Time is the most valuable commodity for any mother - and when you're the primary caregiver of 3 kids, and still trying to stay up-to-date with your career while managing most of the household duties on your own because you're the lucky adult who gets to stay home most of the day, then time becomes all the more precious: it can never be wasted. Going from being a working mom of 1 and jumping to a stay-at-home mom of 3 was seriously a whole other game I was not mentally prepared for at the time. It's been a little over a year now since I became a mom of "twins plus one," and so I decided to share a list of my top time-management hacks that help me save time throughout my day for all the other things I always need to be doing...so here goes!
1. Prepare Supplies in Advance & Organize your Spaces
When I was a classroom teacher, preparing materials for the 96 students I was teaching English to every given day was probably the most time-consuming part of each week - however, it was my key to managing behavior in the classroom and always being ready to get my kiddos to work. The same value holds true for me now as a mother, the more of my supplies I have ready for my 3 boys in advance, the more prepared I am to tackle each day. For example, it can totally be a pain, but organizing clothes into drawers so I know where I (or dad) can find things, makes dress up quicker in the evenings. And the same goes for shoes - I try to completely clear out the winter clothes and shoes from our drawers and racks, making room for just the current seasonal ones we need at the beginning of each month: getting out the door is that much faster. As for organizing spaces to save time for myself, I realize that BASKETS have become my best friend recently: foods in the kitchen pantry shelves are organized into baskets now to make cooking or grabbing snacks quicker, we have our changing supply basket in the living room for quick diaper duty, and clean up is quicker when you can set toys into baskets, too! And there are some beautiful baskets available for affordable prices at TJ Maxx - I use plastic ones for the kitchen, mesh wire for the changing supplies, and fabric ones for toys.
2. Take advantage of online tasks
Examine what parts of your life you may be able to accomplish online instead of in-person to save some of that precious mom time. For example, schedule recurring auto payments online or try food shopping online and save some time there. I know I myself prefer going into the store and picking out my items, but even I have given Fresh Direct (link here) a try - and it is such an awesome feeling getting everything delivered behind the door. Another great online shopping resource many of my mom friends use is Google Express (link here) for buying things from Costco, Target, and many other chains. Use apps to skip registers and long lines in stores (also great for finding exclusive coupons) - most stores have apps nowadays where you can order and pay via the app, and just pick up in store - like Walmart's Scan & Go app, Dunkin Donuts mobile rewards app, and Walgreens (great for prescriptions & photos) are among my most frequently used. You may even want to consider using an online store or starting an online subscription for all those baby essentials you know you cannot run out of (like diapers, wipes and formula) - Amazon offers diaper subscriptions (and many others) that you can manage each month (link here), and Diapers.com is another site I have frequently used for ordering formula and diapers - delivery was always guaranteed within 2 days in NYC. Diapers.com merged with Amazon recently to make this even easier for busy moms - check out the link here.
3. Use a planner/calendar for everything - even the "little" things
I've been using a planner daily since my elementary school days to be quite honest, but I have gone from using a traditional paper planner to using my Google calendar as I love setting up email reminders that can be sent in advance to my gmail account. Recently, I switched back to using a more traditional journal-planner by Clever Fox (available here on Amazon if you're interested). As a mom of 3 kids now, working part time, and managing the household mostly solo, planning every single item and plugging it into each day on my weekly planner is a must - even the smallest things, like blogging, laundry, running a report for work, etc. I usually plan my week on Mondays while having what is likely my 3rd cold cup of coffee as the twins nap - if it gets written down it usually happens! Give it a try, mamas.4. Prioritize your to-do list
We all have tendencies to make to-do lists - whether they live on a small post-it note, a larger sheet of paper, on our phones, or just in our brains. Having a to-do list is important, but prioritizing what is actually on your list is even more crucial. My to-do lists usually consist of 4 categories: home, kids, work, me. Make sure you mark which 1-2 items are a priority to get done for that ONE day and be sure to cross it off your list once it's complete. What your to-do list looks like is not what matters; it's whether or not you know what is realistic and urgent in getting done, so you can avoid procrastinating about what's actually on there.
5. Double up on tasks!
Sometimes multi-tasking can be dangerous and too time-consuming, but when I say "double up" on the things you are doing, I am suggesting planning meaningfully about doing two chores at once when it makes sense to do so! For example, cook one time during the day for two meals - make a little extra so you have two lunches or lunch and dinner at the same time. If you're going outside with your kids, think about if there's an errand you can run that's along the way to where you're headed so you don't need to make a separate outing for it. Make a phone call you need (hands-free) while you're driving somewhere. Try thinking of what one activity can cover two of your needs and give the "double up" hack a try.
6. Drop the tech
I am still working on this myself, but after testing this out and not using my cell phone for 2 days this summer, I could quickly see and feel the "extra" time I suddenly had while I was not preoccupied with using my phone to check e-mails, social media accounts, or text messaging. Find a time in your day where you are going to designate to drop all the technology, and you may be surprised at how much time you find you'll have for completing other tasks - maybe it's during baby's nap time, or before you go to bed, or during your commute to/from work. There are also a few apps available to help support this idea of dropping the tech and staying focused on other tasks at hand - try downloading the free app, called "Hatch," where you can set your own focus time where you don't allow yourself to use your phone and watch a new friend "hatch" on your screen (my son loves when I show him the new "hatchling.")
7. Learn to Say No
This one is always very difficult for me, even as a teacher I always found it hard to say no to my principal, or a colleague or parent who needed some extra support from me. And the same goes for my family - how could you not want to say yes to the little people you love so dearly? Sometimes you just have to - taking on too much is overwhelming and stressful. None of the people who rely on you as their mom every day need the version of mom who's so frazzled by all her commitments. So just know that it's ok to say "no" to certain things - ask someone else to handle it, or let them figure out who can.
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