If you work outside your home, how have you simplified your life?

[Anonymous]

Two years into being a WM, I am still finding myself overwhelmed on an almost daily basis. All I seem to do is rush, rush, rush through stressful mornings and have subsequent blowouts with strong-willed and one-speed DC. Evenings are no easier because DC is hungry, tired and cranky. I have cut my hair shorter to lessen AM blow-dry time. I have simplified my wardrobe. I use a slow-cooker a few nights a week. I set up lunches the night before. We have a cleaning person to increase our free/family time. Has anyone stumbled across any other tips in managing your day to day life?

[Anonymous]

Can you take an actual lunch hour for YOU? I do and find I'm much more productive. I typically fit in a light workout or brisk walk, or head to the bookstore or a store or something fun for a while. It helps me feel less frazzled.

Also, is DH helping you? We each have our things we are responsible for in the morning and it helps a lot.

You already have the cleaning person - that is my biggest thing. Love it!

[Anonymous]

I noticed you said "I feel rushed" "I feel stressed" etc... I'm guessing you're married, but how does your husband feel and what is he doing about it? Make a list of things that need to get done and talk to him about how you can split it up, automate it, skip it, outsource it, or whatever.

We both work FT Out of the house from about 8-5:45. We really both leave and arrive home with 10 min of each other. We each have a drop off and a pick up of one child (we have two kids). It's crazy but it works. AND we don't have a cleaning person!

How we handle things:


Husband does 75% or more of these things:
Grocery shopping and/or ordering Peapod (never thought I would do this, but it saves us 1-2 hours on the weekend)
Cooking or reheating things we've already cooked. (we eat things like tortillas and beans and rice, salads, spaghetti, etc.) Nothing more than 15-20 min on weeknights
Balances checkbook and pays bills that aren't automated
Mows lawn
Dishes

I do 75% or more of these things:
Laundry
Children's baths and dressing
investment choices (long-term, 401k, 529, etc.)
Docs appts
Bathroom cleaning (doesn't happen much)
Vaccuming and dusting (also not that often)
Kids clothing shopping (online, mostly) and sorting (I sort every 3 months by size/season and store in old diapers boxes)
Ordering diapers online (amazon or diapers.com)
Anything household, really (almost all drugstore purchases, medicines, lightbulbs, shampoo, etc.)

We go to Costco about 4-5 times a year and get a ton of meat, wipes, etc.

We try and do errands (haircuts) on Sat. mornings and then be done with it.

I shower at night and every other day now (but don't tell anyone at work that!). I wear ponytails a lot.

I color my own hair every 2-3 months on a weeknight that my husband is out.

I would also just say that, I don't know how old your DC is, but I feel like the end of the day is a rough time for a young child, esp. one who has to transition home or from another care giver. I think sometimes it's just an age thing. For example, there is nothing that is going to make my 18 month old especially cheerful at 6:30pm. My 4 year old is a little easier to handle at that hour.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I don't iron ANYTHING. If it must be ironed its going to the cleaners, which you and DH can take turns doing.

[Anonymous]

You already do a lot of things I do. My most stressful part of the day is getting the kids (ages 5 and 2) from daycare to home and getting them dinner. My trick is to feed them as soon as we get home. I usually give them pasta (make a whole box once a week and it lasts several days), with frozen veggies that I nuke in the microwave. Other quick dinners include microwavable mac and cheese, hot dogs, chicken nuggets (all in the nuker), quesidillas, leftovers. I do feel bad that we don't eat together as a family every night but we do on weekends and I suspect we will more often once the kids are older.

DH and I take turns giving them a bath (every other night) and we also switch off on whcih kid we put to bed. Both kids are in bed by 8. Then we eat and are able to decompress for the rest of the evening.

I also second the recommendation on taking advantage of your lunch hour. I do all my exercising and personal shopping then.

Grocery shopping and laundry are done on weekends. DH and I also take turns doing that.

Good luck!

[Anonymous]

I only buy work clothes that don't require dry cleaning.

[Anonymous]

Cleaning Service
PeaPod
Take a true lunch hour at work and read

[Anonymous]

I also am a working mom and I pick one weekend a month where i make food in advance, two or three stews which I freeze. Also prepare stewing meat, ground turkey that I freeze and use during the month when I am putting dinner together. Make food prep a lot easier and less stressful.

[Anonymous]

OP, I was thinking of writing a similar post yesterday but was too busy to do it! LOL. What we have done in my house is:

We work slightly different schedules, I go in late and drop the kids of at preshool and DH goes in really early. He gets home before the kids and I so he makes dinner.
When we get home, we eat and then I do baths and he usually cleans up. This is still hectic but it helps alot having dinner ready when we get home, that way the kids don't eat dinner too late.

Also, I found a dry cleaners in my building at work that turns around my cleaning in 24 hours. I also found a place to get my brows done near the office to save time on the weekend. I also try and shop online alot, and I go to the grocery store after the kids are in bed on a Friday or Sat night. I figure it will get easier as they get older, but for now its totally nuts

[Anonymous]

I have found that getting up earlier so that our mornings are more relaxed to be helpful. Now, morning time is one of my favorite times to be with DD - I have more energy and she does not have the evening crankies.

[Anonymous]

I am a FT working mom with a 2 year old out of the house 7.45-6.15 and, frankly I just get on with it. The one thing I rely on is peapod. No cleaner. Shower in morning when DS has half an hour of TV. Easy, quick suppers. No lunch hour breaks at work. W/es are for play and seeing friends. I am just relaxed about it all. Probably some things I could improve (my cooking!), but it works and it is fine.

[Anonymous]

Peapod, cleaner, yard guy, dog walker, nanny, internet shopping, and heavy use of the outlook's calendar function to "invite" DH to various things. We usually have our weekends scheduled out at least two months in advance (costco, clothes shopping to the extent I don't do it on-line, trips out of town, things like that). Vacations are usually scheduled out at least a year in advance. I also got the busy mom's guide or whatever it's called and put all the routine maintenance tasks it recommends being done monthly, quarterly, etc. on my outlook calendar.

[Anonymous]

I gave up and went part-time. It was either that or quit.

[Anonymous]

Hire a cleaning service. Do laundry once a week. Give your kids chores. If you're cooking, make more than one meal (cook large vats of spaghetti sauce, soup, and beans, and freeze). Plan a week's worth of meals at a time. Stop answering the phone in teh evenings. Let people leave messages and you call them back when you have time. Try and establish routines on weekday mornings and evenings.

[Anonymous]

snack for the kid the minute we walk through the door. creates peace, and if it is a healthy snack, it doens't matter if dinner is smaller as a result.