls in the air..
1. I have a cleaner 2 hours a week (I’m in the UK, we have smaller houses I think!) she does all the floors – hoover and mop – the bathroom, dusts, work surfaces plus one extra each week – windows/rugs/skirting/chidrens toy etc etc. Its great to know everything is cleaned once a week.
2. I batch cook and freeze so i can just reheat in the evening. I also use the slow cooker. As much as possible though we have a hot meal at work/school and then have eggs or sandwiches for a quick tea.
3. Get up early. I’m much more productive first thing.
4. Make sure weekends aren’t too full – when we have crazy busy weekends I often feel the week gets off to a bad start. Sometimes this means I say no to things.
5. I get my groceries delivered (don’t know if you can do this) I set the delivery for when the kids are in bed and I can put them away in peace!
And my husband and I also have a holiday day when the kids are all in school/nursery – what a treat to be at home and it be quiet!
Andrea says
For what it’s worth, I think it’s completely normal that you regularly need some nights where you just go to bed on time and/or relax — Dave and I have that at least once a week! We put the kids to bed, take our showers, finish up a few things, and head to bed — we feel so much better and more rested in the morning and are often much more productive the next day!
Thanks for your tips Jo!
Ann says
It is imperative to realize that I can NOT do it all! So what do I CHOOSE to do, and what to learn to leave undone? ( Or lower my expectations)
I see buying ready made foods, or semi-ready made, as Buying “TIME”!
{Same with hiring help.}
Andrea says
exactly! sometimes buying “time” is the best route for busy families!
Kelly Hess says
Meal planning is key to making our house run successfully. With three busy kids (ages 13,10, and 6) you can bet 1 or 2 of them have some commitment each day of the week. We don’t even have time to eat out during the week. I always have something planned for dinner and use my crock pot A LOT to keep this family running!
Andrea says
haha — I love that you said “we don’t have time to go out to eat”! I agree, I feel like it takes LONGER to go out to eat than to just make something simple at home! So many people we know go out to eat to “save time” but I feel like they spend more time at the restaurant (and commuting back and forth) than I do making, serving, and cleaning up our dinner. And I guarantee my meal was exponentially less expensive!
Ashley Orfe says
I think this is good advice even for those who don’t have kids! I especially relate to the meal planning one. After working all day, I’m not going to come home and make a three-course dinner, so I keep my meal planning simple and I always cook enough for leftover meals! This helps us get quicker to our evening commitments.
Andrea says
Thanks for sharing Ashley — I would agree with you (good advice for people without children too) but I guess most of my email questions have come from parents 🙂
Maria says
These are all great tips – especially #’s 2, 4 & 8. I find that grocery shopping every 2 weeks rather than weekly helps save a lot of time that I can rather spend with family, catching up on chores etc. Also, groceries can be ordered ahead at some grocery store chains and you can just pick them up which is a great time-saver as well. As you mentioned above, menu planning is a huge time-saver that will save a lot of time and frustration on a daily basis ( it takes a bit of patience, time and work when you start, but gets easier when it becomes a habit). I also like to shop on-line for my other shopping needs i.e clothes, household items, etc which saves a lot of wasted time walking around the mall which I hate. Thanks for this great post!
Avia says
Being able to order and pick up groceries is a life changer for me! We live 60 miles from the nearest big grocery store so we are always running a million errands when we’re in town. Being able to take the time and energy suck of grocery shopping off the list is amazing. Well worth the $5 charge that I pay!!
AVia says
Now if I could just find someone to pack them into my house and do food prep!!